| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| A Modest Proposal for More Back-Stabbing in Preschool |
| 2013-04-02 |
| A long blah-blah about the usual feminist drool. For a moment I thought the author had actually caught on, but, no. The blindness remains willful. [NY Times] Late last week, I was driving my daughter to her play-based, shoe-optional, sugar-free preschool -- a magical Arcadia where an actual chicken is free to roam and grow fat off Pirate's Booty, and where the major areas of academic focus revolve around turn-taking, problem-solving and the life story of Rosa Parks -- when I experienced a moment of self-doubt so paralyzing I almost had to pull over. The radio in my car was tuned to an NPR show, on which callers were debating the decision by the C.E.O. of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, to ban employees from working from home. I'd been thinking about Mayer since early that morning, having fallen down an Internet rabbit hole that plunged me deep into her art collection, her exclusive wardrobe and her estimated $300 million net worth. Specifically, I was thinking about the rather highhanded, Marie Antoinette-ish way in which she dismissed the need for extended maternity leave, as if it hadn't occurred to her that building an en suite nursery for her newborn next to her office basically elided the need for it, since the baby could remain within a few feet of her all day long. En route to the preschool, I was suddenly visited by an apocalyptic vision of the future: I saw my daughter as a frustrated former liberal-arts major stuck in a midlevel job at a company where, despite the easy availability of 3-D holographic telepresence software allowing people all over the globe to interface with one another from the comfort of their own brain implants, employees were now required to "live from work" and occasionally beam themselves home for some cursory family face time. Moreover, I saw that I alone was to blame for this dismal state of affairs, because I am a deluded throwback to carefree days, and in my attempt to raise a conscious, creative and socially and environmentally responsible child while lacking the means to also finance her conscious, creative and environmentally and socially responsible lifestyle forever, I'd accidentally gone and raised a hothouse serf. Oops. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 The problem with all of these trendy neat places to work with the hair salons, gyms, massueses, gourmet dining, and video games is that stuff was designed to keep guys working around the clock...now they don't work at all. How do you tell a guy to get to work when he can go to the climbing wall, skate board park or natorium any time he wants. Google is trying to rein in this silliness they started. As it is, that is what most of these arrogant little shits think they are owed for their unproductive presence at work. And trust me, they will backstab and sabotage anyone that makes them work. |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2013-04-02 17:23 |
| #6 I cannot even post this. |
| Posted by: newc 2013-04-02 12:10 |
| #5 It's not a new phenomenon. Bloomburg (the media outfit) was lauded a few years back for having a 'lifestyle workplace', complete with restaurants, hair salons, media lounges and other mercantile outlets on premises. Apparently the concept of it being of a modern 'company town' was overlooked. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-04-02 11:12 |
| #4 http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-fallible-mind/201201/the-key-self-esteem-accomplishment |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2013-04-02 10:47 |
| #3 I forget her name but there is this psychologist at San Diego State University that states the "self esteem and award without accomplishments" of trophies for losing every game in AYSO and not having awards ceremonies to avoid huring feelings and trying to stop keeping score at little league games, and all the other feel good don't bruise the ego blather has created a generation of monsters. Self entitled, no work ethic, no sense of accomplishment, self important and technologically isolated from true socialization. Much of what she has written about predicts the behavior such as Newtown and Aurora. Everyone thinks they are "Special" and are a celebrity and will do literally anything to have their moment of fame. |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2013-04-02 10:10 |
| #2 People who think they're special will be treated especially badly by the coming economic "problems". |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2013-04-02 08:44 |
| #1 Now a generation have been raised to believe have a right to equal pay but also a right to be treated specially. While it starts out being about women, it morphs into being about 'human beings.' |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2013-04-02 08:30 |