John Hultberg, "Road Through the Labyrinth" (1979)
John Hultberg, Road Through the Labyrinth (1979)
Can a Game Be Literature?

Mark's Pages

February 27, 2013:

What is the "it" that these people believe they uniquely "get"?

- That process is evil, so that all accomplishment happens through interpersonal relationships.

- That documentation is wasted time, so that the "institutional knowledge" concealed in the heads of individuals becomes both totem and fetish.

- That automation is impossible, and anyway, the clever ones note to themselves but not aloud, will make you unnecessary.

- That advancement through the ranks requires heroic commitment of personal liberty, that is, time, so that the managers are the employees least capable of changing the above.

- That longevity with the organization is the primary criterion for evaluating success, so that the long-term veterans' careers are stagnant, they're unemployable elsewhere, and they're resistant to new practices adopted outside their organizational bunker.

- That the glue holding this all together is made of frozen yogurt and coffee, soft symbols of caring better described as patronizing bullshit if we wanted at this point to break out of the circle.

Having broken out, let's call it what it is: a cult. Whose products are rampant narcissism, denial, and overwhelming failure.