5 ms·

Replace "prison" with "large corporation" and this advice works also applies.

js8 10y ago
I disagree. If you want an easy path through life, then by all means, go with it. It applies to any hierarchical community that you can't easily quit. It could very well apply to say totalitarian regime. But large corporation, while sometimes being comparable in bureaucracy (and bullshit and politicking) to totalitarian states, you can quit easily without much effect on your life. In fact, I think this is the basic advantage of capitalist over communist regime. You can be critical to a corporation, at least to an extent. You can take more risks. The stakes are much lower.
- tloble 10y ago
  Wait, what does communism have to do with this?
  - js8 10y ago
    I mean communist regime, like in Eastern Europe, not the ideology. I understand the difference. The point is, in communist regime, it used to be, if you upset some big shot in the communist party, or were just a troublemaker, it went onto your file, it affected your family, and nothing short of emigration could clean that. In other words, there was a central hierarchy in the society that you had to conform to. So the same advice as in the article applies to any such hierarchical regime that affects your entire life. While corporations in capitalism are also hierarchical, the risk to ruining your life is much less, because you can always change the corporation and start with a clean slate. Your family is not affected (or only very rarely). Even in hierarchical system of corporation, this gives you freedom that is incomparable to being in prison or under totalitarian government. It's of course up to you if you choose to exercise that freedom.. It may backfire (with bad bosses), but it may also be worth it (with good bosses) and most importantly, it can be lot more fun.
    - arethuza 10y ago
      "If you upset some big shot in the communist party, or were just a troublemaker, it went onto your file" In the UK in the 1960s and 1970s upsetting a large company could get you investigated by MI5 and you could go on their files. See: The Black Door: Spies, Secret Intelligence and British Prime Ministers by Richard Aldrich & Rory Cormac [Mind you I'd rather have the attention of the Security Service than the Stasi - but the behaviour is similar, treating dissent as insurrection].
      - pavel_lishin 10y ago
        And in the United States, if too many of your friends were suspected of being communists, etc.
        pekk 10y ago
        While this was bad by US standards, it is in no way comparable to the Stasi or the Gulags.
        pavel_lishin 10y ago
        Sure, I was making the comparison to the UK.
        Pica_soO 10y ago
        While this species is bad by Earth standards, it is in no way comparable to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. Get some perspective.
      - RobertoG 10y ago
        "In the UK in the 1960s and 1970s [..] could get you investigated by MI5 and you could go on their files." That's discrimination. Luckily, they solved the problem in a clever way: now we are all in their files.
      - js8 10y ago
        Even though I agree it can be true in some cases, I think the extent with which this happens is incomparable to dictatorships (and especially the ones with state-owned enterprises). In capitalism, while the interests of large corporations are sometimes aligned with the interests of the government, they are still somewhat competing with each other and they form different hierarchies.
unoti 10y ago
If you're serving your time at a large corporation, it's good advice. If you're trying to accomplish things with a team in a large corporation it's harder to figure out the appropriate application of those rules to daily life in a team.

js8 10y ago

I disagree. If you want an easy path through life, then by all means, go with it. It applies to any hierarchical community that you can't easily quit. It could very well apply to say totalitarian regime. But large corporation, while sometimes being comparable in bureaucracy (and bullshit and politicking) to totalitarian states, you can quit easily without much effect on your life. In fact, I think this is the basic advantage of capitalist over communist regime. You can be critical to a corporation, at least to an extent. You can take more risks. The stakes are much lower.

tloble 10y ago
Wait, what does communism have to do with this?
- js8 10y ago
  I mean communist regime, like in Eastern Europe, not the ideology. I understand the difference. The point is, in communist regime, it used to be, if you upset some big shot in the communist party, or were just a troublemaker, it went onto your file, it affected your family, and nothing short of emigration could clean that. In other words, there was a central hierarchy in the society that you had to conform to. So the same advice as in the article applies to any such hierarchical regime that affects your entire life. While corporations in capitalism are also hierarchical, the risk to ruining your life is much less, because you can always change the corporation and start with a clean slate. Your family is not affected (or only very rarely). Even in hierarchical system of corporation, this gives you freedom that is incomparable to being in prison or under totalitarian government. It's of course up to you if you choose to exercise that freedom.. It may backfire (with bad bosses), but it may also be worth it (with good bosses) and most importantly, it can be lot more fun.
  - arethuza 10y ago
    "If you upset some big shot in the communist party, or were just a troublemaker, it went onto your file" In the UK in the 1960s and 1970s upsetting a large company could get you investigated by MI5 and you could go on their files. See: The Black Door: Spies, Secret Intelligence and British Prime Ministers by Richard Aldrich & Rory Cormac [Mind you I'd rather have the attention of the Security Service than the Stasi - but the behaviour is similar, treating dissent as insurrection].
    - pavel_lishin 10y ago
      And in the United States, if too many of your friends were suspected of being communists, etc.
      - pekk 10y ago
        While this was bad by US standards, it is in no way comparable to the Stasi or the Gulags.
        pavel_lishin 10y ago
        Sure, I was making the comparison to the UK.
        Pica_soO 10y ago
        While this species is bad by Earth standards, it is in no way comparable to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. Get some perspective.
    - RobertoG 10y ago
      "In the UK in the 1960s and 1970s [..] could get you investigated by MI5 and you could go on their files." That's discrimination. Luckily, they solved the problem in a clever way: now we are all in their files.
    - js8 10y ago
      Even though I agree it can be true in some cases, I think the extent with which this happens is incomparable to dictatorships (and especially the ones with state-owned enterprises). In capitalism, while the interests of large corporations are sometimes aligned with the interests of the government, they are still somewhat competing with each other and they form different hierarchies.

unoti 10y ago

If you're serving your time at a large corporation, it's good advice. If you're trying to accomplish things with a team in a large corporation it's harder to figure out the appropriate application of those rules to daily life in a team.