David and Lee, thanks for the thoughtful comments. I don't disagree, but I worry that it's not a productive direction. I wrote this story in part to explore the idea that voters were rational and wise. If you want to make money in business, you have to embrace some form of "the customer is always right"; to attract voters, Democrats need to believe that the voters are right, rather than easily manipulated by evil propaganda. I found that sense of rightness in my own tendencies toward anti-professionalism; I explored a potential solution in the form of insisting that *everybody* has a realm in which they have something to offer.
The local trails group met last night, in part to talk about how to respond to the firings. Do we organize lots of volunteer days to maintain Forest Service trails (if USFS would even let us), participating in our community by performing these essential now-eliminated functions? Or is that playing into the oligarchs' dastardly plan? The room was split. Which is to say, each of us in the room wanted to argue both sides of that question. I don't know who everyone in that room voted for, but I like to imagine that at least one of them was MAGA, having voted against professionalization and now puzzling over the consequences of how to dismantle it.
As alluded to by other comments, many MAGA voters are anti-professional, anti-education, anti-intellectualism and anti-science not because they understand those things are the roots of the problem. They aren’t. MAGA voters see those things as roots of the problem because Republicans, always defending the oligarchs and oligarch-wannabes, have been misleading and distracting Americans for decades. Distracting Americans from the real problems. Reaganomics, racism, misogyny, income inequality and neoliberalism. Effective propaganda campaigns, a willingness to blatantly lie, talk radio, Fox News, Citizens United and corporate media have been effective tools for Republicans. A generally timid Democratic Party has also been culpable. Regardless, things are going to burn, literally and figuratively.
Having borne the brunt of anti-professionalism time and again, I can still understand your initial reaction, and that of the larger community. It seems like a loss of agency.
I can often overcome that, given a little time, in a way that the District Ranger just couldn't in the case you experienced. Wildland fire fighting is a genuinely hazardous and skilled profession. But I do have to ask you where there is a planning board that just rubber stamps staff reports? I haven't encountered that in 50+ years of practice, not at least when anything of consequence is at stake.
The first rejoinder to the loss of agency is something like, "Well, you're a plumber or an auto tech or an insurance agent. Don't you expect me to take your advice in your realm?" But that only works with people who have a realm in which they have something to offer. The nature of our society is that it would collapse without the labor of people who have very limited agency. Those folks have been sensitive about their vulnerability for as long as I can recall. And they should be. But that sensitivity is ramped way up these days, when it is more important than ever to the oligarchy that the rage is directed away from those who benefit most toward an easy target.
David and Lee, thanks for the thoughtful comments. I don't disagree, but I worry that it's not a productive direction. I wrote this story in part to explore the idea that voters were rational and wise. If you want to make money in business, you have to embrace some form of "the customer is always right"; to attract voters, Democrats need to believe that the voters are right, rather than easily manipulated by evil propaganda. I found that sense of rightness in my own tendencies toward anti-professionalism; I explored a potential solution in the form of insisting that *everybody* has a realm in which they have something to offer.
The local trails group met last night, in part to talk about how to respond to the firings. Do we organize lots of volunteer days to maintain Forest Service trails (if USFS would even let us), participating in our community by performing these essential now-eliminated functions? Or is that playing into the oligarchs' dastardly plan? The room was split. Which is to say, each of us in the room wanted to argue both sides of that question. I don't know who everyone in that room voted for, but I like to imagine that at least one of them was MAGA, having voted against professionalization and now puzzling over the consequences of how to dismantle it.
As alluded to by other comments, many MAGA voters are anti-professional, anti-education, anti-intellectualism and anti-science not because they understand those things are the roots of the problem. They aren’t. MAGA voters see those things as roots of the problem because Republicans, always defending the oligarchs and oligarch-wannabes, have been misleading and distracting Americans for decades. Distracting Americans from the real problems. Reaganomics, racism, misogyny, income inequality and neoliberalism. Effective propaganda campaigns, a willingness to blatantly lie, talk radio, Fox News, Citizens United and corporate media have been effective tools for Republicans. A generally timid Democratic Party has also been culpable. Regardless, things are going to burn, literally and figuratively.
Having borne the brunt of anti-professionalism time and again, I can still understand your initial reaction, and that of the larger community. It seems like a loss of agency.
I can often overcome that, given a little time, in a way that the District Ranger just couldn't in the case you experienced. Wildland fire fighting is a genuinely hazardous and skilled profession. But I do have to ask you where there is a planning board that just rubber stamps staff reports? I haven't encountered that in 50+ years of practice, not at least when anything of consequence is at stake.
The first rejoinder to the loss of agency is something like, "Well, you're a plumber or an auto tech or an insurance agent. Don't you expect me to take your advice in your realm?" But that only works with people who have a realm in which they have something to offer. The nature of our society is that it would collapse without the labor of people who have very limited agency. Those folks have been sensitive about their vulnerability for as long as I can recall. And they should be. But that sensitivity is ramped way up these days, when it is more important than ever to the oligarchy that the rage is directed away from those who benefit most toward an easy target.
Let’s do something! Let’s tear it down.
Fun to talk about. Harder to live through.