Monday, March 22, 2010

"As Promised"

Your regualar dose of travellers diarrhea!
And before you make Michaels mistake of asking why I never posted in time today, please know that it is only 10:40 pm in San Diego, CA. Anyway....here you go. I wrote it on the plane.

I arrived at Detroit/Wayne County airport a little earlier than I like to but someone else had scheduled the driver and so I didn’t bother to change it. I knew I would have time to kill. This airport is special to me for a couple of reasons and somehow I think they’re connected. First off it seems like a very efficient place. Despite all the times I’ve travelled through here I have never had any kind of serious delay getting through security. In today’s paranoid society that in itself is remarkable. Secondly it is also one of the coldest, most clinical spots on this planet. I mean that figuratively of course. Absolutely no one in this airport ever smiles. Not the staff, not the travelers, not even the young people it seems.

So how are these 2 observations connected? I think both of them are a reflection of the metropolis of Detroit itself. If I heard correctly the other day I believe that the population of Detroit has slipped under the 1 million mark recently, from a peak of approximately 2 million some years ago. So you can see the obvious connection. The airport never has security delays simply because there are so many less people using it, and furthermore the people are miserable because of the incredible drop in the local economy over the last 10 years.

What I find interesting about this connection is the chicken and the egg consideration that begs an answer. I know I implied that people are miserable because of the economy and the accompanying loss of jobs, and in turn inhabitants, but I’m not so sure that’s how it really transpired. I’ve been travelling through this airport for many years and as far as I can remember it has always been a miserable place. If you can make such a leap from a social perspective I suspect that in this case the egg came first. I believe that Detroit had become an unhappy society in the first place, eventually leading to a climate of dissatisfaction and ultimately decay. Yes, and then resulting in plant closings, job loss and poverty. The antagonism between the auto manufacturers and the unions became so prevalent that it eventually swallowed up the community in a spirit of anger and hate. I’ve had the opportunity to walk the floors of many of the “Big Threes” assembly plants over the years and you could feel the animosity exuding from the workers, and the non-caring attitude of the managers.

So that’s my social commentary for today. In summary I believe that the battle for more and more of the good life as identified by material things can eventually bring an entire society to ruin. Everyone learns to hate what they have to do, in order to get what they think they want, and in the end everyone is screwed….except for me because I get to pass quickly through security with no hassle!!

I wonder what my social science son would have to say about my conjecture? He’s a bit of a liberal so maybe he’s going to blame the bosses. Let’s see it this sparks anything?? Of course he’s more educated than me and as such will probably be able to make a good argument. And now that he’s officially a graduate student with scholarship money and more independence, I can’t even threaten to stop paying his tuition. Oh well, I suppose that was the goal all along eh?

And lastly a sad goodbye to my Moms youngest brother, Ome Hank, who just left this world to join Mom…lucky guy I’d say!

But back to Detroit, here’s one for you that might help to explain the current situation

“Nothing fails like success”---Anon

"Downtown Detroit has more vacant buildings over 10 storeys than any city in the world."---Meg White

But I suppose the Motor City has had worse times....1967 for instance.

"Motor city madness has touched the countryside
And through the smoke and cinders
You can hear it far and wide
The doors are quickly bolted
And the children locked inside
Black day in July
Black day in July
And the soul of Motor City
is bared across the land
As the book of law and order
is taken in the hands
Of the sons of the fathers
who were carried to this land"---Gordon Lightfoot

love
peter
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2 comments:

MARY said...

Continuing on from a couple days ago, we have another celebrity in the family. Check it out at
http://www.canadianauthors.net/m/metcalfe_zack/

23 March, 2010
Mike said...

I tend to be very critical of corporate executives, because they are the powerful and privileged who run these companies (auto or otherwise) and who largely have very little concern for the social consequences of their actions. Within the context of the corporation, everything is done for profit. The very nature of the corporation is to make as much money possible at all costs (i.e. huge social costs associated with their actions). And in order to exploit the masses as much as they can, they push for deregulation and manipulate the rest of us into thinking this is a good thing by controlling the ideology of 'free market capitalism', a truly failed ideology if there ever was one. So, it's not a mystery to me why we had the 'financial meltdown', in which the unethical and even criminal behaviour of corporate executives and people in power led to the downfall of primarily the financial sector, but also the auto industry.

Workers have responsibility as well, but it is largely up the executives to create an atmosphere in which ethical behaviour is encouraged, and unethical/criminal behaviour is NOT encouraged. When corporate executives are driving their companies into the ground, and then going ahead and rewarding themselves large bonuses, it's no kidding that the workers are cynical, unproductive, or even greedy.

Moreover, I tend to be pro-union/workers, because many non-unionized companies engage in exploitation of their workers otherwise (Wal-Mart being one of the most visibly unethical corporations, as an example, who heavily and massively exploit women and visible minorities). Wal-Mart actively discourages unions, spreads propaganda to their employees, etc, so that they may continue to exploit. Whenever the employees of a Wal-Mart store come close to radicating a union, Wal-Mart will just close the store down! Exploitation wins! Moreover, the powerful and privileged ALWAYS win! 'Bailout' money ensured that even as the auto companies floundered, executives could still reward themselves millions in pay/bonuses.

24 March, 2010

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