Re: <nettime> the language of tactical media (parecon)

["N Jett" <njett@hotmail.com>]

>On Tuesday 09 July 2002 1:53 am, "N Jett" wrote:
> > Ah yes... Parecon... no longer shall we have surgeons and janitors,
> > instead there is just the person who takes out your trash, and your
> > appendix (and gets paid more for the trash because surgery is
> > "glamorous").
>
>This is a misreading of parecon.  You wouldn't get paid more for the trash,
>and glamour isn't a consideration.

If it is then it is a misreading that Albert encourages. When I saw him
speak he specifically said that the glamour of a job is a consideration in
who gets assigned what tasks as part of their job complex. It is a factor
in the balancing so that glamorous jobs are "fairly" distributed. Perhaps
I and everyone I spoke with afterwards completely misunderstood him, but
it seemed pretty clear at the time.

>
> > His "Balanced Job Complex" idea seems like a very unfunny
> > joke to me.
>
>Scorn, on its own, is a very weak argument against anything.  If you want 
>to
>argue convincingly against balanced job complexes, you'll have to do better
>than that.

This was meant in the context of the rest of my statements (i.e. the
comments regarding janitors and surgeons). It is a good point though, I
haven't provided a strong argument against, but then I haven't seen a
strong argument for (and I do admit I haven't looked very hard, I've only
read one of Albert's books). Additionally, I've tended to be somewhat
scornful of Parecon after seeing what a pompous ass Albert is, I know,
don't judge the message by the messenger, but the guy came across as such
an elitest jerk it's hard to dismiss.

>
> > The whole "committees to decide absolutely everything"
> > concept
>
>This is a gross misrepresentation of parecon.

Again, Albert specifically said this in public that the authority to make
all economic decisions is vested in the Soviet... err... committees.


>
>If you have objections to parecon, and you are really interested in 
>thinking
>through the issues involved, I suggest that you try reading Albert's and
>Hahnel's replies to their critics on www.parecon.org; it may well be that
>your objections are answered there.
>
>Ben
>

Thanks, I will definitely do that sometime in the near future.




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