March 2006 Archives

About a month ago I had a strange week where Thomas Friedman's landmark book "The World is Flat" came up in three separate instances over three straight days:

Thursday

The CEO of my company held up a copy during our quarterly town-hall stylites broadcast as "recommended reading" as part of his continuing explanation as to why we're outsourcing certain business processes. Recommending any reading is something I've never seen him do in the past 3 years.

Friday

I bump into a good friend from a previous job, who I've seen maybe 3 times since my wedding almost 4 years ago, at a local art event. We spent at least half an hour talking about outsourcing, how its affected our businesses (mine web, his television). Our main point of contention was that he was convinced that offshoring and outsourcing would touch every single part of American business and our economy with probably devastating results. Of course he's read Friedman's book and asks me if I have too.

Saturday

Helping some friends setup a baby shower, I spent some time talking with the brother of the expecting, an IT manager. By now I'm thoroughly intrigued by this book, and shamelessly bring it up. During the conversation I mention that I'm still not convinced a country that employs over 50% of its population through small business would be so thoroughly decimated by outsourcing. He agreed that he was having trouble envisioning such a large impact, but in the same breath he also mentioned the massive effect outsourcing has had on his own business.

I went out and bought a copy of "The World is Flat" on the following Monday.

I can't remember the last time I saw such a politically charged action movie. Sure the Matrix trilogy had undercurrents of theology vs. technology but the Wachowski brothers brought a raw, sharp, violent clarity to a message in V for Vendetta that is truly refreshing during these times of heavy conservatism in America.

In the movie, "V" stands for every man, woman, and child. He reminds the masses that their voice does matter, that "governments should be afraid of the people" not vice-versa. The backdrop of the movie is painted with seriously fascist and totalitarian overtones, and John Hurt channeling every quality of the dictator scared to let its public even think—dare they realize what has happened to their lives.

All of this was reflected perfectly through Natalie Portman's portrayl of Evey. She plays the true "everyman" and human face to V's masked one. Evey starts as a scared citizen, brought on by years of brainwashing by a climate of fear fed by state controlled ownership of the media and roving "black bag" posses capturing undesirables, never to be seen again. During her time with "V" she rediscovers the free will that had been taken from her. And that moment, if not the climactic moment of the movie, easily is the most powerful.

I should stop here, or I'll just keep talking and give away the whole movie. But I'm hoping that this will be a huge box office hit, because we all need a reminder every so often that as a single person, or as a nation, we have a voice. We're just out of the habit of using it. Thankfully, "V" has come with a not-so-gentle reminder.