Bureaucracy Explained - Why Does It Exist And Does It Even Work?

Synonymous with paper work, group-think, doublespeak, and depersonalisation, on top of inefficiency and the same level of compassion as a lazy psychopath it seems like a fair question is why does bureaucracy exist?
Bureaucracies are simply administrative systems, and developed along with the ideas of rationalism. A bureaucracy is intended to be logical, fair, and efficient. Well, that's the theory.

[@GeorgRockallSchmidt]

My experience with ridiculous bureaucracy: When I was 18 I worked a temp job for a very large public employer. I worked for two months, but despite me calling them and even writing to their payroll department they continued to pay me for three months after I left. When they eventually realised, they wanted five months back.

[@lavalevel69]

Georg Rockall-Schmidt keep it up man...always entertained

[@jamesk7256]

Did you have to pay them back for all five months? Common sense would say you could clear it up and just pay back the three months' pay, but common sense has little to do with bureaucracy.

[@GeorgRockallSchmidt]

They were absolutely adamant their calculations were correct and wouldn't budge, but then I got someone who knew about these things to talk to them. In 90 seconds they were shown to have used the wrong tax codes and made other errors and anyway yes it was eventually fine.

[@Ken-kl2jo]

Georg Rockall-Schmidt Good right, I'd be really sore if I lost my earned money because of the negligence of others

[@jamesk7256]

Glad to hear that. They should have let you keep it all for your trouble.

[@traderjoestotebag]

I had gotten to the age where I needed a bank account. Because I had juuuust turned 18 I couldn't open one with a student ID, I needed a state ID. To obtain a state ID you need an original birth certificate and social security. I go to get a new social security card only to find out my name had been misspelled on my social for 12 years...the only way to change it is through an original birth certificate. Because I was born abroad, I have to get an original special birth certificate from the US gov. To obtain a birth abroad birth certificate you need a notarized document proving your identity. You cannot notorize a document without a state Id or license. All of this because I needed a bank account.

[@jam19h]

Go to a credit union instead.

[@Reluxthelegend]

I am so glad here everyone automatically gets an national ID instead.

[@_yellow]

Oh my fucking God

[@Edax_Royeaux]

@Mishelle Smith It sounds like providing misinformation on your social rightfully caused you problems. Was it too much to ask to spell your name correctly?

[@vdotme]

@@Edax_Royeaux Are you a bureaucrat by any chance? Let me guess.......Ministry of name spellings.

[@MoovySoundtrax]

I love the tone and quality of your videos. Informative, thoughtful, evenhanded, witty, and just the right balance of cynicism and sincerity. You deserve millions of subs.

[@cloudsweapon567]

Yeah Younger people especially tend to watch videos that doesn't require them to do any thinking of their own. Which is why Top 10 bullshit list are so popular. This guy presents the facts the best way he knows how and let's the audience decide for themselves what to think.

[@michaelbalfour3170]

cloudsweapon567 you are full of it sir.

[@markwatson6008]

Cynicism is all about corruption in the bureaucratic era. Controlling bureaucracies could be crucial to the government.

[@markwatson6008]

Mr. Cooper, I realize bureaucray is all about corruption in the world's biggest government bodies. Please tell me all about bureaucracy.

[@edsknife]

@@cloudsweapon567 Top 10 Shades of Blue. Which one's your favorite? I like #3

[@calebdehart6651]

Here's some world class bureacracy for you guys: I was kicked out of the Army after my fiance was murdered and my brother went missing. Then I found out my unit was going to fight in Afghanistan so I fought like hell to get a 2nd chance so I could re-enlist and go fight. I got in by the skin of my teeth and because this was gonna be a really rough one so a lot of soldiers were chickening out and they needed Grunts bad. As we were training to go I got a letter saying that because I didn't fulfill my original enlistment they were garnishing my wages. Every time I tried to point out that I was being punished for not serving a 6 year term while I had just signed up for another 6 year term (now honorably discharged) made zero sense they would refer me to payroll who would have me submit a packet to legal who would say I need to talk to enlistment who would then say I need to speak to the Human Resources rep. I never was once told "You're fucked. Man up and let us take your combat wages." It was always "Call this other department, submit a packet (with all kinds of hard to track down information and sworn statements from your command) and you should be all set." Only after I turned that in I'd be told "You filled out form 1234a to Agency A you need to submit form 4321b to department C. They can help." Everyone always said the next person could help and on and on it went until I just gave up on the train they were running on me. But how many people can say they fought in a war without getting paid? Lol

[@dartfast]

I lived my childhood in a small countryside town. Literally from a small community where a bicycle theft was a major crime you could solve by just asking the neighbours if they had seen it. So dealing with bureacracy has been one of the hardest things for me to Deal with for the past 15 years or so. Thanks for making me feel like I'm not the crazy one.

