Orcas, capitalism, and no chairs for employees
June 28, 2023 7:43 AM Subscribe
Once, in 1987, a female orca wore a dead salmon on her head; weeks later, two other pods of orcas were all wearing salmon as hats! But it doesn’t matter. Not really. Because these orcas have captured the American cultural imagination. This is the summer of the whale. And popular sentiment favors the whales. In Slate, environmental historian Anna Guasco speculated about why this moment in whale violence feels different. “Part of what makes these boat-sinking whales into anti-capitalist allies is their choice of targets,” Guasco wrote. “Much of the coverage and response focuses on the whales’ attacking yachts in a popular European vacationing location. These yachts symbolize excesses of wealth under capitalism. This story simply wouldn’t have the same appeal or political resonance if the whales weren’t targeting symbols of wealth, waste, and opulence.” The Summer of the Whale from Lyz Lenz in Men Yell at Me.
Americans’ wages remain stagnant even as corporate profits hit record highs and inflation keeps rising, and support for labor unions is at an all-time high. America has the largest income and wealth inequality gap of all the developed nations. America also has a gender pay gap that hasn’t budged for 20 years — a pay gap that’s even greater when race is taken into account. And none of these gaps are closing. 100 million people in America have medical debt — debt they acquired for having the audacity to stay alive. America is a country where the poor get poorer, the rich get richer, and in response, workers are told they aren’t working hard enough.
Ever optimistic, bosses are doing their best to force employees to work harder. One technique: forbidding the use of chairs during work shifts. As reported by Alaina Demopoulos in The Guardian: When Zay clocked into her customer service job one recent morning, she noticed things looked different. There were no chairs in the break room. She had nowhere to sit at the table where she usually files invoices. When she reached the back of the store, there was one lonely folding chair propped against the wall. “Not for employee use,” read a handwritten note taped on the metal. When employees asked their boss what had happened, they learned about a new no-sitting policy. Hopefully, the business owner said, this would “increase worker productivity”.
Americans’ wages remain stagnant even as corporate profits hit record highs and inflation keeps rising, and support for labor unions is at an all-time high. America has the largest income and wealth inequality gap of all the developed nations. America also has a gender pay gap that hasn’t budged for 20 years — a pay gap that’s even greater when race is taken into account. And none of these gaps are closing. 100 million people in America have medical debt — debt they acquired for having the audacity to stay alive. America is a country where the poor get poorer, the rich get richer, and in response, workers are told they aren’t working hard enough.
Ever optimistic, bosses are doing their best to force employees to work harder. One technique: forbidding the use of chairs during work shifts. As reported by Alaina Demopoulos in The Guardian: When Zay clocked into her customer service job one recent morning, she noticed things looked different. There were no chairs in the break room. She had nowhere to sit at the table where she usually files invoices. When she reached the back of the store, there was one lonely folding chair propped against the wall. “Not for employee use,” read a handwritten note taped on the metal. When employees asked their boss what had happened, they learned about a new no-sitting policy. Hopefully, the business owner said, this would “increase worker productivity”.
The first I heard of orca attacks this year was one against fishing boats off the coast of Iberia, which are not generally rich capitalists. And I still felt for the orcas over the fisherman. We're fucking up the oceans, what else can they do but attack?
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:54 AM on June 28, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:54 AM on June 28, 2023 [7 favorites]
From The Guardian piece, which just guts me:
Workers have advocated for the right to sit for over a century. In the 1880s, factory bosses took away chairs in the hope of speeding up production times. Their reasoning for doing so does not sound much different from what a store manager might tell their subordinates today. “It was thought that workers would be more attentive and engaged if they were standing,” said Robert Bruno, a professor and director of the labor education department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “Ideologically, it was a way for the business to maintain control over the workers’ bodies.”
posted by Bella Donna at 7:56 AM on June 28, 2023 [15 favorites]
Workers have advocated for the right to sit for over a century. In the 1880s, factory bosses took away chairs in the hope of speeding up production times. Their reasoning for doing so does not sound much different from what a store manager might tell their subordinates today. “It was thought that workers would be more attentive and engaged if they were standing,” said Robert Bruno, a professor and director of the labor education department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “Ideologically, it was a way for the business to maintain control over the workers’ bodies.”
posted by Bella Donna at 7:56 AM on June 28, 2023 [15 favorites]
it gives me a little bit of hope that in a fight between nonhumans and capital we're all reflexively on the side of the nonhumans. it makes me think that when the robot revolution comes maybe i won't be the only human on the correct side.
