Class Warfare: The Service/Professional Economy

We read pretty far into this before deeming it worthy (Other than the phrase "one of the most important and influential voices under 40 working in the conservative space." Stop, you fucking hippy.) of linking & some copying. And a better than 50% chance we'll finish reading it. (Partly because the "service/professional economy" does not have a good ring to it, & we're curious.)

These right-wing videos take this and amplify a particularly interesting part of the service/professionalized economy. When so much of our economy is driven by professionals there is a lot of work done in making sure that there are layers of people between the consumer and the professional. The professional’s time is valuable money, and so its usually beneficially to get layers of cheaper, less professional service staff on board as vetting intermediaries.  You don’t want the expensive brain surgeon making sure you’ve filled out your address and contact information correctly or taking your temperature – that’s why there’s a secretary and a nurse in-between these steps at the hospital.

What the right-wing videos do – the ACORN and the Planned Parenthood ones – is present the front-line staff as the actual decision making professionals. They make it seem like the first person you talk with in the door is the one who signs off on the actual decisions. Notice the Ryan Grim article on Planned Parenthood – the “scandal” occurs before the person in question is an actual patient. The front-line service staff’s job is to gather information in detail, whittle it down to appropriate and not appropriate, and then present it those who will make the actual decisions.

The scandal machine doesn’t actually make it to the actual professionals who would have made decisions.   Instead their scandal was at the level of service, front-line workers who couldn’t exercise judgement in a full way because it isn’t their job.  What the videos do is make it look like the secretary is the boss, as opposed to someone whose social script is to not make any of the cutting decisions.  What’s amazing is how much the front-line staff cuts the O’Keefe political stingers out at the knees or calls bullshit on their lies (examples they usually edit out), not how few.

Also: Borat as illustration.