[@johntheshmoe]

Hey, where is the lava lamp man? I love that thing.

[@elizabethhuang8450]

Sam Oh, that makes so much more sense.

[@samliveshere88]

he didn't fill out the paper work

[@ralphwarom2514]

Yeah. Where is the Lava Lamp. I miss it.

[@harlow2047]

I lava the lampa

[@AbsolutZer0-1C3]

I subscribed when he was at 6k subs. The lava lamp is for films. The rants are for the green lampshade and the smoking jacket. It's a clever bit of visual interest that seperates the two subjects.

[@ganjiblobflankis6581]

What happens when the bureaucracy uses more resources than the actual productivity that it is meant to be ensuring the efficiency of? Implement a new tier of bureaucracy to determine which parts are unnecessary. Strangely, it will determine that all of the bureaucracy is completely necessary and costs can be made by outsourcing the actual work to the third world. Of course, the meta-bureaucracy will deem itself to be absolutely essential for the future of the organisation, despite utterly failing to do what it was created for.

[@LividImp]

Did this guy take over for the lava lamp? I like him, but he's no lava lamp.

[@HBW286]

Livid Imp I heard the lava lamp felt he was too big for the show. Big drug problem too, probably in rehab

[@CesarJoseee]

Livid Imp The lava lamp is only in the film videos.

[@ChestersonJack]

Livid Imp I think he's just the best voice imitator, as Greg Baldwin is to Mako

[@LividImp]

+The Reptilian Wizard Lizard It's crazy a person would be so obsessed over a lava lamp as to mistake it for a person...it's almost as though I was being humorous. But this is the internet, where everything is taken _super serious._

[@CesarJoseee]

Livid Imp Oh, well I am quite a slow person especially when it comes to humor. But to be fair, I've seen a lot of other comments legit serious about the lava lamp's presence being there or not and I assumed your comment was another one of those comments. But looking retrospectively now I can see how silly your comment actually was and how I fell for the bait.

[@SamuraiPie8111]

i'm glad to see you tackling subjects other than movies, you are a very intelligent and well spoken dude

[@riggel8804]

I had to go on welfare when I was in graduate school. About a year into my program the welfare department required me to attend a class on how to get a job. I think the class was about two weeks long. However this class cut into my school program. There was a point where my social worker insinuated I would have to pick one or the other. Stay on welfare or finish my education-that's bureaucracy gone wrong.

[@TheJenSolo]

NiggelMyNiggel Ha! When pursuing my Master's degree full-time to change my career for the better, faster, I was told I could not get Food Stamps or any public assistance while in school. However, as soon as I had graduated, and accepted a part-time job that would never support me while I sought my first post-grad role, they immediately offered me Food Stamps. Had I been a less motivated person, I could have just stayed there, coasting on part-time work & free food. Yet, while I struggled mightily to improve myself and my position, and took on 6 figures worth of student loan debt, they wouldn't give me dog's dinner in help. After I finally did land a job, I had to file a form to stop them giving me benefits 3 times before they did actually stop the benefits. They then tried to re-collect the extra benefits from me, which I had never collected nor used. Finally a year later they sent a letter acknowledging I had never claimed the benefits and informing me I could now destroy the bank card they used to give them to me previously. A week later a second letter arrived, stating if I turned the card back in instead of destroying it, I could have my deposit back. Facepalm.

[@jakerockznoodles]

TheJenSolo It's often even worse for people with disabilities. I knew a lad who needed a lot of support living independently, so he got financial support for a flat and a care worker who would help him with tasks like travel and cooking. He decides to get a job as a cleaner and guess what happens IMMEDIATELY. Not only does he now receive no financial support for the flat but is also expected to pay the entirety of the careworkers salary as well from his minimum wage job. He is actively punished for actually trying to live independently, the very thing the support was designed to do for him...

