Overview
This is a Session within the Topic
A Pledge is thoughtfulness about your profession
Take this Pledge
X
Take this Pledge
Taking a Pledge is agreeing to simple, basic thoughtfulness in a profession. It is a new kind of Hippocratic Oath - a dynamic, active way to think about and decide on what you do and how you operate in your working life.
– Taking the Pledge does not mean that you agree with each (or any) perspectives.
– Decide on each Pledge perspective separately.
– Deactivate the Pledge itself at any time.
Learn more
Pledge Perspectives
Explore each perspective and vote on it.
Which do you support? How can you help others and make the community better?
Which do you support? How can you help others and make the community better?
Add a View
X
Add a Perspective to this Topic Session
Perspectives are simple statements on any perspective or opinion about the Topic. Our goal is to present a wide variety of varying opinions - both for and against a situation - so users can explore and decide on the Topic as a whole.
Before adding a Perspective, please look at those already listed on this page and vote on them.
Suggestions:
► Try to include a variety of Perspectives, including those you absolutely disagree with. The fact that you've added a Perspective doesn't mean you agree with it!
►
A Perspective is any point of view. It could be something insightful and inspiring, or blunt and unexpected.
► Don't include backup facts or longer explanations or justifications - use Resources for that.
Before adding a Perspective, please look at those already listed on this page and vote on them.
You must be logged in to Add a Perspective to this Topic
Not a member of Visionary Society? Register
Pledge Resources (1)
Resources in this Pledge. Visit an individual Pledge Perspective for relevant Resources.
Text: Mechanical Man and Organization Man
X
Eichmann's answer is probably given five thousand times a day in America alone
"Eichmann's answer is probably given five thousand times a day in America alone: I have no responsibility for the human consequences of my decisions. I am only responsible for the efficiency of my part of the bureaucracy." Neil Postman, Technopoly, 87
Organization man
“To follow the program, to obey instructions, to ‘pass the buck,’ to be uninvolved as a person in the needs of other persons, to limit responses to what lies immediately, so to say, on the desk, to heed no relevant human considerations, however vital: never to question the origin of an order or inquire as to its ultimate destination: to follow through every command, however irrational, to make no judgments of value or relevance about the work in hand, finally to eliminate feelings or emotions or rational moral misgivings that might interfere with the immediate dispatch of work – these are the standard duties of the bureaucrat: and these are the conditions under with Organization Man flourishes, a virtual automaton within a collective system of automation. The model for Organization Man is the machine itself. And as the mechanism grows more perfect, the residue of life needed to carry on the process becomes more minute and meaningless.” Lewis Mumford, The Myth of the Machine, page 278
We are mechanical
“The Mechanical Man is the symbol of our times. He may be reluctant and cynical toward his own docility, but he is always docile enough. The loudest propaganda always wins his allegiance because he expects to be led by those who make the most noise. He is the reason for the success of most of modern advertising, which operates on the principle of "conditioning" the public with phrases and catch-words until people move in a dazed condition to purchase without any clear desire for what they buy.” Manas, Feb 25, 1948 (See complete essay)
Bureaucrats base their decisions on fixed rules… rather than on response to the living beings who stand before them. Erich Fromm
"The bureaucratic method is controlled by statistical data: the bureaucrats base their decisions on fixed rules arrived at from statistical data, rather than on response to the living beings who stand before them."
The bureaucratic method can be defined as one that (a) administers human beings as if they were things and (b) administers things in quantitative rather than qualitative terms, in order to make quantification and control easier and cheaper. The bureaucratic method is controlled by statistical data: the bureaucrats base their decisions on fixed rules arrived at from statistical data, rather than on response to the living beings who stand before them; they decide issues according to what is statistically most likely to be the case, at the risk of hurting the 5 or 10 percent of those who do not fit into that pattern. Bureaucrats fear personal responsibility and seek refuge behind their rules; their security and pride lie in their loyalty to rules, not in their loyalty to the laws of the human heart.
Once the living human being is reduced to a number, the true bureaucrats can commit acts of utter cruelty, not because they are driven by cruelty of a magnitude commensurate to their deeds, but because they feel no human bond to their subjects. While less vile than pure sadists, the bureaucrats are more dangerous, because in them there is not even a conflict between conscience and duty; their conscience is doing their duty; human beings as objects of empathy and compassion do not exist for them.
