Thursday, May 6, 2010
CNN's 30 Seconds of Exploitation
I watched CNN's 30 second pitch today May 6th 2010. A lovely middle-aged woman, single parent, and accomplished graphic artist who has applied to 500 jobs in 3 years. This was CNN "helping" her "sell" herself to potential employers. As I watched the segment, I found myself feeling the acute disgust of indignity as a human being begs for a job, beg for the ability to sustain herself. As I watched the display my revulsion grew as it was clear that the exploitative nature of this is merely the symptom of a culture that fails to recognize how degraded and life-negating this society continues to become. Now, I too get to enjoy the splendor of selling myself so, CNN pick me so I can put on my best shirt and best fake smile and beg for a job! Sometimes starvation sounds like a good idea.
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Yeah it's definitely gross to watch segments like that. Especially if she's been looking for a job for the last 3 years and can't a job that her degree is in. You seriously got to sell yourself in this society and as much as that sucks, you gotta do what you gotta do. I wonder how many of those jobs she applied for are actually in graphic design. I remember having to take some jobs, even as a grad student in philosophy, that had nothing at all to do with critical reasoning. Hell, I was always over qualified.
ReplyDeleteYou are right my friend, there are many unpleasantry's in life, but I question the "you gotta do what you gotta do" and ask "ought we have to do what we have to do?" We are taught from a young age in our culture that you have to do this or that because it is the nature of things. In a brief exchange with an young Australian woman, she pointed out what characterizes American culture "take as much as you can" and I added "and fuck everyone else". My thoughts on this unfortunate Machiavellian approach is the devastating consequences to peoples lives like that woman. This sort of egoism collapses under its own weight and drags everyone how with it, as we have witnesses in the last two years of economic depression. It is not so much that I should get to do what I want, but why we still persist in accepting the state of affairs as it is. The power of Marx compels you!
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