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 8:09 AM on June 28, 2023 [10 favorites]
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 8:09 AM on June 28, 2023 [10 favorites]
My partner Nel was inspired to make a pretty great nautical-tattoo-esque White Gladis design: here.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 8:14 AM on June 28, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 8:14 AM on June 28, 2023 [7 favorites]
Hey, I was thinking about making a post like this, kindred spirits!
It somehow gives hope that the whales are fighting back.
posted by mumimor at 8:29 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
It somehow gives hope that the whales are fighting back.
posted by mumimor at 8:29 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
Tell me they took away the CEO's chair.
Please tell me they took away the CEO's chair.
posted by clawsoon at 8:44 AM on June 28, 2023 [16 favorites]
Please tell me they took away the CEO's chair.
posted by clawsoon at 8:44 AM on June 28, 2023 [16 favorites]
My name is Wil
And when I’m mad
I charge dem yachts
They sink a tad.
My orca pals
with murder eyes
We fill our blowholes:
ORCANIZE
posted by kinsey at 8:52 AM on June 28, 2023 [54 favorites]
And when I’m mad
I charge dem yachts
They sink a tad.
My orca pals
with murder eyes
We fill our blowholes:
ORCANIZE
posted by kinsey at 8:52 AM on June 28, 2023 [54 favorites]
I feel like not enough maladroit bosses wind up with sugar in their gas tanks.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:54 AM on June 28, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by ob1quixote at 8:54 AM on June 28, 2023 [9 favorites]
Hopefully, the business owner said, this would “increase worker productivity”.The best way to spot an idiot? Look for the person who is cruel.
"Somewhere along the way in the last few years our society has come to believe that weaponized cruelty is part of some well thought out master plan. Cruelty is seen by some as an adroit cudgel to gain power. "
Never have truer words been spoken about these uncreative, unimaginative, uninventive chucklefucks of bosses like in that story.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 9:22 AM on June 28, 2023 [10 favorites]
Fuck them yachts, indeed.
What is also interesting is that people have combined the whale memes with the Titanic sub story though of course whales were not involved.
I am heartened to see more anger at the wealthy and less bootlicking among people way less online than me.
Also related, the popularity of punk anarchist Spider -Man Hobie from the latest animated movie. Definitely a fan favorite.
posted by emjaybee at 9:37 AM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
What is also interesting is that people have combined the whale memes with the Titanic sub story though of course whales were not involved.
I am heartened to see more anger at the wealthy and less bootlicking among people way less online than me.
Also related, the popularity of punk anarchist Spider -Man Hobie from the latest animated movie. Definitely a fan favorite.
posted by emjaybee at 9:37 AM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
the rate at which we are fucking up the orcas' shit is hardly commensurate with whatever you want to call these isolated incidents
it will be interesting to see what people do once the vast majority of us finally realize it's too late. What is the orca equivalent of passionately typing into a weblog all their deeply held convictions and progressive ideals while the oceans died? then one day...
posted by elkevelvet at 9:45 AM on June 28, 2023 [5 favorites]
it will be interesting to see what people do once the vast majority of us finally realize it's too late. What is the orca equivalent of passionately typing into a weblog all their deeply held convictions and progressive ideals while the oceans died? then one day...
posted by elkevelvet at 9:45 AM on June 28, 2023 [5 favorites]
Tracking site for orca sightings/attacks off the Iberian peninsula and Strait of Gibraltar.
