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"Do what I say or I'll cut off your income, depriving you of food and shelter" is exactly the kind of authoritarianism I'm talking about.
by djrobstep 5y ago
"Do what I say or I'll cut off your income, depriving you of food and shelter" is exactly the kind of authoritarianism I'm talking about.
- missedthecue 5y agoBasecamp isn't the only way on earth that these people can make an income
- djrobstep 5y agoSo as long as you can take your pick between a number of different authoritarian situations, that's OK?
- cercatrova 5y agoAre you a socialist/communist? I've only heard socialists talk in these types of terms, "authoritarian" "totalitarian" etc when referring to the workplace.
- djrobstep 5y agoI'm simply trying to get to the heart of people's beliefs, and understand why they think the way they do.
- cercatrova 5y agoWell I'd say that companies, unlike governments in a nation, are myriad, and one has choices as to where to go. Similarly, the founders should retain as much control as they wish, as do the employees, as it's a bilateral contract. Now, for companies that essentially force workers to work, such as minimum wage shops, I have no sympathy for them.
- djrobstep 5y agoGovernments are myriad, just like companies are. There are hundreds to choose from, and one has choices as to where to go.
- cercatrova 5y agoSure, and if people don't like one, they are free to move to another country as well. Although this is harder by at least an order of magnitude than switching jobs of course.
- anm89 5y agoNo you aren't. You are hurling pejoratives around to win a point. As noted above, you are not even using the pejoratives correctly.
- missedthecue 5y agoThis is in no way "authoritarian". Basecamp is saying that if you want to sell your labor to them, they have a few requirements. Plenty of companies have this. Is making employees wear or uniform or wash their hands when they leave the restroom authoritarian? After all, if they don't follow those rules, they'll be fired and their income streams will be cut off.
- djrobstep 5y agoIt's fine for a job to have requirements, but why shouldn't those requirements be decided in a more democratic way?
- missedthecue 5y agoBecause the employees aren't buying their own labor. Why should they get a part in the decision about how someone else spends their money?
- djrobstep 5y agoBecause that's called plutocracy, which is bad. Things should be governed by democratic principles rather than plutocratic principles. Particularly in the context of a workplace, where the workers are the ones actually doing all the work.
- cercatrova 5y ago> Because that's called plutocracy, which is bad. Things should be governed by democratic principles rather than plutocratic principles. This is a value judgment not shared by everyone. One/few person rule can be quite efficient in certain tasks such as rapid development and deployment of resources, because you can cut through red tape. At the same time, it can be inefficient in other tasks.