The modern world system has become quite adept at adapting rational management in all spheres of human existence. Nonetheless and quite often, just managing rationally, without clarity about what is being managed, has created undesirable consequences. Well-managed outfit in the realm of ‘organized crime’ is not something society eagerly welcomes. In fact and in this and other similar cases, the more efficient and rational the management, the more disparaging the outcome, at least to a society that still espouses decency! In late modernity, preoccupation with the means without critically examining the end has become the norm and is leading the world astray!
In this regard, the so-called global institutions of learning (or more appropriately, institutions of indoctrination) as well as those concerned about the daily routines of overall governance (of all kinds; economic, political, etc.) do no seem to be genuinely concerned about critical reflections. Trying to understand lived experiences and projecting their import towards the future should have triggered processes leading to enlightenment. Instead, the obsession of the status quo is to make sure the global sheeple will remain doggedly fixated on its grazing, willingly supplied (the forage that is) by globally operating dominant interests. Just like the old bread & circus gimmick (Roman empire, et al.) The very idea of thinking ‘outside the box’ has become subversive to the top dogs of the world order and their institutions, including the mills, i.e., the universities. To make sure nothing changes, rot learning and ‘copy-catting’ are encouraged across the board. Moreover, to deepen this idiotic venture, which pervades modern existence, the global status quo selectively but generously rewards the most obedient of the human drones. Those deemed gullible/pliable are celebrated, while critics are visibly penalized, to send the message home, so to speak!
Why the global obsession with management efficiency? Here is how we see it. The crux of the matter is; one cannot manage in a vacuum. There must be something to be managed, like a Mafiosi operation or something like a state. In a world system bent on commodifying all and sundry, the efficient management of unsustainability became the raison d’etre of the modern nation state itself! For instance, ‘Mafiosi States’, which are states behind the formally established states, have become quite plentiful in our interstate system. Why? Because these entities can effectively diffuse the independent agendas of invigorated states, i.e., states that have been recaptured by their sheeple (human mass). The ‘deep state’ of the powerful nations plays a significant role in the fabrication of such ‘Mafiosi States’ in the peripheries and semi-peripheries. Think Venezuela! In addition, to these, other entities are being considered, again by the ‘deep state’, to take over the management of certain critical missions. For example, initiating and conducting wars on behalf of formal nation-states, without the states themselves being directly involved, is one new way of handling the delicate business of war! Mercenary Corporations are being established as proxy initiators and active managers of wars! These well-managed outfits, private contractors, as they are called by MSM (Main Stream Media, whish is part & parcel of the deep state) are now in bidding wars for the privileges of waging actual wars across the planet!
At the same time, the state, under the leadership of transnational capital, officially and we might even say proudly, is fully occupied in the advancement of the killing industry, via what is euphemistically called, the ‘defense industry’. See Klikauer’s article next column.
Just because the killing industry unfailingly produces more efficient killing arsenals/weaponry doesn’t mean the world is better off. As expected, modern management is significantly contributing to this powerful life-destroying component of the modern state. Naturally, the psychos will not agree to such an opinion. By effectively managing the industry, the psychopaths claim, they can produce new and more potent WMDs that can kill a lot more people or cause much more destructions than previously employed WMD. In other words and ironically, the lousier the management in the production/management of weaponry, the better off humanity becomes. In this regard, one can say the legendary mismanagement of the Pentagon and its operations, are contributing rather smartly, and of course in a rather round about way, to the retardation of global wars. Long-live inefficiency! See page 41.
The mortal sin of the existing system is its unrelenting drive to commodify everything under the sun. Outer space is now game to the Facebooks and Amazons of this world, to say nothing about other major state players. This commodification does not even spare the naturally secluded sphere of human intimacy. A lot of our modern relationships, marriages, etc. are based, rather superficially, on the efficient business model of giving and taking (Gandhi). Also and not surprisingly, the efficient management of unethical paradigms is being celebrated the world over. Preachers are famous not because they give solace to the emotionally distressed, but because they have become very rich. In fact their mission has increasingly distanced itself from the poor and working stiff. A doctor is considered a ‘god’, not because of saving thousands of lives, but because of his ungodly ways of incessant accumulation, etc., etc. Note that lawyers, accountants, consultants, etc., all reside in the universe of the professions. As a result of their unparalleled management proficiency they form a class of their own. This is why we have the ‘ambulance chasers’ (crooked lawyers) or the ‘book cookers’ (crooked accountants) or the banksters (crooked bankers).
Herein lies one of the major structural deficits of the modern world system. It is operational proficiency and not the underlying objectives (high moral/ethical standards, good governance, equitable economies, peaceful collective existence, etc.) that are getting real attention. Hoodwinked by their own stupid learning, our bureaucratic states are not pursuing sustainable or resilient futures. To the contrary, they are actively engaged in managing destruction or unsustainability. And of course this behavior gets them rewarded, as they are nothing more than mere appendages/tools of transnational capital. Don’t forget, everything is there to support the veiled criminality of the global order. Criminality against nature, criminality against the sheeple, criminality against intellect, criminality against social harmony, etc., etc.! So long as everybody is converted to a money worshipping daft, everything else will fall into place, as meticulously planned by the power that be! ‘We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the duty of intelligent people. If liberty means anything at all, it is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.’ George Orwell. “Perfection of means and confusion of ends characterizes our times.” Albert Einstein. Good Day!