Elimidate Link

The board at Marymount seriously needs to reconsider their teachers for next semester. I've learned organizational shiznit to the max. And now, Gilbert has gone and made my Elimidate episode into a link for all to see. :) :) :)

CH. 2 Manifesto

Chapter 2 was more interesting then chapter 1. Instead of ‘we die’ we are now inevitably never going to change. I love, LOVE, the paragraph on how even though we loath the business world we still change ourselves to fit into it. Also, we know we mold ourselves but continue to do it. Idiots. We. Are. Idiots.

“We believe, in fact, that to be a business is to be managed.” Let’s reflect on that.
The factors are: determined, predicted, processed, and assessed. We determine which school we go to – and the school determines which students they want. As students, we predict what we will learn – the school predicts what their teachers will bring to their ‘management’. Processed is…you get the point. Each element of a managed business can be explained through the school system. Why? Because a school system is a managed business as well.

Weinberger says we play grown up by doing what we think is an acceptable way to act in the ‘professional workplace’ (btw what makes one business more professional than another?): A fun outfit that is not too revealing or edgy; or a comment that is safely away from the lines of extreme anything. Oh bullshit. Bull. Shit. Elena talks about how we have conformed to fit the business mold and also refers back to an example from the movie, 'The Firm'.
We (humans) never grow up. I am still an 8-year-old girl because that was the happiest time in my life. I only pretend to be professional, or a functioning student because I have to in order to be independent (even as an eight year old I strive to be free). Everyone else has their own age they are stuck at. The question is who is stuck at age 56? Because that is most likely the age of the man who is in power in the mock-professionalism business world. The one who doesn’t understand such anarchic texts as ‘The Cluetrain Manifesto” or “The Bible”.

Weinberger also talks about voice. I like the quote,

“Our voice is our strongest, most direct expression of who we are. Our voice is expressed in our words, our tine, our body language, our visible enthusiasms.”

Well, yea. That’s one great sentence. However, John thinks otherwise. He described this sentence as possible ignorance. On the other hand, it makes me wonder why various classes can be so quiet when a teacher is trying to initiate conversation. If our voice is who we are, then why would we want to disobey it by pretending to be someone we are not? Oh, right, we are afraid of rejection or that people will think we are crazy.

There is talk about ‘longing for the web’ at the end of chapter 2. We long for the web for various reasons. One of these reasons relates not only to those working within a business but students also. An example is used that a two-hour meeting can be translated to a two-lined blog. A two hour class can be translated to a two-lined blog. Just as in school, the ‘professional workplace’ is guilty for distributing mass amounts of busy-work. It’s almost an unnecessary evil. Why can’t we just get to the point and leave out all the b.s.

Speaking of bullshit, and the voice, and molding to fit a business you can take classes here to enhance your bullshit factor on business and your voice. WOW. Not only have we accepted being fake we are currently giving classes on it all over the world.

CH. 1 Manifesto

The few sentences I do not agree with. He tells us that you will never hear the inevitable phrase, ‘We Die’ in a TV ad. ( Laura also comemnts on how the concept of 'We Die' is used) I say that's bullshit-we live in an uncensored society. For example, the photos taken by American soldiers of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu prison were up on display at the International Center of Photography in West Midtown (the exhibit is not listed on the website but here's the link anyway) last semester.
When approaching the display you could FEEL the shift of energy. Like an imaginary red light told each person that something was out of the norm in this one peticular section. The display was closed off with makeshift walls that looked like they were fresh out of an Ikea catalog. People knew it could be wrong to look at the pictures, but isn't that what was so intruiging about them? And secretly, they liked what they saw. Of course no one will openly admit this. 'Mrs. I came into the city today from Long Island' views the photos because she simply CANNOT. There is no way she can go back to LI without having seen ‘it’. We saw the pictures and as we looked at each humiliating pose and smiling private (that’s the soldier not the genitals) we desensitized ourselves. It’s now, “Oh, you HAVEN”T seen the pictures?” Like, shit, what’s wrong with you, why would you NOT want to see the people that killed hundreds of Americans withering in embarrassment? (Maybe because we are embarrassing ourselves by putting them on display? but that’s another post). Additionally, why is it that the outcry of artists get their voices heard. Here is a link (amoung others) found on BoingBoing about Baghdad artists speaking out against the torture that went on in the Abu jail.

Corporate-earth is interesting in earning it's next million or openning another factory in Mexico but there is much more going on in the world. There's hurt, suffering, torture, etc. But wait, buy a dell computer and you can forget all about these things. No wait, drink coke and have the good life. Better yet, buy McDonalds because they use 'recycled' paper bags. The fact that a ClueTrain Manifesto exists is a step forward. I shun corporations but we need them. I would like to see them change, maybe not be so greedy. It's a pipedream.

Ok. Fuck the idea of looking or not looking at the pictures and the reasons why. What I’m getting at is ‘We Die’ is indeed all over the media:

You’re going to get old and die: Buy our beauty product and slow down that process.

You’re going to die soon and that’s why you can’t get a boner anymore: Buy Viagra.

You’re going to die anyway: Smoke these cigarettes.

You’re going to die anyway: Pick our credit card company; although we do have the highest interest rates, we give you the biggest spending limit.

You’re going to die one day: Do what you can now for your family by buying our discounted life insurance/burial plot instead of spending extra time with them.


The basis of the Cluetrain Manifesto does give light to the negatives in the corporate organizational world and how it can change. This book was published in 2001 and much has changed since then. In 2011 there will most likely be another version of a Cluetrain. History repeats itself. We all die. Who cares? Try and change it for the next generation, right? Or try and change it so it’s better for you and all of mankind? Once again, I think it's all a pipedream.

Just to re-cap: 'We Die' has also presented other thoughts from different classmates. Jessica claims it is a pathetic attempt to get the reader to reflect on life. She also links to two other classmates who think the same.