<div dir="ltr">Note: This sortuh long and semi-in/coherent comment (or 'rant') was written but not sent before the newest comments on the maintainers list appeared---which sort of cover the same territory as my comment. I'm sending it anyway. <br><br>Part of the reason this is partly a 'rant' is because there is a fair amount of stress in this area, though much less than in COVID hotspots like NYC or warzones like Syria and Afghanistan--this area just has 'some' COVUID cases and usual urban city crime. One reason I bring this up is because i get alot of my information from the media, and I view in a sense the media as part of 'maintainers'---- the people who tell us the '(good) news' are like educators, they maintain or regulate the flow and dissemination of information in this world, and besides the ones we hear on the air there is a huge workforce who range from electricians, to cleaning, security and finance people and more who keep a radio station together. <br><br>The quality of the news I get from NPR, community radio (WPFW-FM), and private radio (Russia today or Sputnik, christian/catholic/and pro-Trump ' right wing' radio, black talk radio, sports radio etc . ) is so mixed that to an extent I wouldn't shed a tear if it just dissapeared ---same with the supermarket---half the stuff on the shelves of local stores is junk food, expensive wine, expensive beer, cigarettes, etc. . This world is like walking through an area seeded with landmines. I'm supposed to sympathize and empathize with the people who are both planting the landmines or taking them out or treating the victims of people who stupidly stepped on them. <br> People for example due to storms are busy maintaining the towers that send the radio signal. Is providing 'fake news' and conspiracy theory an essential service (whether you are are fixing the radio tower or talking on the radio) or an inessential disservice? <br><br> The same radio towers in my area often serve stations which have very different accounts of 'the news'. <br> And behind that there is the buerocracy of the FCC. <br><br>'this is what democracy looks like'. (I've contacted some academics who study these issues mostly via email and they invariably say 'i'm busy writing a book or article '. Probably an essential book which will be buried behind a paywall or in a library .<br><br><br>----------------------------------------<br><br>While i dont know how long this on-line discussion thread can be maintained or continued its on one of my main interests. How do you define 'essential' ? (Some say its 'needs' as opposed to 'wants'---eg old slogan was 'i need my MTV'.) <br><br>------------------<br><br>In my area 'essential' people are at first order basically police, Fire Dept, healthcare workers, supermarkets, gas stations , infrastructure---electricity, water, building maintenance for extreme events like trees falling on roofs, broken water lines, etc.<br> <br> Ones i sort of forget about are jails and prison employees, and trying to figure out how many of other people involved (layers, judges, etc.) are essential is unknown. <br><br> (I could see some efficiency of just taking people directly to jail rather than spending alot of time in trials arguing about due process. If all crimes or arrests (say for littering or jaywalking all the way the through homicide) received the death penalty this would cut down on some maintenance needs. I hear in the Phillipines they execute suspected drug dealers on the spot.) . <br> <br>----------------<br><br>At second order are some government employees , media---which includes the internet (because almost everything is now involved with WWW) , people who deal with homeless people (ie emergency services for food and housing), and education (though that be a first order need)-----its mostly online now. <br><br> (Two local TV stations now have ' elementary school TV' programs ---monday-friday mornings-- grades 1 to 5. each grade gets a day. TYey figure small kids do not want to sit in front of a computer or may not have one, but they will sit in front of a TV.) <br><br> However there are some academics such as Bryan Caplan of GMU and A Hacker (maybe was at Queens college NYC ) who say most public education should be abolished---especially higher education and math. They say nobody or few people need or use it. <br> (To an extent one can get free online education from places like MIT, Coursera, or SFI <a href="https://www.complexityexplorer.org" target="_blank">https://www.complexityexplorer.org</a> )<br><br>-----------------------<br><br>At 3rd order are things like the 'hospitality industry'---restaurants, music clubs, galleries and museums..... <br><br>There are about 5 beauty salons or barberships within a 15 minute walk of here----these have been deemed non essential. <br><br>Supposedly laundromats have been deemed inessential and closed but the one nearby is open. Either they changed the rules or they are flaunting the rules and the police are looking the other way---because that laundromat is a 'community resource' so its almost essential. (I personally wash my clothes in my bathtub. I'm too lazy to carry this down to the laundry room or up the street, and don't want to deal with all these quarters. My rent covers hot water so i do it that way. ) <br><br>There is a debate about whether gun stores are essential (there are 1 or 2 within a mile from here but in a different political jurisdication). <br>(Gun stores are basically impossible to open in this jurisdiction, but guns are available since 'straw man buyers' buy guns in those stores or elsewhere and sell them on the street. <br> Also one of the nearby gun stores was robbed not long ago at night. We have interesting robberies in this area--- at night people just run a pickup truck right through the window or wall of a 7-11 or conveniance store and load up the ATM. Some local teenagers also tried to take a 'money truck' (used to be Brinks trunk but its a different company now) at the local CVS a few years ago---that ended with one dead, and 3 shot. That money truck driver wasn't going to give up the money to 3 teens who lived in the apartment building across from the CVS.) <br> <br>---------------- <br><br> (Some of these incidents are caught on video camera; they also caught on videocam incidents at 2 of these local stores which ended with homicides of people who were employees or informal (under the table) employees of these stores who i had seen when i went to them-just the regular store clerk/owner and the homeless guy guy who kept the parking lot clean. These are not pleasant videos to watch---police posted them to see if they could id the people involved. ) I dont think they could. <br><br>-------------------<br><br>Are people involved in political campaigns 'essential'? With WWW people could avoid alot of plane or car travel and just hear speeches on line, and people wouldnt have to travel to 50 states to give same speech over and over. Of course, people like the spiritual pilgrimage of going to say the DNC or RNC as a delegate, voter, or protestor--gives them something to do, and provides jobs for the hospitality, travel industry, and fossil fuel industries. Not to mention all the people producing political advertizements for TV, or doing fundraising .