Society Values Producers

If you had some free time and a non-productive Darwinian philosophical bent, you might ask, “Why are there Producers?” The simple answer is obviously that society values Producers. We buy their goods and services, benefit from their innovation, read their books, learn from them as teachers, and so on. Our society cannot function without Producers. No society can.

However, a cursory look at how our society values Producers relative to non-Producers reveals that Producers are not at the top of the heap. This is true regarding pay and stature. The entertainment industry is a prime example. Name a movie star who could even whittle a cow out of a bar of soap. Not possible. But those people are paid much more than the real Producers, the people who make the cameras, write the scripts, edit the films and build the theaters. Without those people, most movie stars would be flipping burgers.

You might argue that the stars produce the capability to sell a lot of tickets. True, but I tend to look at Producers in the micro, on an individual basis. In that view, the stars have not a chance of earning a meal in a real job, most of them. (Paul Hogan can wrestle crocodiles.) As artists, I concede that they are Producers of a sort.

Many in our society pooh-pooh Producers as crude and mundane. Or worse, the Producers are simply ignored in favor of the latest trend on the cover of People magazine. But society cannot function without Producers, no matter how much they are ignored.

Societies change over time, and as they age, they tend to take their Producers for granted and push them into the background. Early societies had a high proportion of Producers. Let’s explore that for a moment.

I found some startling illustrations of just how important free Producers are in National Geographic magazine. Now National Geographic is a fine publication, but it leans toward world collectivism, centrally managed governments and societies, and radical environmentalism. Even with that, the reporting and investigation is in the main stunning, and the Producer/photographers will shock archaeologists a million years hence when they unearth the stash of National Geographic’s from the muddy remains of the New York City Library (previously submerged by global warming).

An article entitled “People Like Us,” subtitled “The Dawn of Humans” ^[5], shows an illustration of a hunting party harvesting a wooly mammoth, and fighting off a competing hungry bear in the process. The illustration features several male hunters, with two women skinning the quarry, Producers all the lot. The weapons are spears, and the people wear decorated leather coats and foot coverings, created by Producers.

Fast forward a hundred thousand years to an illustration in National Geographic’s “Indus Civilization, Clues to an Ancient Puzzle.” ^[6] The drawing depicts a grand procession, similar to drawings found on tablets from the period. Kind of an ancient Indian parade, we see decorated oxen followed by villagers and town officials proceeding through a wooden gate in the stone wall of the city. In the drawing I see bead work, ropes, utility and decorative metal work, weapons, clothing, flags, elegant architectural design, defensive military construction, lattice work, brick making and stone masonry, weaving and dyeing, mask making, animal husbandry (tame elephants), and that’s just the beginning.

In these two illustrations from National Geographic, every object and activity spotlights Producers and their work. The members of these societies believed that even their religious leaders were great Producers, influencing the weather, hunting, agriculture, and relations with nearby peoples. In that sense, I see nothing in the artist’s conceptions that is not the issue of a Producer!

Take some time to thumb through National Geographic and you will see most of the people featured, aside from the starving African children (more on that later), are Producers.

In another example, my family enjoys the historical areas in the Tidewater areas of Virginia, where we explore the early English settlements of Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg. Even at this late date, the centrality of Producers in those societies is obvious. There were no tanning booths, real estate offices or video stores. Every building had a function: Candle maker, blacksmith, cooper, glass blower, doctor. Every citizen was a Producer on some level.

While visiting the Jamestown excavation (moving apace toward the 400^th anniversary of the founding of the colony in 1607), we had the good fortune to witness archaeologists excavating graves and other areas. We listened to historians recount the early history of Jamestown, and point out the locations of buildings and important community areas. Not once did the historians say, “And over here we found the resting place of Thaddeus J. Thaddeus, Jamestown’s first Attorney at Law.” Seems that the settlers were too busy Producing their way out of starvation to engage in much litigation.

Today, we have the same sorts of Producers in our society that the settlers had, but they are often hidden in cubicles, under layers of MBAs. The valued Producers are still there, be assured, because society cannot function without them.

A note of caution. As I proceed, I necessarily must delve into the dark side, shining a light on some rats and roaches. Be patient, because this book is for and about Producers, and once I get the basement cleaned out I will be able to concentrate on more positive topics out in the sunshine!