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Best part was in the footnotes. > There was a time when average Americans could get together and, in one afternoon, build an entire barn. > Yes! A barn! Can y

by _xnmw 3y ago

Best part was in the footnotes. > There was a time when average Americans could get together and, in one afternoon, build an entire barn. > Yes! A barn! Can you imagine average Americans doing that today? Not a chance! > They’d spend weeks debating the membership and organizational structure of the Barn Architect Selection Committee, whose members would then get into a lengthy squabble over the design of the logo to appear on their letterhead. Ultimately this issue would become a bitter and drawn-out dispute, be taken to court, and the people involved would start complaining of depression and anxiety, and psychologists would announce that these people were victims of a new disease called Barn Committee Logo Dispute Distress Syndrome, or BCLDDS, which would become the subject of one-hour shows by Phil Donahue and Sally Jessy Raphael, after which millions of Americans would realize that they, too, were suffering from BCLDDS, and they’d form support groups with Hot Line numbers and twelve-step programs. That’s what we modern Americans do.

deleted 3y ago
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jrumbut 3y ago
The Logo Subcommittee of the Barn Architect Selection Committee actually sounds like something Americans would form back in the halcyon days when we did build things. Some mediocre little guy got to call himself "subcommittee chairman" and be king for a day while he made pronouncements on barn logos (and got a little experience in leadership for future occasions). Everyone who cared about the barn logo had their say, got to give input and be heard, and so they felt they owned the end result. The committee was inefficient as hell, but the end result was that people were bought in because they got a little slice of the power and prestige. They didn't just get paid, they got a little standing in the community. They made their mark of the whole project and that feeling is one of the greatest motivators to work in the world. So when it came time to raise the barn they were dynamos because they wanted to see their logo on high. Compare that to today when I give my TaskRabbit barn raiser $200 to raise my barn. They aren't invested in the success of the barn, they just want to do the least barn raising for the most money while I want them to raise the most barn for the least dollars. Our relationship is adversarial. I'm under no obligation to listen to anything the barn raiser has to say and the only way they can express dissatisfaction is by quitting.
- creer 3y ago
  That's fair, yes. At the same time when the process takes long enough, it's hard to retain any sense of ownership by the end. Exhaustion is more like it.
bluGill 3y ago
While the barn was built in a day, months were spend before hand perparing. All the lumber was prepared by a much small group. Building a barn (the old way - without modern cranes) requires many many humans to lift and old large heavy beams into place while other parts are all set together. Eventually it becomes self supporting and everyone can go home, but there is a time when you need dozens of humans all working together or the job cannot be done. This was carefully planned, and everyone coming to a barn raising would check (to various amounts depending on how much you trusted the organizer) that all the premade parts were already made so that they could get done in a day. Even after the barn was built there often was a lot time between a barn shaped building, and a building you could use for barn purposes. The barn raising is a big event that has obvious visual progress. I've seen bridged being built - they work for months with seaming little progress (putting in foundations!) before they put up beams - before then it looks like nothing, then in a few days they have the beams up and they are painting lines on the new bridge.

by _xnmw 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

jrumbut 3y ago

The Logo Subcommittee of the Barn Architect Selection Committee actually sounds like something Americans would form back in the halcyon days when we did build things. Some mediocre little guy got to call himself "subcommittee chairman" and be king for a day while he made pronouncements on barn logos (and got a little experience in leadership for future occasions). Everyone who cared about the barn logo had their say, got to give input and be heard, and so they felt they owned the end result. The committee was inefficient as hell, but the end result was that people were bought in because they got a little slice of the power and prestige. They didn't just get paid, they got a little standing in the community. They made their mark of the whole project and that feeling is one of the greatest motivators to work in the world. So when it came time to raise the barn they were dynamos because they wanted to see their logo on high. Compare that to today when I give my TaskRabbit barn raiser $200 to raise my barn. They aren't invested in the success of the barn, they just want to do the least barn raising for the most money while I want them to raise the most barn for the least dollars. Our relationship is adversarial. I'm under no obligation to listen to anything the barn raiser has to say and the only way they can express dissatisfaction is by quitting.

creer 3y ago
That's fair, yes. At the same time when the process takes long enough, it's hard to retain any sense of ownership by the end. Exhaustion is more like it.

bluGill 3y ago

While the barn was built in a day, months were spend before hand perparing. All the lumber was prepared by a much small group. Building a barn (the old way - without modern cranes) requires many many humans to lift and old large heavy beams into place while other parts are all set together. Eventually it becomes self supporting and everyone can go home, but there is a time when you need dozens of humans all working together or the job cannot be done. This was carefully planned, and everyone coming to a barn raising would check (to various amounts depending on how much you trusted the organizer) that all the premade parts were already made so that they could get done in a day. Even after the barn was built there often was a lot time between a barn shaped building, and a building you could use for barn purposes. The barn raising is a big event that has obvious visual progress. I've seen bridged being built - they work for months with seaming little progress (putting in foundations!) before they put up beams - before then it looks like nothing, then in a few days they have the beams up and they are painting lines on the new bridge.