[Themaintainers] Why Do People Neglect Maintenance?

[Ishi Crew]

There are lots of kind of maintenance---i talked to my 'maintenance man'
this morning--i live in apartment and had lost my keys.

Someone hung my keys on the door so i found them  (though one was
missing--no problem--i can get that other key and the 'maintenance man'
told me how to get into my building without the key until i get one.).

 I should not even need this help but i dropped my keys while running for a
bus.  One of my neighbors found them and put them where i could find them.

 I try to maintain where i live.   Some people around here are careless so
they leave their stoves on and cause a fire--sometimes burn the whole apt
down and displace 300 people.  Thats alot of maintenance work to rebuild
it.

On Thu, Aug 1, 2019 at 7:56 AM p.y.georgiadou at utwente.nl <
p.y.georgiadou at utwente.nl> wrote:

> “Who wants to spend their lives doing  maintenance repairing problems that
> shouldn't exist in the first place?”
>
>
>
> Good question!
>
>
>
> *From:* themaintainers-bounces at lists.stevens.edu <
> themaintainers-bounces at lists.stevens.edu> *On Behalf Of *Ishi Crew
> *Sent:* Thursday, August 1, 2019 12:57 PM
> *To:* lee vinsel <lee at themaintainers.org>
> *Cc:* Themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Themaintainers] Why Do People Neglect Maintenance?
>
>
>
> I commented on the blog post.  While i am sympathetic to views such as
> 'socialism', 'anti-capitalism' , 'degrowth', 'peace not war', 'democracy' ,
> 'green new deal',  'bs jobs', 'unconditional  basic income',  and even
> 'environmentalism', and I know these are popular terms or  'brand names' or
> slogans people can rally behind, I think they are a bit too too vague to
>  be very useful apart from  some short term protest or social movement.
>
>   (The comment about the  US Chamber of Commerce I fully agree with ---not
> a good group, with a long track record  of bad behavior--e.g. Arch Coal in
> WV.)
>
> The one thing lacking in discussions about 'maintenance' is 'exactly what
> should be maintained?', and also who should do it, how do you decide?
> There was a mention of Russ Roberts and a cleaning woman at a conference;
> I've been to many conferences, and cleaning staff---a form of
> maintenance---are rarely invited to the conference.   Usually cleaning
> staff do one form of maintenance, while students, professors, and people in
> think tanks or NGOs are seen to do another form of 'maintenance' --eg write
> papers about how to optimally organize the world.  Often they leave out of
> their analyses things like cleaning, and maintenance workers such as
> cleaning staff.  And this is discussed in point 8 of the blog post.
>
> I'm all for empirical and analytical study of these issues---which I view
> as part of 'system science' or 'complexity theory'.   But these are not
> just theoretical issues; they are practical ones as well.  And you have to
> 'cross the t's and dot the i's'.  Deal with every issue--not just
> organizing conferences, funding NGOs,  and publishing papers.
>
>  My area is riddled with problems of violence, poverty, addiction,
> inequality, intolerance, pollution, consumerism, and health---and its where
> the maintainers conference is scheduled to be if i recall (Trinity
> college).
>     (I haven't really decided whether to attend although its local--it may
> be unaffordable for me, and I'm not part of the 'in crowd' who goes to
> these conferences.  I'm more a part of the 'out crowd' who are discussed at
> the conferences--the social problems outside on the street, who are rarely
> asked what might be relevant to solve their problems--which they will often
> acknowledge they have, but feel they are powerless to do  anything
> about-and are often labelled as mentally ill or unstable, psychopathic,
> antisocial, irresponsible, uneducated and unintelligent, incompetent,
> non-empathetic, pathetic etc.  )
>
> People in 'out crowds' (just like the 'in crowd' ) just 'maintain' --try
> to keep their sanity and their lives, and most try to avoid causing harm
> and stay out of trouble.   (Alot of 'maintenance' goes into things like
> prisons, criminal justice system, police and health care---all of which
> deal with problems which are likely mostly preventible. Who wants to spend
> their lives doing  maintenance repairing problems that shouldn't exist in
> the first place? )
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 31, 2019 at 10:10 AM lee vinsel <lee at themaintainers.org>
> wrote:
>
> Hey, everybody.
>
>
>
> The three Maintainers co-directors - Andy Russell, Jess Meyerson, and I - pulled
> together a blog post laying out the factors/explanations we often hear
> about why maintenance is neglected.
> <http://themaintainers.org/blog/2019/7/30/why-do-people-neglect-maintenance>
> As is often the case these days, this post attempts to echo back what we've
> been hearing from others - including all the folks on this list!
>
>
>
> And as always, we are especially keen to hear feedback from you all. We're
> hoping this post kickstarts discussion about how to think and theorize
> about and empirically study these issues. Please give us feedback in anyway
> you see fit - in the blog comments, on Twitter, via private/direct
> messages, such as email, and ESPECIALLY on this list!!! :-)
>
>
>
> Hope everyone is doing well.
>
>
>
> Lee
>
>
>
> --
>
> Co-Director
>
> The Maintainers
>
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>
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