Unlike many, I enjoy reading pieces discussing my generation - what we're thinking and doing. My dictionary says "nexus" is "the bond, link, or tie existing between members of a group or series; a means of connection between things." The article seems to suggest there is little besides work to link people. "Work = play" reminds me of the phrase "work will set you free."
I've heard this all before in The Baffler, how Business Culture is saturating the life-world, described in Frankfurt School pessimistic terms. Then, there was the talk not so long ago about the decline in bowling league membership and how "civil society" was suffering. I forget the reasoning, though.
Obviously, the problem with the workplace supplying one's social life is the relationship between manager and subordinate. How can friendship coexist with the power differential. Maybe it's a character flaw, but I resent and resist the attempts of managers to become friendly outside the workplace. These people have no lives because they work so hard to attain the level where they're at, then expect their subordinates to kiss their ass off the clock, a perk if you will, deserved in their minds because they are effective at their jobs. I hope the "Nexus Generation" doens't become the "Synchophantic Generation."
>For those not ready for wedding bells, groups of friends now serve as
>family units, providing stability, mentoring and advice. The top television
>shows among Nexus viewers -- Ally McBeal, ER and The Practice --
>demonstrate how the "family" show is moving out of the home and into the
>workplace.
I wonder what percentage of people age 18 to 34 actually watch these shows. What about Friends or Seinfeld? Or World Wide Wrestling which always does well in the ratings - witness Jesse Ventura. What about minorities?
The breaking up of the family unit and the neighborhood, for the most part, is the result of Capitalism. Marx's indictment of modern bourgeois society holds up even at the top of the business cycle: People have to freeze their feelings for each other to adapt to a cold-blooded world. In the course of "pitilessly tear[ing] asunder the motley feudal ties," bourgeois society "has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous 'cash payment.'" It has "drowned" every form of sentimental value "in the icy water of egotistical calculation." It has "resolved personal worth into exchange-value." It has collapsed every historical tradition and norm of freedom "into that single, unconscionable freedom - free trade."
Reminds me of the current hit song by Everlast [former member of House of Pain] called "What It's Like":
We've all seen a man at the liquor store beggin' for your change The hair on his face is dirty, dread-locked, and full of main He asks a man for what he could spare, with shame in his eyes "Get a job you fucking slob," is all he replies God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes 'Cause then you really might know what it's like to sing the blues
Chorus Then you really might know what it's like...(x4)
Mary got pregnant from a kid named Tom that said he was in love He said, "Don't worry about a thing, baby doll I'm the man you've been dreaming of." But 3 months later he say he won't date her or return her calls And she swear, "God damn, if I find that man I'm cuttin' off his balls." And then she heads for the clinic and she gets some static walking through the door They call her a killer, and they call her a sinner and they call her a whore God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in her shoes 'Cause then you really might know what it's like to have to choose
Chorus
I've seen a rich man beg I've seen a good man sin I've seen a tough man cry I've seen a loser win And a sad man grin I heard an honest man lie I've seen the good side of bad And the downside of up And everything between I licked the silver spoon Drank from the golden cup And smoked the finest green I stroked the fattest dimes at least a couple of times before i broke their heart You know where it ends, yo, it usually depends on where you start
I knew this kid named Max who used to get fat stacks out on the corner with drugs He liked to hang out late he liked to get shit-faced and keep the pace with thugs Until late one night there was a big old fight and Max lost his head He pulled out his chrome .45, talked some shit, and wound up dead Now his wife and his kids are caught in the midst of all of this pain You know it comes that way at least that's what they say when you play the game God forbid you ever had to wake up to hear the news 'Cause then you really might know what it's like to have to lose
Then you really might know what it's like... Then you really might know what it's like... Then you really might know what it's like...to have to lose
Happy Holidays, Peter