[@riggel8804]

Thejensolo, similar thi g happend to me. I got a job right after i graduated and canceled my welfare. My social worker was super happy. She said most people never get off. She said she wanted to give me some additional foodstamp money "to help with the transition" i declined but a month later i noticed they added money to my foodstamp card anyways. So i spent it. A year later i get a letter in the mail saying they want their money back. Its not a big deal. They didnt want interest or anything. Its just bizzare behavior. What would the personification of bureaucracy behave like?

[@iAmTheSquidThing]

That happens a lot. They're called _Poverty Traps_ or _Welfare Cliffs._ They're completely absurd and counterproductive. And this is one of the reasons some people support the idea of a Negative Income Tax or a Universal Basic Income.

[@riggel8804]

I understand the reasoning behind the class they wanted me to attend. The class was for people who had been on welfare for a long time (a year or so) without getting a job. The class was to help you get a job. A lot of people in the class probably did need a prod to get a job....I think replacing all the money we spend on the welfare bureaucracy and well fare programs with a simple universal basic income is a good idea. Also, I think that if we took away all the welfare benefits from illegal immigrants that we would get rid of a lot of illegals

[@ChestersonJack]

Between the slamming of the telephone and the use of Jedi mind tricks to (accidentally) convince me you're on drugs, this may be one of my favorite videos from you to date.

[@carltechnocop]

During a lengthy period of unemployment I was signed onto both jobseeker's allowance and housing benefit. After 6 months I eventually got a job, and after notifying the benefits department, my jobseeker's allowance promptly stopped. However, I still continued to receive housing benefit. I rang the benefits centre and the council many, many times explaining the situation, yet the bi weekly cheques just kept on coming! I sent written letters, and emails to whomever I could, but they still kept on sending cheques. After another 6 months I finally got a letter explaining that I was no longer entitled to housing benefit, and would have to re-apply if I wanted to continue claiming. I ended up just cashing the lot, and kept it. Bureaucratic victory!

[@TheJackball1986]

"Next thing you know it's Mogadishu on a Friday night" had me in stitches. Well played.

[@nog5904]

Notification crew reporting in.

[@NelsonStJames]

Oh you are good! Content like yours is very difficult, because they "look" easy, but you clearly put a lot of work into them. Always a joy to watch when they go up.

[@Moonbeam143]

You continue to amaze me.

[@atomicspacewizard]

I totally thought this would branch off into a review of Brazil. Well played.

[@matthias_samahl1266]

It will, this was obviously part 1.

[@zetetick395]

He didn't have the requisite forms stamped in advance from Information Retreival, so no video for us.

[@BlueMorningStar]

This is one of my favorite KZbin channels now.

[@Dr.Kananga]

Bureaucracy is essential and it works when good practices are applied, because it functions well when people work it smarter rather than harder.

[@jamespfp]

3:45 -- It has been my continued experience that where there is a Will, there is an Estate Lawyer claiming a percentage for handling the paperwork.

[@Macynlace]

I LOVE how much this channel has exploded in the past couple months. I just checked recently and suddenly over 75k subs? So so glad to see channel grow so much. You are undoubtedly one of the best channels on YT at the moment and you will only continue to expanded. Here's to 100k subs in the near future!

[@michaelramon2411]

I still remember what a book called The Finish (it was about the death of Osama bin Laden) said about bureaucracy. To paraphrase: "While bureaucracy has many negative traits, one of its oft-forgotten positive ones is the ability to process massive amounts of mind-numbing information in a reasonably efficient manner." The world is a very big place, and organizations need tools to process it.

[@LordDarigaze]

I live near to where those stairs were built by that local man, and I must say this video provided the first legitimate point I've heard against the stairs. Most local news networks are praising the man, and while I personally think he was kind and thoughtful for building them, it's nice to hear a real counterpoint. While I think the discussion of how the city's estimate was ludicrous is important, it doesn't negate the fact that the stairs may not be up to the standard they should be.

[@johnharvey5412]

LordDarigaze you don't think the government would be at least as likely to get it wrong?

[@LordDarigaze]

For $65,000 I'd suspect not. That was their estimate for the job. The man who built it did it with $550 dollars worth of materials, and help from a local homeless man.

[@handsomebrick]

Hey, it's the phrase "institutionalized racism" being used correctly, haven't heard that in a while.

[@foxybingo1112]

handsomebrick How do you mean?

[@handsomebrick]

People sometimes use the term to mean that racism is totally unfixable forever because it's "institutionalized" into society or something.

