Contra Cabal 301-13-00 - Sparky and the Wizard

Sparky and the Wizard: Vocational Classism

In a recent Contra Cabal article, Mark Q. Thomas drew attention to the recent spread of racial profiling beyond the racial component into what he termed “classism”. Ralph Sharp brings a different and important perspective to the same economic topic.

Here in the United States, (where I currently reside), we have a President and his administration who have been waging war, both physically and ideologically. While the physical war in Iraq is self-evident, the ideological war being waged is more insidious and more dangerous than even bombs and artillery could ever be. [Racial Profiling]

According to G. W. Bush and his cronies, thinking thoughts that question the omniscient nature of his administration's decisions and actions are "unacceptable". To want American troops withdrawn from a conflict that was entered into on the basis of lies and distortion is "disloyal" and "unpatriotic". To vote for any political party other than their own is directly aiding terrorists, and is tantamount to treason.

When New York Times published an article about the efforts of the government to monitor banking transactions (a report about a program that Bush himself had announced as evidence of his ongoing efforts to combat terrorism), the editors of New York Times were vilified and denounced by Bush, his vice president Cheney, Republican members of our elected representative body on the floor of Congress, and his ideological minions in the media as having committed a treasonous act, worthy of trial and execution - all this for exercising their right to free speech.

After enduring many months of such propaganda during the run up to the most recent mid-term elections, I was shocked and amazed that I found myself wanting to behave in the same disreputable manner when confronted by an electrician who believed his job was more important than any other.

I was put in mind of a short story by the renowned science fiction author Robert Heinlein. "The Roads Must Roll" is a science fiction short story published in nineteen-forty about wide, rapidly moving passenger platforms (like moving sidewalks, but much faster). These roads combine the features of highways and highway towns, and all goes smoothly until there is union trouble.

Heinlein's themes are technological change and social cohesion. The (fictional) social movement he calls "functionalism" (which is unrelated to the real-life sociological theory of the same name) believes that one's status and level of material reward in a society must and should depend on the functions one performs for that society.

In "The Roads Must Roll", the technicians who maintain the San Diego to Reno roadway are duped into believing that their role in maintaining the nation's transport infrastructure is more important than that of any other workers, and that they should therefore be rewarded more highly than any others. To demonstrate their importance and press their claims, they stop the central one hundred mph strip, causing transportation chaos and many casualties. Eventually, through a combination of clear thinking, swift paramilitary action by uniformed cadets, and appeals to patriotism, order is restored and the villains are brought to justice.

I was struck by how much this story reflected arguments concerning the inherent superior value to society of my electrician’s occupation. While it is true that electricity forms the basis of almost all of modern society, the electrician’s occupation, as someone who provides access to electricity, is no more fundamental or of intrinsic value than hundreds of other professions.

If all the truck drivers, or all the airline pilots, or all the cooks and bottle washers, or the myriad "hewers of wood and fetchers of water" who allow our social infrastructure to function were to go on strike, this would produce as equally a disastrous a result as if there were no electricians. If all the operators of computers were to quit, planes would not fly, business would not be transacted, phones would not work, and the discussion board on which the electrician was expressing his opinion would not function.

Who, then, provides the more essential service to society? "No man is an island", and to dismiss anyone's profession as unnecessary or marginal does not recognize the complex and mutually dependant nature of modern society.

Up until one hundred years ago, the profession of electrician was unknown, but society seemed to function and the human race survived for five million years without it. To claim that it is inherently more valuable to human existence than any other profession, and is therefore worthy of more reward, is illogical and short-sighted.

Surely the electrician does not claim that because he exhibits the same disregard for danger as base jumpers and Brahma bull riders, he is entitled to more compensation than someone whose job doesn't require the same caution to avoid personal injury. If that reasoning applied, then timber cutters, fishers, pilots and navigators, structural metal workers, drivers, sales workers, and roofers would be the most highly paid workers in the United States today. [Ten Most Dangerous Jobs]

Certainly the electrician cannot suggest that he is the producer of electricity. While "sparks may fly from his fingertips", (at least on a day in which he has let his guard down), he alone did not create the power grid or the facilities that generate the electricity. He merely connects the wires that allow the product of an infrastructure, dependent on the combined efforts of many diverse occupations, to reach its final users.

Because he is so bold as to change a light switch without opening the breaker first, does that entitle him to more compensation than I, whose efforts allow my clients to do hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of business and which provides goods and services to millions? Am I supposed to be impressed that some little old lady was shocked that the electrician is smart enough not to touch the red and black wires together while installing a ceiling fan? I am put in mind of the words attributed to Voltaire: "I disagree with what you have to say, but I will fight to the death to protect your right to say it".