But if you reeeally want to know what the orcas are up to, just ask.
posted by Artful Codger at 9:48 AM on June 28, 2023 [7 favorites]
But if you reeeally want to know what the orcas are up to, just ask.
posted by Artful Codger at 9:48 AM on June 28, 2023 [7 favorites]
Unlike most articles/posts about the orcas, this one has the "Orcas do weird stuff for fun as temporary fads" as literally the first sentence, instead of burying what is considered scientific consensus further in the article/post, yet still everyone is still anthropomorphizing the orcas into doing some "damn the man!" horseshit.
Hope everyone hyped about the "orcas are mad and fighting humans!" stories are super cool when those humans start fighting back. Which, you know, is why the actual scientist involved really hate the anthropomorphizing in the first place.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 9:50 AM on June 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
Hope everyone hyped about the "orcas are mad and fighting humans!" stories are super cool when those humans start fighting back. Which, you know, is why the actual scientist involved really hate the anthropomorphizing in the first place.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 9:50 AM on June 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
Hope everyone hyped about the "orcas are mad and fighting humans!" stories are super cool when those humans start fighting back.
are you suggesting humans might take their gloves off or something? get a bit rough? maybe I'm having an especially bad bout of misanthropy but I just don't see a meaningful distinction
posted by elkevelvet at 9:52 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
are you suggesting humans might take their gloves off or something? get a bit rough? maybe I'm having an especially bad bout of misanthropy but I just don't see a meaningful distinction
posted by elkevelvet at 9:52 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
Just some food for thought, this is from Neal Stephenson's early environmentalist novel, Zodiac:
He laughed and shook his head. "Let's say you own a whaling ship that needs a total overhaul. It's insured for three times its value. You've been thinking about getting out of the business. The bank has turned you down for a loan and your five-year-old granddaughter has a whale poster on her bedroom wall. What do you do?"
"Put a limpet mine on it and send it to the bottom of the harbor. Then say you'd been getting threats," I offered.
"From the well-known terrorist. And after it's happened several times, this Boone gets quite a reputation, it gets even easier to pull off that kind of a scam. So you see, S.T., I've sunk one boat with my hands and a dozen with my reputation. The new Boone is just a media event."
Do we even know that "orcas" are damaging/sinking these ships?
posted by AlSweigart at 9:52 AM on June 28, 2023 [10 favorites]
He laughed and shook his head. "Let's say you own a whaling ship that needs a total overhaul. It's insured for three times its value. You've been thinking about getting out of the business. The bank has turned you down for a loan and your five-year-old granddaughter has a whale poster on her bedroom wall. What do you do?"
"Put a limpet mine on it and send it to the bottom of the harbor. Then say you'd been getting threats," I offered.
"From the well-known terrorist. And after it's happened several times, this Boone gets quite a reputation, it gets even easier to pull off that kind of a scam. So you see, S.T., I've sunk one boat with my hands and a dozen with my reputation. The new Boone is just a media event."
Do we even know that "orcas" are damaging/sinking these ships?
posted by AlSweigart at 9:52 AM on June 28, 2023 [10 favorites]
...yet still everyone is still anthropomorphizing the orcas into doing some "damn the man!" horseshit.
Well, that's sort of up there with saying that all sailboat owners are heartless plutocrats.
But we must have our memes.
posted by Artful Codger at 9:55 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
Well, that's sort of up there with saying that all sailboat owners are heartless plutocrats.
