Multi-post
NP - Dark Tranquillity - My Negation
My friends back home (well...all around the world now I guess) think I'm gonna be some big social activist or environmentalist or something like that. Someone who'll give it all for some altruistic cause. But my friends here at uni dont see me as that. They all think I'm gonna be some successful (and ruthless) businessman. Why is that?
I reckon its cause university sucks. Yep, it all sucks. My degree is money-related, therefore I will be a businessman. Theres no room for any other possiblities...because theres no time to pursue other interests! First year was like, okay, I was free to do stuff, I had free time even though I was working hard. This year its practically impossible to do anything but worry about the next assignment, or get the reading done for the next tutorial class. Even your thinking gets weird. You start getting interested in stuff to do with your degree,, and less interested in stuff that isnt. Uni kills your creativity. It makes you drop everything you had going and leaves you in a mad rush to keep up. You can only hope that, once things settle down again, you'll have the desire - and the time - to pick em all up again. Like the other day - I was having a creativity attack. A flash of inspiration, shall we say. So I pick up my guitar, turn off all the lights and try to cut out all sources of distraction, in the hope of getting something creative done. Normally, I would have come up with something, something tangible and useful, but this time nothing, nothing at all.
I blame the work-load, I blame the cold, I blame the corporate environment of my degree, and my uni, and probably all unis, which brainwashes us into thinking that the ultimate goal in life is to get picked up by some multinational corporation, accept their ideals and goals and adopt them as our own, and dedicate our lives to voluntary bondage by the wage.
Ethics? Is there any ethics in any degrees that any of us study? Im sure theres the ghost of ethics, maybe the suggestion of it, in all degrees. Personally I cant think of how ethics would be taught in Electronic Engineering, but lets say Law. Im not doing a Law degree, but Im sure theres some rhetoric about how upholding the law is your moral duty and all that. Bullshit. You aren't becoming a lawyer to uphold some law you probably don't believe in nor agree with, you're becoming a lawyer for the megabucks. I reckon theres something similar in all degrees. Ultimately its about the money, which is understandable, considering in today's world you need two working parents working two jobs just to stay afloat, pretty much.
Ethics in Economics? A certain degree, probably not or less than in any other profession. But people always mistake Economics with business studies, when actually they're completely different, even from an 'ethical' point of view. Economics is all about people (its classed as a social-science, after all). The big idea is basically how to get as much money to as many people as possible. How to make the pie as big as possible, and divide it as evenly as possible (ultimately there comes a point where you have to decide whether its more important to make the pie bigger, or divide it more evenly).
Business, on the other hand, is about persons. In Business, you dont give a rats ass about 'people' (oh sure, they try to integrate ethics into it, but ultimately its always about fattening your wallet). A friend of mine once said 'Business is art of being your own emperor', which is fairly accurate I reckon.
I wanted to put some more stuff into this blog post, but it'll have to wait. Mental reminder, I need to blog about 'Burqas' and 'Harassment' next (yeah got it all planned out, the library can get really boring! =P).
Posted by illogicist at 12:20 AM
3 Comments
Whoa! That’s too general. Not every person is ‘driven’ by money.
My reasons for being a lawyer are not about the money. The monetary reward is a bonus. I was motivated to become a lawyer because the jurisdiction in Oman needs to be improved. We need more females’ lawyers who will maybe integrate some probono work. I naively thought when I chose to study law, that I would help people who were taken for granted by the bigger ‘fish’; people who have been stepped on. I want to be the one helping them. Those feelings would certainly be more rewarding that the money I could receive as salary. I have many reasons for wanting to be a lawyer and they come before the salary. It is a respectful and rewarding profession.
Ethics? I believe it’s a personal thing. In law, Ethics is all about the ‘morale’ you uphold and promote. Those ethics can’t be tied to a profession. It’s a personal and individual thing that cannot be generalized and categorized by career choices.
University hasn't killed my creativity yet. Am I supposed to expect it to? Maybe it doesn't work that way for all of us. Maybe some of us will still have our creative juices flowing when we graduate.
"I blame the corporate environment of my degree, and my uni, and probably all unis, which brainwashes us into thinking that the ultimate goal in life is to get picked up by some multinational corporation, accept their ideals and goals and adopt them as our own, and dedicate our lives to voluntary bondage by the wage"
But isn't that why we're in uni in the first place? To graduate and get hired by some huge company and get a big fat salary deposited into our bank accounts every month?
@lym: i like what you said about ethics being tied to the person and not the profession - its something I agree with you, and you saying that changed my perspective on my post. I do believe though that ethics cannot (and should) be separated entirely from the profession, as ultimately all professions should add to our society in some positive way. I guess I think ethics should be institutionalised (if thats the word I'm looking for) as well as being an individual thing.
@libzo: dont expect it to, hopefully it wont (although u have a boring profession, so :p).
As to why we're in uni, probably because we're expected to be in uni - because for people of our standing, theres no other choice. its one big rat race. I may not like, but I know its necessary, provided its not the ONLY thing we live for (money, status, power). Ties in with the whole ethics thing. I think we all need to have some purpose, some sense of contributing to the greater good. Maybe Im an idealist, but thats how I feel.
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