[42] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: LIVING WAGE SIT-IN AT HARVARD (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sourav K. Mandal)
Thu Apr 19 16:40:00 2001
Message-Id: <200104192039.QAA11772@dichotomy.dyn.dhs.org>
From: "Sourav K. Mandal" <Sourav.Mandal@ikaran.com>
Reply-To: "Sourav K. Mandal" <Sourav.Mandal@ikaran.com>
To: mit-talk@mit.edu
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Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 16:39:21 -0400
"Brandy L Evans <liane@MIT.EDU>" wrote:
> Well hell, Sourav, why do we have a minimum wage??
For the same reason you think that "living wage" has a moral basis.
Yes, I think minimum wage should be abolished. It's unfair to
prospective employers, and unfair to the folks who are willing to work
for less, like immigrants.
> Now wait... Let's think about this again... turn it around so that the
> WORKERS are the ones selling their services to their
> employers... Which would mean that these janitors should be trying to
> get as much as they can from Harvard.
True! Like I said, I have no beef with the workers getting as much
dough as they can. But, to turn this into a moral crusade rooted in
"social justice" is unconscionable; not because earning money is wrong,
but because the concept of "social justice" is wrong.
> if they're not getting as
> much as the janitors down the street at MIT are getting, well, they
> have a few options:
[...]
> 3) Just quit and go work at MIT
That's assuming, of course, that MIT has janitorial openings.
> This has to be the most frightening statement I've heard so far. You
> value people because you value profits. Wow. I just don't think I have
> anything to say to that. I think we should all just let that statement
> sink in for a moment.
Please, be my guest!
> I'm hoping that you didn't mean it to sound as
> completely final, total, and all-encompassing as it does. If your
> little sister is no longer profiting you in any way, you no longer
> value her as a human being?
Well, I have a younger brother, and I love him very much. I love him
because he's honest, fun, ambitious, etc. -- these are values to me.
If he were dishonest, whiny and generally unlikable, I would probably
disown him. You have to be religious, self-sacrificial or have a poor
understanding of biology to think that blood relation has any
significance in this context.
> <totally off-topic>
> And hello - REDUCE my caloric intake to 2300? Do you have some kind of
> superhuman metabolism? How much do you fucking EAT in a day that
> reducing it to 2300 would be such an incredible sacrifice??!!!?
> </totally off-topic>
My "guesstimate" is that I eat about 3500-4000 calories in a day (two
1500 calorie meals, one 1000 calorie meal, and snacks). I think my
metabolism is normal. I'm just bigger than average: I'm 6'1", and
currently weigh 185 lbs., which is underweight for me. Also, I'm
training strenuously 3 times a week in an attempt to gain back a load
of muscle I've lost recently; and, I play b-ball when I can on the
local blacktop.
I'm sure my high-protein, meat-rich diet offends the sensibilites of
the Greens out there ...
> Who is on a 1200 calorie a day diet at the moment and because of this
> is very grumpy and touchy about the subject of food.
Maybe you should exercise more.
Sourav
------------------------------------------------------------
Sourav K. Mandal
Sourav.Mandal@ikaran.com
http://www.ikaran.com/Sourav.Mandal/