[@foxybingo1112]

I see.

[@toolongforyoutoread6]

My mother works in a scheduling department for a hospital. They are very inefficient. For instance, my father once called his doctor's office to schedule an appointment. Because his doctor was affiliated with the hospital, he was told that he had to schedule it through the scheduling department. My father then called the scheduling department and was told that they needed to transfer his call. It was transferred to the doctor's office he had just called. At one point, one of my mother's doctors got so frustrated by the hospital's inefficiency that he got my mother's contact information from her patient file, and contacted her begging for information about one of his patients. My mother's supervisor told her that she could not tell the doctor anything, and that she needed to write him an email explaining that she couldn't. Although she could of easily accessed the files the doctor needed, that job was tasked to a different department.

[@isadorafonseca6920]

I think you've become one of my favorite channels of all time, you're videos are way too amazing for me to express it in words, keep up the good work! Can't wait for the next one (miss the lava lamp)

[@DanielAvelan]

Btw, "my" experience with bureaucracy: my parents were charged with taxes for a school that has continued to not exist for the last 20 years. Now that that shit was dealt with, dad is being charged with taxes for a car that was totaled 30 years ago.

[@erickenneycreative]

Simply I believe a major positive outcome whether planned or unplanned from bureaucracy is the prevention of tyranny, totalitarianism, and fundamentalism from taking hold, forcing a ideal, a movement, or an act of power on any level to prove whether it will be harmful, beneficial, representative, or even coherently serve it's governing body by slowing the process down through checks, balances, committees and paperwork. If you didn't have bureaucracy, the constant upheaval of any one government by knee jerk reactionary policy would bring any country to chaos OR a country would easily become a controlled dictatorial state all check and balances falling to one individual. Thanks again for a great video.

[@WholesomeMemes]

So I woke up this morning with a particularly nasty hangover. During the morning routine I noticed that a bulldozer and a group of men were stood in front of my house, claiming they were going to demolish it to make room for a new bypass. The first I knew about it was when a workman arrived at the door yesterday. Supposedly the plans had been available in the planning office for the last nine months, on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet, stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying “Beware of the Leopard”. I never could get the hang of Thursday.

[@0lionheart]

I want to comment, but I can't be bothered to fill out the CC-788-C permission and privacy waiver form in order to do so.

[@thegoldencaulk2742]

Bureaucracy exists as a deliberate stifling of process so that politicians can keep themselves busy enough to say they actually do something all day. It's an attempt to maintain the status quo so no poor defenseless (s/) politician loses their job from efficiency related cutbacks. They've also slathered bureaucracy in intentionally difficult to decipher legal speak that would take a law degree to make any sense of. Ever wonder why the most deeply rooted, connected, and longest serving politicians have Law Degrees? And even _they_ can barely make sense of this shit. Wanna know how obtrusive and inefficient bureaucracy is? It took me 10 seconds just to type the word "bureaucracy." Even the dang word is tedious!

[@chrismemphis8062]

Not only are you right, you now have an armada coming after you.

[@handsomebrick]

I would argue that that obstructive legal speak is different from obstructive bureaucracy, which is different from regular bureaucracy, and that no politician's job is safe in any democracy, despite their best efforts, but otherwise I agree.

[@rustile306]

I would argue bureaucracy came first and is what enabled politicians to become so detached and unaccountable. The systems were put in place to increase efficiency, productivity, etc., and were then exploited and hijacked by those who rose to the top of them in order to gain more power and in some cases, money. You really can't just blame the politicians. They're totally interchangeable and unless systems are put in place to get the right people to rise to the top, the wrong people will keep taking their place instead. If such improvements to the system are really even possible that is.

[@thethrashyone]

It seems strange that bureaucrats always seem to come down hard on individuals and small companies for the most minor of infractions, yet there're no systems in place to prevent Congress from voting "Aye!" on giving themselves pay raises every year (at the taxpayers' expense, of course). Can someone explain to me what is so goddamn grueling about being an entry-level politician in the House of Reps. that it warrants a $174,000 salary?

[@geordieinjapan]

Plus, you know, so when you go to the doctors they have your entire health history on file so they don't say "Oh you have Smiths disease, take this medicine and you'll be fine....oh shit. You didn't tell me you had a nut allergy. Woops."

