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When you separate responsibility from authority, you create a space in which bad ideas can flourish without repercussions.
Accountability is necessary for weeding out dangerous, frivolous, promotions that lower communal trust for personal gain.
Examples include gain of function research, unrestricted AI, massive bureaucratic edifices surrounding economics, cloaking decision-makers and passing failures onto consumers, and political contributions made anonymously.
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The problem with remote work is that it gives us what we want but fails to give us what we need.
Most people understandably say they want to be away from pestering oversight and politics, be more productive with less hassle, and be allowed some personal indulgences.
Yet, in collapsing the workplace into the home, we tend to delete the excuse for the “third place,” that social space of regularity between work and home. This additional location provided a social camaraderie without necessity or responsibility. It offered the comfort and novelty missing from work and home, which we didn’t know we needed.
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Considering the “binary flip,” where oppositional stances converge into their antithesis, we must remember this is not always the case.
The flip (reversal) theory says that persistent engagement with an ‘enemy’ can lead to adopting their traits. However, Zizek offers the example of the voyeur, who steals the secrets of others, and so remains secretive, yet they will never be the original party with the same motivations. Similarly, a prohibitive father or an analyst remains separate from their subjects’ desires: the “father” must not become a sex object.
Zizek reminds us that the transformation into what we oppose is not inevitable. The crux lies in differentiating “duty’s pleasure” from “pleasure’s duty,” highlighting a pivotal divergence where doing your duty may cause pleasure, but to take pleasure from your duty is to pervert it, extracting reward as pathological motivation.
from Slavoj Zizek
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“The thing speaks for itself”
This is the legal principle that “the occurrence of an accident implies negligence.” An incident/accident proves someone was inattentive (or uncaring) earlier.
In a bureaucratic way, the professional-managerial class works to spread responsibility, which obscures blame from decision-makers and promotes negligence without consequence.
So, while the thing or event (the error) speaks loudly, accountability is smothered (in volume and quantity) by corporate and legal speak.
This dodge is itself an example of res ipsa loquitur: continued negligence is permissible, not accidental, which is the negligence of responsibility.
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Mediation introduces an external influence that alters your natural inclinations and desires.
This influence, whether from capitalism, love, or family obligations, diverts you from your inherent path towards a culturally shaped outcome.
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The scapegoat is chosen, but often, out of convenience. It is the shock of pinning the tail that becomes the story, which is what allows the tragedy to continue.
The story is what is needed, not the pricking and the marking, but the gross action sates (and creates) the sordid desire.
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If we are constantly hurt and disappointed by the world, if our system of understanding how we should be treated by others keeps failing, we need to admit that the problem is not in the world but in ourselves.
Our reactions, wants, and pains are based upon expectations not met. Our idealism sets us up for failure, which is to be hurt and victimized.
Bad things happen in the world, but our purposeful obtusity provokes repeated failure.
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Patience can appear passive, but it is widely acknowledged that it requires great willpower and discipline.
Passive patience is abdicating responsibility while playing virtuous, but active patience is setting yourself up for success in the future: you can appear patient while building skills, discipline, and fortitude to pounce when the moment is right.
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We are always complicit, but owning our part is vital.
Simplistically, there are two paths: Recognition of complicity and a lack of action, motivation, or change. This assumes you are either okay with the status quo or unmotivated to prioritize change. The other path is to be aware of your part and take responsibility: you act and practice altering your behavior patterns.
Some paradigms are so significant, such as climate change or wealth aristocracy, that change seems improbable, so we focus on what we can change: ourselves.
The goal is to become a model of possibility (people can change) and to grow internally secure enough to reverse stability and radiate outward, positively affecting global conditions.
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Forgiveness is around the corner; it is just a conversation away.
While this seems trite, if you can forgive yourself enough to be open to the conversation rather than reveling in righteousness or embarrassment, you move into a place where you rely on them to forgive you, which is their decision/responsibility.
After the apology and attempt at reconciliation, there is little more you can do, but in open acknowledgment and action, you create the opportunity for forgiveness.
