Rod and Karen discuss the gig economy pitfalls, Coronavirus, Kanye doesn’t make ballot in several states, cure for oral Herpes, Biden rejects Spencer’s endorsement, Flint gets $600 mil pay out, Jurnee Smollett on sexual harassment on set, laundry snake, All Rise writing room turmoil, Black Trump supporters fake accounts, Trump thanks low Black turnout for victory, Jeffree Star new Black boo, teen murders neighbor to go viral on TikTok, Sonic Drive-In shooting, stabbing suspect misses court date and sword ratchetness.
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The gig economy discussion is really interesting especially in light of one of the 1619 Project essays that I read recently. The gig economy as it is, is such an American led revolution because, to paraphrase Kenya Barris, of slavery.
The particular essay put lie to the notion that most of the advances in American industry occurred after they cast aside the original sin of slavery. The legend that is told basically states that the slaves were emancipated, then the republic got innovative and created the most industrious society in human history, while the opposite is true. Most of the management tools and financial practices used today have roots in slavery. Mortgages were developed as a way for potential plantation holders to acquire assets (aka, niggers) without having to pay up front. The northern banking system was built on packaging several types of debt slicing it up and selling the instruments off to various creditors to raise money to buy slaves. Sounds suspiciously like the collaterized debt obligations (CDO’s) that brought the world’s financial sector to its knees in 2008 doesn’t it?
Plantation holders collected large volumes of data on how slaves performed and made notes to track productivity. The modern spreadsheet is built on the record keeping methods that they devised. Whenever slavery is actually taught, it is implied that the punishments like whipping were actually the result of overzealous low class overseers who did these things in contravention of the Master’s wishes when in actuality whippings were a calculated punishment used selectively as disincentive to slow production. These types of punitive actions are replicated in american workplaces to this day. Even the layout of the plantation was optimized with the most productive slaves strategically placed to drive the pace of production and fields laid out in such a fashion that the slave master could see everything at all times. Sounds like an open office to me. On top of that, America is the only industrialized nation where illness can be seen as grounds for dismissal from your job.
With this history, its only fitting that the gig economy is taking hold. America has always been about squeezing the most out of its workers for the very least.
Amil
I love cussing ass Karen, LOL! And Rod’s “Mmmph, Mmmph, Mmmph” in rapid succession. Yall mannerism are a delight!
The Reading Rainbow commentary was so good! When I think about those white-led gig economies, these white dudes always think their ideas are “revolutionary” but when Black folks were doing it pre-apps, it was deemed illegal. When I was in college in Pittsburgh, PA in the early 2000s we used jitneys to get around. It was a small group of Black Elders across the city who’d only charge 2 to 20 dollars (rides usually weren’t over 20 dollars, ever). My friend also lived across the street from one of their stations, they’d just be posted up by a payphone and wait for calls to come in. I mean, they had their own dispatch and everything. You get the number for a jitney station from other Black folks who knew somebody doing it. It was very community minded, if it was found out somebody was trying to do some nefarious shit to the college kids, the community would handle you. Apparently there was a version of this in New York too among Black West Indians with g*psy cabs and the police were aggressive with shutting them down in the 80s. Now I won’t pretend like conflict would never happen among us using these services but it’s funny how we take into account all the shit these white boys miss but they get all the funding while we get all the punishment. Man, we can’t do shit in this house! Anyways, can’t wait for the interview!