Tuesday 27 September 2011

Disagreeing with Seth Godin

I've been reading Seth Godin's blog, and while it might sound nice and inspirational, I'm having a few problems with it. I'm not sure I agree with everything he says, or at least the motivations behind it.

For instance, he says some people take jobs with big firms to avoid responsibility, and they should be working to fix the problems they find there. But the job you get, especially in a recession, is not always entirely up to you. Also, in a big firm, the people at the bottom are not stupid. They see the problems, they report the problems, and the people at the top ignore those problems because they've got bigger problems. Then the people at the bottom leave in frustration and are replaced by other people who see the same problems. You might know there's an issue, and you might know how to solve it, but that is not always in your power, and that is not always your fault.

Or how about this one: you have chosen to live in a world where certain products are unavailable to you, for instance Mac-only computer programs, Amazon Kindle exclusive content and food that is only available in Norway. Ads for those products that you have "chosen" not to have make you mad, because they remind you of your choice of exclusion. But how can you choose to own and pay for three phones just to get access to all the apps? Can you even choose to live in two countries at once, for example, to have this country's health care but this country's tax rates? No. You can't choose to have everything, so acting like the exclusion is all your fault isn't helping anyone.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - It seems to me that his worldly wisdom is a little shallow.
PPS - Or just a little too worldly.

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