But we must have our memes.
posted by Artful Codger at 9:55 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
One of the fascinating historical stories of human/orca interaction is Old Tom, a saga of tradition, cooperation, and tragedy.
posted by zamboni at 9:56 AM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by zamboni at 9:56 AM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
I hadn’t seen them in action until I came across this this morning.
posted by mygothlaundry at 10:18 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by mygothlaundry at 10:18 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
A Danish ship was attacked by whales in the Pacific Ocean, very far out at sea. The details are not out yet AFAIK. It may be a fad, but it is global, and also worth our interest. Some of us have tried to "save the whales" since the 1970s, with only limited succes. Maybe they have decided they need to save themselves. It's not fair that they attack small fishers and recreational yachts. But maybe it's what they can do, an orca can't handle a "scientific whaling vessel" from Japan, let alone a huge noisy container ship or cruise liner.
posted by mumimor at 10:32 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by mumimor at 10:32 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
Save the whales is what people at college used to call drinking parties, I guess as a way of evading the colleges scrutiny on the activity? But that phrase always brings back memories to me entirely unrelated to animals at hand.
posted by Carillon at 10:45 AM on June 28, 2023
posted by Carillon at 10:45 AM on June 28, 2023
okay but really if the marine mammals are rising up what can we do to assist them? they're big and smart and are well-positioned to do damage due to how capitalist trade relies so heavily on ships and due to how the capitalists themselves like to frolic on the seas but after several hundred years of genocide there's not that many of them left
and regardless of the numerical disadvantage there's really no way for them bring the whole thing down without coconspirators among the landies
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 11:26 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
and regardless of the numerical disadvantage there's really no way for them bring the whole thing down without coconspirators among the landies
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 11:26 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
born to swim world is a fuck
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 11:32 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 11:32 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
okay i'll stop posting back-to-back comments in this thread but, all joking aside it changes everything if we really do have another species on this planet that's not just undeniably sentient but also has:
when humans and whales start having meaningful cultural-political interactions, that's practically equivalent to first contact. and first contact changes everything.
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 12:07 PM on June 28, 2023 [7 favorites]
- intuited something about human civilization (such as it is)
- figured out the pain points of the humans who've been doing genocides on them and their relatives
- taken action to hit those pain points
when humans and whales start having meaningful cultural-political interactions, that's practically equivalent to first contact. and first contact changes everything.
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 12:07 PM on June 28, 2023 [7 favorites]
Of course, the historical record tells us what certain groups of humans have been perfectly willing to do to other humans, up to and including publishing lengthy treatises to "disprove" the other humans' sentience, so even if whales are sentient, I expect certain groups of humans to vehemently deny the fact if to do otherwise would jeopardize their wealth or power.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:34 PM on June 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:34 PM on June 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
I am on Team Orca, especially if they can bring back the chairs removed by so many fucking bosses.
posted by Bella Donna at 2:05 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Bella Donna at 2:05 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
You know they call them killer whales
But you seem surprised
When it pinned you down to the bottom of the tank
Where you can't turn around
It took half your leg and both your lungs
And I craved I ate hearts of sharks, I know you know it
posted by hydrophonic at 2:22 PM on June 28, 2023
But you seem surprised
When it pinned you down to the bottom of the tank
Where you can't turn around
It took half your leg and both your lungs
And I craved I ate hearts of sharks, I know you know it
posted by hydrophonic at 2:22 PM on June 28, 2023
Whales attacking humans (well whalers) goes way back. Moby Dick was inspired by a real albino whale with some inspiration from the sinking of the Essex in 1820 after a sperm whale attack. There is also evidence that whales would communicate and take collective action to avoid whalers.
no-sitting policy
This is a common policy on construction sites I work on (outside of breaks) and it is completely infuriating and too a certain extent also ableist bullshit.
posted by Mitheral at 5:08 PM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
no-sitting policy
This is a common policy on construction sites I work on (outside of breaks) and it is completely infuriating and too a certain extent also ableist bullshit.
posted by Mitheral at 5:08 PM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
A sailboat of the size the orcas typically attack costs less than many American truck/trailer combos. The only reason people here wish death on those boaters - who are as much middle class people as Americans towing an vacation trailer - is that they live a lifestyle they don’t understand. Good job carrying water for the fascists trying to divide us, while the rich people - whose bigger boats the orcas don’t attack - are laughing.
posted by patrick54 at 9:30 PM on June 28, 2023
posted by patrick54 at 9:30 PM on June 28, 2023
you're probably right.
