Motivational Posters of Green Acres (Part II of an occasional series.)
A “motivational” poster hanging near the Green Acres dining room shows a large photo of the Great Wall of China. The bold text below reads: “Many minds. Many hands. One goal.”
The message, apparently, is that if we all join our minds and hands together, we can accomplish the phenomenal. True enough. But the reality may be a bit less inspiring. I find the following information about the Wall’s construction on www.travelchinaguide.com:
“In addition to the frontier soldiers, the builders included conscripted laborers and convicts in exile… 1.8 million people were forced to join the ranks of the laborers. Owing to the arduous work and poor conditions both for living and construction, a lot of people died in the course of this project. Some of their remains were even buried in the wall.”
Thus, the photo may as well show an antebellum Southern cotton harvest, or an image of slave-built Egyptian pyramids. Perhaps the caption should read: “Many minds. Many hands. No say in the matter. No unions. See what can be accomplished?”
The message, apparently, is that if we all join our minds and hands together, we can accomplish the phenomenal. True enough. But the reality may be a bit less inspiring. I find the following information about the Wall’s construction on www.travelchinaguide.com:
“In addition to the frontier soldiers, the builders included conscripted laborers and convicts in exile… 1.8 million people were forced to join the ranks of the laborers. Owing to the arduous work and poor conditions both for living and construction, a lot of people died in the course of this project. Some of their remains were even buried in the wall.”
Thus, the photo may as well show an antebellum Southern cotton harvest, or an image of slave-built Egyptian pyramids. Perhaps the caption should read: “Many minds. Many hands. No say in the matter. No unions. See what can be accomplished?”
posted by Turbo at 4:03 PM
3 Comments:
Ah, that's a simple typo. They meant:
"Many minds. Many hands. One gaol."
HA.
excellent clickshrink, excellent!
I'd love to have a peek behind the curtain in the motivational poster business. Is someone trying to see how much irony they can slip through a channel of utterly humorless HR people?
Also, is there any evidence that a "motivational" poster has ever had a desirable effect? Is there a conference somewhere where people are throwing up powerpoints showing sick days as a function of poster density or something? At this thought, my satisfaction with my own job just spiked. I'm motivated!
Post a Comment
<< Home