How to subvert organizational stupidity

Each of us must now daily deal with organizational stupidity. It might be stupid policies at your job, stupid rules of your homeowners association, stupid government and tax policies, or the stupid way the health care system works. But the result is the same: a set of rules set up ostensibly for good and reasonable goals that, taken together, make your life a bureaucratic hell.

These rules make us mad. They cry out to be changed, but individuals can rarely influence them, let alone change them.

But it’s a bad idea to just let your frustration over such rules curdle into impotent rage. That’s just going to give you high blood pressure or an ulcer.

You need a strategy

You’re going to have to deal with this bullshit. You cannot avoid it. So let’s get strategic. Which of the strategies below appeals to you? I evaluate each on two scales: Does it make you feel better, and how likely is it to work?

1. Meekly accept and move on. Just swallow it and move on. The problem with this is that it not only corrodes your well-being, it encourages the bastards. We all have to do this sometimes, but it’s not a good strategy in the long run.
2. Complain to those around you. This feels good when you do it. And you might even get some sympathy from your fellow victims. But it’s not really an effective long-term strategy either, since complaining doesn’t change things and does become tiresome. Your spouse and friends may get sick of it. You don’t want to turn into a Karen, that’s no way to live your life.
3. Evade. Go on the black market. Pirate that content, find an illicit supplier, fail to pay that tax. This is usually a bad idea: it’s dangerous, illegal, and at risk of scams. Sometimes it’s the only way — if you need grey-market insulin not to die and breaking bad is your only option, I’m not going to judge you.
4. Write a strongly worded letter. Find someone in power at the offending organization. Compile your experience and send it to them. This is weirdly satisfying, even if it changes nothing. If you’re clever enough, you might even get the attention of someone who cares and can fix things. It has a low probability of success, but so do most heroic efforts.
5. Organize. Find other people who are having the same problem. Create a collective. Make a nonprofit. Draft legislation. Organize a boycott. Stage a protest. The problem with this, of course, is that it’s a lot of work. It takes years to succeed, if it ever does. But if you get media coverage or political backing, it might make a difference.
6. Subvert. Find ways to comply that turn the system against itself. Find humor in the absurdity of your experience. Write about it. Turn it into a standup routine. Ridicule the organization that’s behaving in such a ridiculous fashion.

Why I subvert

I’m a big fan of subversion. I like analyzing why stupid systems are stupid. I find it to be rewarding. I have a nasty sense of humor, which kicks in at the darkest times. I enjoy bringing the irony of stupid systems to light. And sometimes the revelation of the stupidity becomes so embarrassing to the people in power that they change things. (Alright. That almost never happens. But I can imagine that it will, and that makes me feel better.)

Subversion is good for your mental health. And sometimes it reveals a crack in the system that you can exploit.

My tendency to subvert is why I have never risen to a position of power in any organization. People in power often need to create or at least support stupid systems. I’m no good at that. I want to reveal the hypocrites, not become one.

Subversion isn’t for everyone. But it works for me.