SXSW: No Place Like Home… by Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture

March 15, 2012 Whitney Farmer 4 Comments

Whitney runs a rock music venue on the beach in L.A.. She has an M.B.A, and is planning on booking some SXSW bands.   

What did you do at work today? Anything you didn’t like, that you did only because you got paid for it?

At the music / film / television / tech industries jambalaya known as South By Southwest (SXSW), global marketing agency BBH Labs launched what they thought was an innovative idea to increase opportunities for the homeless while providing needed services for attendees at the convention.  BBH gave 13 people who are clients of the Front Steps Shelter in Austin mobile wireless devices and t-shirts with their names printed on them that also say, “I’m a 4G Hotspot”. Each recruit was given $20 to start plus a minimum of $50 for 6 hours of work. When approached by conference goers desperate for internet access, they were instructed to introduce themselves with a handshake. Donations were encouraged, recommended at $2 for every 15 minutes. For this unusual workforce, they may call the streets of Austin home, but SXSW is where they work.

BBH had no idea how successful their strategy would be to capture attention. And they had no idea how controversial and potentially reviled they would become.

In an “on-line op-ed” (They don’t call them blogs…), the Washington Post examined the ramifications in a piece titled, “Have We Lost Our Humanity?” which displayed the punchline in the first five words.

Outrage has been extensive and chock full of good vocabulary. Wired‘s Tim Carmody wrote: “The digital divide had never hit us over the head with a more blunt display of unselfconscious gall.” Snarky comedy soon rolled out like a new app. David Kraftsow tweeted, “I’ve got a troubleshooting issue that I hope you can resolve: my homeless hotspot keeps wandering out of range, and it’s ruining all of my day trades! How am I supposed to remotely manage my stock portfolio if my internet connection is actually an ITINERANT connection?…”

The campaign was supposed to mimic Street Newspapers, using homeless vendors to connect people to information. Blogging in defense of BBH, Head of Innovation Saneel Radia write, “Homelessness is actually a subject being discussed at SXSW and these people are no longer invisible.”

Radia is correct. Homelessness is one of the highest trending topics at SXSW, no small feat.  The outrage describes and discusses perceived violations of civilized behavior, exploitation that becomes possible because of financial necessity, and tasks that could be viewed as lacking dignity that are on display for all to see.

Tellingly, the protests are not coming from the homeless themselves. Importantly, this might be because they don’t object. They have a job, just like the conference participants. As obnoxious as jobs can be sometimes, there is satisfaction that comes from being in the flow of humanity. There is a possibility that the homeless – and agencies which advocate on their behalf that have also been interestingly silent – don’t object.

“TGIF” would not have endemic meaning if people didn’t have to do things that they don’t like for someone else, for money. Who hasn’t worn nametags, flipped burgers, received an employee number that corresponded to a job code – and thus commodity identification – rather than a parade in honor of intrinsic value? The only thing worse than being treated like a commodity is being treated like nothing at all.

In the interviews with the homeless work crew, it’s clear that they have been working on their banter. They want to chat up people who come within arm’s length. They want to do their job. Wow. Just like regular people. They show no indication of wanting to be taken off the line to the Grind in a way that seems to be done for respect but might be rooted in paternalism or symbolic eugenics. The result of rejecting work that is beneath them would be their disappearance and the sanitizing of the event back into following the drama and trauma of hipsters seeking caffeine.

There are limits to what people should agree to do in a job.  I was at a fundraiser for Haiti some years ago in the Hollywood Hills when a masked cocktail server was stripped naked by three prominent artists, her body  painted, then she was rolled on butcher paper which was subsequently auctioned off. Not something I would do….But I have bare-handed barware from a clogged toilet. I have put my finger down a throat to clear mucus from an airway. I have picked up garbage. I have listened respectfully while someone has lied to me. I have worked sleep deprived. I have been ignored. I have wished to be ignored. To all of these duties, my answer was and will be YES. Vocabulary is powerful, and what one interprets as exploitation another accurately perceives as challenge or discipline or even opportunity.

The majority transaction within the global economy is that owners hire workers to do tasks that need more than just one owner to do. In exchange for the loss of freewill during the work hours, money is exchanged. It is sometimes perhaps less than optimal, but it doesn’t have to be a battleground.

The key in this conundrum is the group of thirteen who have a job to do during the SXSW Convention. They are going to work each day because this is what they wanted to do. They have their names on their shirts because they want people to know their names. They will be doing a job that will truly help people who are often frustrated by the lack of internet access at one of the most significant media/tech events in the world. They might create opportunities for themselves that might begin after the event. In all of this, how are they any different than any other worker bee that is diligently creating a buzz?

Why is the name of all that is holy would anyone try to stop them?

 —-

Quote of the Blog, from NBA player and former Madonna date Dennis Rodman: “I’ve been homeless. I’ve worked at 7-11.”

Photo from “The Wizard of Oz”. Of course.