<br><br>(I get about 2-5 email requests for donations from Bernie Sanders everday so he can buy TV ads, or now, donate to groups dealing with COVID-19 <br><br> These charities range from people in homeless shelters, to 'hospitality workers' who were layed off from their jobs and can barely make their 5000$/monthly rent . They work as 'wine tasters' and 'fashion models' or 'reality TV stars' or sell books discussing their horrific experiences as part of the 'me2' movement. <br> (Its far worse making 100's of thousands of $ /yr doing a tv show or wine tasting when being 'harassed' than it is working up 'on the avenue' in the 'in'/hospitality industry' for maybe 15$ a day ---'just enough to get by' (15$ is the going rate for what people use around here for 'self-medication' rather than going to hospital) if you are 'livin for the city' (famous song by Stevie Wonder) --unless you aren't--and are found dead in a ditch.<br><br>------------------<br><br>Academic sociologists can probably write books on what is essential maintenance work. They might be part of the 'great and inessential books curriculum' (like one Mortimer Adler had at U Chicago, and there's a similar one at a college around Annapolis, Maryland. ). <br><br> <br><br><br><br> <br><br><br><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Mar 30, 2020 at 7:22 AM Andrew Russell <<a href="mailto:andy@themaintainers.org" target="_blank">andy@themaintainers.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div dir="ltr">I’ve been daydreaming about a distributed oral history/interview project, consisting of interviews with “essential” workers to document their experiences. One could imagine at least 3 categories of interview subjects: those deemed essential before COVID19; those who’ve been recategorized (like my friends at my school’s IT help desk and our local wine & liquor store); and those not deemed essential by the state, but appear so in the eyes of the researcher. Non wage domestic labor is one clear example of the third category...</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Andy </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Mar 30, 2020, at 3:42 AM, Dorothy Howard <<a href="mailto:dhoward@ucsd.edu" target="_blank">dhoward@ucsd.edu</a>> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>I think the concept of "frontlines" workers (COVID-19 + evocation of wartime measures) and the legal designation of "essential services" is fraught but essentially has to do with the social processes of valuing infrastructural labor. In the context of free and open source software and other infrastructural labor that involves voluntary processes or volunteer work, maintenance workers doing essential things to keep infrastructure like software going are excluded from the legal protections and recognition of the designation of being "essential", yet are still less visible to different publics who are suddenly recognizing "essential labor" and care workers as underrecognized occupations or bringing them to the center of attention about where care and respect and risk should be allocated in society. When we evoke the term essential services as a way of recognizing often invisibilized labor, my question is who does this designation still exclude and how can resources(ing) follow recognition? <br></div><div><br></div><div>With care, <br></div><div><br></div><div>Dorothy<br></div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 11:31 PM Ishi Crew <<a href="mailto:mediaentropy@gmail.com" target="_blank">mediaentropy@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">I've seen this talk (must be alot of work to transcribe it; and i'm sort of writing something on this topic, and am aware of graeber's views )<br><br>In my area we have something we call the 'virus' (or the V (for victory) I r U.S. --- one for all ). <br><br>How many 'maintainers' are essential workers and how many are innessential? I have seen some suggestions that some anthropologists, economists, fashion models, wine tasters, McDonald's hamburger cooks and cleaners, musicians and mathematicians and artists, and museum curators and securty guards, and web ad programmers, are inessential. Or perhaps they are the 'rare' essence of the universe. </div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 1:54 AM Su <<a href="mailto:su@generis.name" target="_blank">su@generis.name</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Hi, all. Long-time listener, blah blah. Lee et al., I'm @TopLeftBrick<br>
on Twitter *waves* We've had a little contact over the years, I've<br>
been lurking here since pretty much the beginning and uh, have a LOT<br>
of free time to catch up on lists lately because Reasons.<br>
<br>
Anyway, in case anyone was interested or wanted an easier way to grab<br>
a quote I put up a transcript of this talk the other day at<br>
<a href="http://opentranscripts.org/transcript/managerial-feudalism-revolt-caring-classes/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://opentranscripts.org/transcript/managerial-feudalism-revolt-caring-classes/</a><br>
It's…kinda of the moment right now.<br>
<br>
On Fri, Dec 27, 2019 at 10:51 PM Camille E Acey <<a href="mailto:connect@camilleacey.com" target="_blank">connect@camilleacey.com</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
> New David Graeber <a href="https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-11241-from_managerial_feudalism_to_the_revolt_of_the_caring_classes" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-11241-from_managerial_feudalism_to_the_revolt_of_the_caring_classes</a><br>
> --<br>
> Camille E. Acey<br>
> <a href="mailto:connect@camilleacey.com" target="_blank">connect@camilleacey.com</a><br>
> New York, NY - USA (GMT -5)<br>
><br>
> "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare." - Audre Lorde_______________________________________________<br>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:12.8px">Dorothy Rose Howard </div><div style="font-size:12.8px">PhD Student, Communication</div><div style="font-size:12.8px">UC San Diego</div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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