Erich Fromm, The Sane Society
Every bureaucrat says the same thing, "I'm just doing my job"
“When someone gets arrested for violating one of the thousands of preferential laws that put nonviolent people behind bars, they are handled by people who accept no responsibility whatsoever for results of their actions. Every step of the way from the arresting mercenary to the final executioner, every bureaucrat says the same thing, “I’m just doing my job.” They are not allowed to have an opinion about the moral values of the laws that they are enforcing and they are not trained to use their…” Blog comment, 2012
"Eichmann's answer is probably given five thousand times a day in America alone: I have no responsibility for the human consequences of my decisions. I am only responsible for the efficiency of my part of the bureaucracy." Neil Postman, Technopoly, 87
Organization man
“To follow the program, to obey instructions, to ‘pass the buck,’ to be uninvolved as a person in the needs of other persons, to limit responses to what lies immediately, so to say, on the desk, to heed no relevant human considerations, however vital: never to question the origin of an order or inquire as to its ultimate destination: to follow through every command, however irrational, to make no judgments of value or relevance about the work in hand, finally to eliminate feelings or emotions or rational moral misgivings that might interfere with the immediate dispatch of work – these are the standard duties of the bureaucrat: and these are the conditions under with Organization Man flourishes, a virtual automaton within a collective system of automation. The model for Organization Man is the machine itself. And as the mechanism grows more perfect, the residue of life needed to carry on the process becomes more minute and meaningless.” Lewis Mumford, The Myth of the Machine, page 278
We are mechanical
“The Mechanical Man is the symbol of our times. He may be reluctant and cynical toward his own docility, but he is always docile enough. The loudest propaganda always wins his allegiance because he expects to be led by those who make the most noise. He is the reason for the success of most of modern advertising, which operates on the principle of "conditioning" the public with phrases and catch-words until people move in a dazed condition to purchase without any clear desire for what they buy.” Manas, Feb 25, 1948 (See complete essay)
Bureaucrats base their decisions on fixed rules… rather than on response to the living beings who stand before them. Erich Fromm
"The bureaucratic method is controlled by statistical data: the bureaucrats base their decisions on fixed rules arrived at from statistical data, rather than on response to the living beings who stand before them."
The bureaucratic method can be defined as one that (a) administers human beings as if they were things and (b) administers things in quantitative rather than qualitative terms, in order to make quantification and control easier and cheaper. The bureaucratic method is controlled by statistical data: the bureaucrats base their decisions on fixed rules arrived at from statistical data, rather than on response to the living beings who stand before them; they decide issues according to what is statistically most likely to be the case, at the risk of hurting the 5 or 10 percent of those who do not fit into that pattern. Bureaucrats fear personal responsibility and seek refuge behind their rules; their security and pride lie in their loyalty to rules, not in their loyalty to the laws of the human heart.
Once the living human being is reduced to a number, the true bureaucrats can commit acts of utter cruelty, not because they are driven by cruelty of a magnitude commensurate to their deeds, but because they feel no human bond to their subjects. While less vile than pure sadists, the bureaucrats are more dangerous, because in them there is not even a conflict between conscience and duty; their conscience is doing their duty; human beings as objects of empathy and compassion do not exist for them.
Erich Fromm, The Sane Society
Every bureaucrat says the same thing, "I'm just doing my job"
“When someone gets arrested for violating one of the thousands of preferential laws that put nonviolent people behind bars, they are handled by people who accept no responsibility whatsoever for results of their actions. Every step of the way from the arresting mercenary to the final executioner, every bureaucrat says the same thing, “I’m just doing my job.” They are not allowed to have an opinion about the moral values of the laws that they are enforcing and they are not trained to use their…” Blog comment, 2012
Neil Postman, Lewis Mumford, Erich Fromm
Add a Resource
X
Add a Resource
Is there an inspiring speech, talk, insight, play, song, painting or performance that you would like to share?
Resources may be from a famous writer, a friend or teacher, a comment in a blog, a brilliant recording, a great poem, or anything else!
Resources may be from a famous writer, a friend or teacher, a comment in a blog, a brilliant recording, a great poem, or anything else!
Reach the heart of a Pledge
Pledges are...
Begin by exploring and voting on Pledge Perspectives.
Learn more
Ask the community to support this Request
X
Create Proposal
What do you want to share with the community?
What do you want to see in the world?
How do you want to make the world better?
What do you want to see in the world?
How do you want to make the world better?
Guidelines:
– The item should primarily serve others, rather than a personal or business interest.
– It should be beneficial to others, by providing a practical or lasting benefit.
– Choose the options you need to create the experience you want. You may ask for support or up/down voting, schedule a meeting (and ask for RSVP), raise funds, or allow comments.
You must be logged in to add an Offering.
Not a member of Visionary Society? Register
Invitation Card
Print this card
and give to any
and to anyone who might support it.
Offer a true welcome for an idea you believe in!