Office Politics

In the strictest of terms, this post has nothing to do with politics. It does however have to do with apathy, and I believe that little jewel of an emotion is in our title. We as a generation (the young, but not too young that is) are generally looked upon by our elders, and the mainstream media as shiftless layabouts that wile away the hours on MySpace, or text messaging other shiftless layabouts (If you don't know what MySpace is, text message me, I'll fill you in). Employers look down on us, offering us lower wages and less benefits than older workers, even when our education level is superior. I have always argued that we, as a generation, are actually hard workers, wishing to make our way in the world much the same as our parents did. Perhaps we rely on technology more than they, but the world is becoming techno-centered. Perhaps we have been socialized to the point that we require constant contact from friends as validation (blame playdates and little league). But over all I feel that we will eventually prove ourselves more than worthy in the workplace as our time at the helm comes, I expect companies to broaden their horizons, become more environmentally friendly AND raise the bottom line. Today however, my faith in our generation was shaken.

Gizmodo for those not familiar is a Tech Website, that focuses on gadgets and tech advances. They provide several posts a day detailing the latest in techno-wizardry. It's a site I read almost daily, and always refer to when someone asks me about the next big thing gadget-wise. The editors of Gizmodo recently received an email from a young writer this is a transcript of that email: (Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all original)

Hi there, I'm Pheras Hilal, a journalist/writer from Venture and JO magazines. Both magazines are Jordanian publications in English, Venture Magazine is a Business Intelligence Monthly, while JO is a social monthly. I'm in charge of developing two tech support sections in both magazines. I develop a section called "The Cutting Edge" in Venture Magazine, which features hi-tech gadgets and new innovations created by several Electronics giants. In JO, I'm in charge of a section called "Tech Support" which basically contains articles about the latest in technology. In our August issue, I'm doing a piece in JO about HDTVs, so I would very much appreciate it if you can provide me with high resolution images of some HDTVs and further information on these tvs and also prices. In Venture, I'm looking for hi tech gadgets and gizmos to review and write about, so I would appreciate if you can supply with a list of your products attached with high resolution images on a monthly basis. Please do find the time to meet my requests and get back to my e-mail as I require such information asap. Thank you so very much for your time and cooperation. Regards,Pheras Hilal

Maybe you got lost in the babbling so I'll sum it up for you. Our dear friend Pheras, a Jordanian writer, has been given the job of Tech Editor for two Jordanian English language magazines. He is awfully busy with things other than this job, and would appreciate it if the editors of Gizmodo, would supply him with a monthly supply of Hi- resolution photos, prices and other information on HDTV's and other new gadgets. There can only be three possible explanations for this email:

1. Pheras has remarkably mistaken Gizmodo for a manufacturer of gadgets. Since they link to the actual manufacturers and rate all of the gadgets (some very poorly) I find this hard to believe.

2. This is only one of (what I'm sure was) dozens of emails that Pheras sent out, hoping to find someone dumb enough or kind enough to do his research for him. Gizmodo is just catty enough to mention it, while the others just threw it away.

3. (This is the truly scary option) Pheras truly believes this is how journalism works.

Could it be that we (or more accurately, the Jordanians) are creating a generation of journalists and writers that think stealing others research and work is a (if not the) valid method? Recent news stories of young authors that have been found to have plagiarized large sections of their work, seem to imply that this might be the case.

Does our generation only want to "crib" our careers? Are we so adept at shortcuts and workarounds that we plan on implementing them in our entire life? I'd like to think not. So I am going to laugh at Pheras and say bully for Gizmodo showing what an ass he is. I'm going to so bully for us, twenty-some-odd posts here at Apathy as Activism and none of them plagiarized. I'm also going to remind myself to be more patient with younger workers in my office. Maybe we (at least those of us with work ethic) should try to lead by example and change the stereotype of our generation. Won't be too long before the old dogs kick the bucket and leave the store to us, anyway. Then it'll be MySpace 24 hours a day.