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 9:44 PM on June 28, 2023
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 9:44 PM on June 28, 2023
Or, we get some giant orcas to go after the mega yachts, freeing up the regular sized orcas to go after American truck/trailer vacation combos.
Nobody in this thread is wishing death on sailboaters.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 10:02 PM on June 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
Nobody in this thread is wishing death on sailboaters.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 10:02 PM on June 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
Yeah, nobody in this thread is wishing death on sailboaters or, honestly, anyone else. I am sorry I included the stuff about the orcas from Men Yell at Me because truly the salient part is that "Americans’ wages remain stagnant even as corporate profits hit record highs and inflation keeps rising," etc.
Plenty of Americans are dying before their time but notice that Henry Kissinger, as of this writing, is still alive. "People in the U.S. are dying at higher rates than in other similar high-income countries, and that difference is only growing." Covid certainly played a role recently in those excess deaths, but US life expectancy started dropping in the mid-1970s, according to Patrick Heuveline, UCLA Professor of Sociology (author of article linked above).
The whale/orca/animals turn-on-humans thing is a revenge fantasy built on the grinding poverty, humiliation, exploitation, ableism, bigotry, patriarchy, and white supremacy of the US political system that so many of us experience. Staggering profits are wrung out of individuals in prisons, in nursing homes, and in taxing, low-paying jobs. Also from renters, students, disabled individuals, and the elderly have paid for any number of yachts, expensive jewellery, mansions, luxury vacations, etc.
People can buy whatever the hell they want. My beef is with people who earned their wealth the old-fashioned way, by shitting on the folks below them. I don't know how to fix that, so I'll just enjoy the orca memes from time to time and maybe watch The Swarm and cheer for the critters.
Jimmy Carter famously said in an interview that "I've committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do--and I have done it--and God forgives me for it." As a backslid Baptist gal, I don't believe in thought crimes. Dark eat-the-rich jokes and comments about avenging orcas may feel mean and uncalled for. I get that; y'all are entitled to your feels. But none of the comments in this thread encourages murder, and these comments won't kill people. We have a system for that. It's ugly, and it's working. No wonder some of us are nervously cracking jokes.
posted by Bella Donna at 2:56 AM on June 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
Plenty of Americans are dying before their time but notice that Henry Kissinger, as of this writing, is still alive. "People in the U.S. are dying at higher rates than in other similar high-income countries, and that difference is only growing." Covid certainly played a role recently in those excess deaths, but US life expectancy started dropping in the mid-1970s, according to Patrick Heuveline, UCLA Professor of Sociology (author of article linked above).
The whale/orca/animals turn-on-humans thing is a revenge fantasy built on the grinding poverty, humiliation, exploitation, ableism, bigotry, patriarchy, and white supremacy of the US political system that so many of us experience. Staggering profits are wrung out of individuals in prisons, in nursing homes, and in taxing, low-paying jobs. Also from renters, students, disabled individuals, and the elderly have paid for any number of yachts, expensive jewellery, mansions, luxury vacations, etc.
People can buy whatever the hell they want. My beef is with people who earned their wealth the old-fashioned way, by shitting on the folks below them. I don't know how to fix that, so I'll just enjoy the orca memes from time to time and maybe watch The Swarm and cheer for the critters.
Jimmy Carter famously said in an interview that "I've committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do--and I have done it--and God forgives me for it." As a backslid Baptist gal, I don't believe in thought crimes. Dark eat-the-rich jokes and comments about avenging orcas may feel mean and uncalled for. I get that; y'all are entitled to your feels. But none of the comments in this thread encourages murder, and these comments won't kill people. We have a system for that. It's ugly, and it's working. No wonder some of us are nervously cracking jokes.
posted by Bella Donna at 2:56 AM on June 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
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posted by lalochezia at 7:51 AM on June 28, 2023 [5 favorites]