New Cities/New Soviets

January 21, 2003

Crappy

Aggh...a week of lost links, lost time, and mental instability. My job as a catering cook has all but dried up, and the checks from the Christmas/New Years rush (which was a war hell ride it took me until last week to get over) have turned out to be insultingly small. I have got to look for a new job. The Parks Department has also put off my request to work in Tompkin's Square Park for another 6 months. <&> (the evil eye!)

Also, Molly has been sick, first with a cold, then from some tainted supplements from GNC. <&> I have had many thoughts, but felt too uneven and blocked to write them out...also, I've working to get the blog online (which is to say, to make it a blog rather than an electronic diary).


One of the themes that has been developing, however, is the relationship between power and responsibility. It started with a quote I read in the ground rules to the First Workingman's International, written by Marx: "No power without responsibility, no responsibility without power." It didn't make a particularly strong impression on me at the time, but I found my thoughts returning to it over and over again, and I began to realize just how profound it is. (and oh yeah, I lost the link, but here is a link to a crappy translation at marxism.org) It is more than a rule, it is even more than a matter of justice; there is a fundamental ethical unity between power and responsibility. Without responsibility, power is asocial and dangerous; without power, responsibility is an empty promise.

Think about it. How many times did you hear about the imperative for the unemployed to take "personal responsibility" during the "Contract with America" period of the '90s (remember that crap!?). What form of responsibility, exactly, are the unemployed supposed to take over someone else not offering them a job? Now think about when the last time you heard "personal responsibility" mentioned in the recent corporate corruption scandals...hmm? The people in power love to talk about our responsibilities, but they rarely offer the power that would make it possible to fulfill them.

Personally, I have realized that I often try to push myself to work beyond my capacity by using a feeling of responsibility. Oh, will I never rid myself of the mental habits of a Liberal upbringing! Of course, the end result is an unresolvable sense of guilt, made all the more difficult to displace because it is purely fictional, or "motivational." I don't know, is it just me, or does this shit ring a bell with anyone?

Oh...I promised above to talk about the problematic blog/diary divide, but I done run otta gas, so y'all 'll havta wait...

Posted by Sam at January 21, 2003 12:33 AM

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