For some reason, I am feeling decidedly anti-bureaucracy today. Does
this ever happen to you? What is it about bureaucracy that it is so
difficult, that drives us mad? Let me give an obvious answer that you
would expect from some cultural anthropology type like myself: it's
because of the inhumanity of it all. The inhumanity of some
bureaucracies can become so thick that they turn us all into blithering
fools.
We get backed into a corner, with no place to turn. Our
choices are cut off--we are stuck with the hassles of lines, rules, and
forms. We wait on phones, we try to find official offices with no
address. You know what I'm talking about. We become not just fools in
this process, but blithering fools. But there is power in the
inefficiency of bureaucracies--Weber knew that, as did many others. You
know that too, don't you? If you want to know more about this, please click here for more options.
Apologies
for that...there must be some sort of glitch in the system. I will
send out a request for someone to post a note about composing an email
to resolve this issue at a later date. Please wait.
In the mean time, if you haven't read David Graeber's "Beyond
power/knowledge: an exploration of the relation of power, ignorance and
stupidity," well, you should. Here is your chance.
Let me give you a short example of the hilarity of bureaucracy from some of my recent travel experiences:
Read the rest on Savage Minds.
