It’s Just Business: Covid and the Death of American Character
Arguably nothing encapsulates the normalization of our national apathy and greed quite like the uniquely American expression, “ it’s nothing personal, it’s just business.” In the United States, this phrase is used to absolve the speaker from any responsibilities or obligations while sacrificing employee wellbeing in the interests of profits. Somehow this phrase is supposed to provide some measure of comfort, something like “ I know by firing you, you’re losing your ability to provide for your family and your health insurance, but cheer up! My motivation is not that I hate YOU. I just love money more.” If you’ve ever found yourself on the receiving end of this phrase, you were aware that it’s very, very personal.
This has not always been the case. Once upon a time in the United States, the common unofficial practice was “noblesse oblige,” or the idea that those who had done well in business have responsibility for their well-being of their employees and customers. When I was 15 I worked for one such man. He was from the “old school” of business. Of course, The Boss expected employees to do their fair share of work, but he also took a personal interest in their lives and welfare. His leadership included many behind-the-scenes acts of charity and kindness. Our little shop was a family, with family weaknesses and imperfections as well as a fierce loyalty and affection. Never did we feel that the Boss put his profits ahead of his humanity.
However, his business model died out during the “Me” generation of the Eighties when American cultural values shifted from humanist cooperation to maximizing wealth accumulation. Businesses went collaborative families sharing a collective work ethic to heartless, faceless corporations built on the the misfortune of desperate populations struggling to survive. Employees were now seen as expendable, consumable, impersonal tools of wealth accumulation with about as much import and significance as a mop or a hammer. Every wage earner from the 2000s is familiar with illegal yet extremely common practices such as mandatory off-clock work, abusive supervisors, dangerous working conditions, and shortages of benefits and earnings. Supervisors were hired for their ability to heartlessnessly exploit their employees to increase bottom-line profitability. Companies were no longer families, but ad hoc collections of desperate competitors, hired and fired at will. The overriding feeling of the rank-and-file morphed from “we are a team” to “it’s either you or me.”
Complicating this model was an element of dishonesty. Lying was such a common business practice that it was expected. Superisors lied to the employees to maximize their productivity. Want a raise? Sorry, our business is almost broke. We need lay off workers, lengthen working hours, increase your anxiety with impending pay cuts — all while the CEOs post record profits. It’s not that all the employees necessarily believed the lies, but they did come to accept them as a workplace reality. Lying and manipulation had become normalized. Employers lied to employees, employees lied to supervisors, the company lied to customers. Distrust was just another atmospheric element of the new business model.
That business model has bled into our social interactions and our collective battle with Covid. Despite official pronouncements and well-reasoned arguments that our national welfare is dependent on everyone wearing a mask, many Americans, conditioned by their hyper-competitive working environments default to apathy and distrust.
Many think:
“People are getting sick? It’s none of my business, I’m ok.”
“Hotspots flaring in Texas and California? I don’t care. It’s not happening here.”
“Covid is dangerous? I don’t believe it. It’s just the supervisors lying to manipulate us again.”
“Trump caught in a lie? Whatever. They all lie”
People dying? Sucks to be them. More job openings for me.”
But hey-nothing personal. It’s just business.
The harsh truth is that the real crisis facing America isn’t a virus or even a lack of leadership. The plague that is killing America is our own selfish, apathetic, distrustful character flaws. American egocentrism and distrust are the real reasons why our death rates and infections topping the charts. Other nations that do not suffer our nation’a character flaws are defeating the virus. They understand that collaboration is empowering and benefits everyone. Other nations understand that logic and science, not beliefs and suspicions, are the drivers of society. And perhaps most significantly, other nations posses a sense of community; they are brotherhood and sisterhood of diverse and imperfect individuals sharing a responsibility for their national family.
Until we resolve our national character flaws, America will not defeat this crisis.