Bureaucrats

I hate bureaucrats.  Really.  I don't hate people that hurt me.  I don't hate those that are simply different from me.  I do hate bureaucrats.  Here's the deal: a bureaucrat has a very simple job: follow a policy blindly.  Most of it's job is to push paperwork and make sure all of the forms are properly filled out.  I could save our government and corporations billions annually by replacing them with computers, because to be perfectly honest, a computer can do their job better and costs much less.

My problem with them is thus: as a human, we have this capacity to THINK, to REASON, and to ADAPT.  These three concepts are alien to the bureaucrat.  It does not think, it does not reason, and it certainly does not adapt.  It blindly memorizes rules and follows them.  That they call themselves human is actually rather disgusting.

I'm not saying I hate people with bureaucratic jobs; you do what you have to do to survive (though I would have offed myself instead), but rather those who are legitimately limited to that mentality, who sincerely  believe that a rule or policy, if implemented without exception, servers some greater good.  I'm talking about someone who, if their boss said that Thursday was Jacket Thursday and they must where a jacket at all times, would actually do so in 100+ degree heat.  

Such a person is either sick, mentally handicap, or so insanely consumed by fear that nothing else matters.  What happens, however, when said person is put in charge of something?  It expects the same thoughtless devotion it showed.  It can't explain WHY the rule is needed, it just knows it's needed, and thus it shall be.

These things have two major flaws when put in charge of something.  First, it does not question the motivation of its master, or the reason for the rule.  It simply enforces it blindly, leaving it nothing but a tool for those that may seek to extort others for their own prosperity (or pleasure).  Second, it thinks that a title or position suddenly demands respect and obedience.  Respect is earned, not given, and I've yet to meet such a creature worthy of any respect, regardless of title.  As for obedience, I'm not a slave, I do as I dear and accept the consequences knowing the possible repercussions (which thus far have been limited to a couple of conspiracies, wrist slapping, and self-destructive criticizing).  

Fortunately there's a ceiling for this creature.  It will never be at the top of the ladder, it will never achieve anything meaningful, it will only succeed in fulfilling it's self-important purpose.  And should anything happen that shakes up the status quot...  Well, they won't last long, will they?