Yeah, I used to rail about the unfairness of it all, but if I'm not being actively oppressed, it's bearable.
I think Melbourne being a way more cosmopolitan town than Canberra would help you, but the nature of the industry is again not that helpful. But yeah, if I can manage it, you most certainly can.
Hee, that fear of having your brain being sucked out and replaced is one I would have related to at one point - we're all just wee cogs in various machines, after all. One thing that stops me from worrying about getting like that is being able to perceive the social mores from the outside, as it were. And if you can perceive them, you can either engage in them sufficiently to get where you need to be, or avoid them altogether - I tend to do the latter strategy.
Also, while people can get really wanktastic about "subverting paradigms", well, there is some satisfaction in that too. I'm not playing the game by all the normal rules, but I'm still getting myself to a decent place. You know that saying by Audre Lorde? "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house"? While I understand what she's getting at, I don't entirely agree with it. There's a difference between "getting what you need out of the system" and "propping up the entire infrastructure".
Related to that, there's one of my colleagues who "hates" the government, and rails about the Christian Conspiracy, and all that... and yet keeps applying for jobs at Defence! Honestly. I think knowing your personal limits is what keeps your brain being sucked out. I wouldn't work for Defence, the police, and various other govt bodies - pretty much anything that would require a security clearance. Where I do work is govt related, but at least it's about running national infrastructure, not just enforcing bad laws.
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Date: 2007-08-06 12:29 pm (UTC)I think Melbourne being a way more cosmopolitan town than Canberra would help you, but the nature of the industry is again not that helpful. But yeah, if I can manage it, you most certainly can.
Hee, that fear of having your brain being sucked out and replaced is one I would have related to at one point - we're all just wee cogs in various machines, after all. One thing that stops me from worrying about getting like that is being able to perceive the social mores from the outside, as it were. And if you can perceive them, you can either engage in them sufficiently to get where you need to be, or avoid them altogether - I tend to do the latter strategy.
Also, while people can get really wanktastic about "subverting paradigms", well, there is some satisfaction in that too. I'm not playing the game by all the normal rules, but I'm still getting myself to a decent place. You know that saying by Audre Lorde? "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house"? While I understand what she's getting at, I don't entirely agree with it. There's a difference between "getting what you need out of the system" and "propping up the entire infrastructure".
Related to that, there's one of my colleagues who "hates" the government, and rails about the Christian Conspiracy, and all that... and yet keeps applying for jobs at Defence! Honestly. I think knowing your personal limits is what keeps your brain being sucked out. I wouldn't work for Defence, the police, and various other govt bodies - pretty much anything that would require a security clearance. Where I do work is govt related, but at least it's about running national infrastructure, not just enforcing bad laws.