[@monkeywrench4169]

You use an office desk lamp when you talk about bureaucracy and a lava lamp when you talk about movies? *Yellowstone eruption and Los Angeles eradication confirmed.*

[@GeorgRockallSchmidt]

The *prophecy* has been fulfilled.

[@slobiden.2593]

Georg Rockall-Schmidt I'm guessing you live in the UK. WHY ARE YOU STILL AWAKE Yours A hypocrite.

[@TheCGJeff]

Andre A I think he lives in Mexico

[@isadorafonseca6920]

My mind is blown

[@franmcwhorter9654]

Ty for no ads....thank you SO MUCH

[@transformersrevenge9]

I watched the Wire, and now I hate Bureaucracy. It just stands in the way of positive change, and people are suffering because of that .

[@ursidae97]

For your most boring subject this is your best video.

[@helmaschine1885]

The more I hear about Woodrow Wilson, the more intrigued I am. He also opposed the Versailles Treaty for being too unjustly harsh.

[@paloma1348]

I live in Mexico and went to a public art university that only costs about $80 per semester. In order to get your degree you have to do 480 hours of community service and write a report of the things your did which takes about 3 months to be approved by the public education office. When you finish university you have to present a "professional" exam which is just a presentation of everything you did in school or your thesis (depending on the modality you choose). Then you have to go to the National Institute of Fine Arts´office with all your certificates where they treat you like a criminal and if you have so much as a bad photocopy, they decline to do the procedure and reschedule you for another day. After about a year and a half of paperwork you get your degree. After about six months of waiting, they called me to tell me they had lost some of my things and had to go back.

[@maximusironthumper]

Bureaucracy can be worked around - as you allude to, it's the apathy in people it induces that's the real problem. In fact one of the reasons I started my youtube channel was to show by example that 'the system' does not have to stand in the way. Loving your videos, keep up the good work!

[@mandrakescreams]

There was a time that I couldn't transfer a car into my name, because the original owner hadn't given me copies of their paperwork. On the way to take the car to be scrapped, after a couple of years of trying to get the details to transfer it, it broke down and the police had it towed. I paid the fines for it not being in my name, and thought all was well.....until months later I got a letter saying I had to either pay the fine and an extra sum, or my property could be embargoed to that value. After being sent to 3 different offices in 2 cities, I found out that the police had for some reason duplicated the fine (with inaccurate information about the vehicle and where the incident took place). Luckily I had evidence that I had paid the original fine, because they couldn't argue with that and had to close the case....

[@solarus2120]

I had a "fun" experience with the bureaucracy of my local metropolitan district council a number of years ago. I used to move around a lot, averaging just over a year per rented property. It was the letting agent's responsibility to notify the council of who was responsible for paying the council tax on the property, and they duly did. I was no longer paying council tax at property A and starting paying for property B. After living in property B for nearly 2 years, I got a letter from the council demanding that I pay some figure in back council tax for Property A. I promptly rang the council to ask "what the f---?" and starting going through my records of payments versus their records of payment. Despite agreeing that all payments had been made when requested for the values requested, they were adamant that I owed this money. After nearly 2 hours on the phone, I was passed to a supervisor. They looked at the account and also agreed that payments had been made when requested, and the balance related to some admin fees. We then spent some time discussing the situation. It turned out that in the switch from Letting Agent A to Letting Agent B, the council had created a new record for me, without my middle name. They had continued to bill me for property A as well as property B. When the bill got to some ridiculous value and there had been no response to attempts at communication, they began an investigation and realised that there were 2 records for me, one of which was paid in full. They rationalised the amounts and then wrote to me with the new total. After some more discussion, they admitted that the admin fees were for chase letters that had been sent to property A demanding payment. Some more discussion around the fact that I hadn't been living there, had been paying elsewhere, so the chase letters shouldn't have been sent followed. By the end of the conversation the fees had been reversed and they owed me money

[@chapocademesquit]

I don't know how to express how satisfying and entertaining your videos are.

[@noahheninger]

I'm addicted to this channel.

[@lxwheill7371]

I would like to be able to "like" this video more than once. Having worked in bureaucratic (mostly private sectors) settings for most of my adult life, I am all too familiar with the general concepts of the cog-like "automatonic" nature of such environments, and how the "inner" social structures of bureaucracies differ from those in other social systems. What is truly scary is just how easily acceptable most people seem to be in accepting the hierachic and social (re)structures in bureaucracies, and how after a certain time it becomes a certain norm which is then seemingly applied to both their "at home" as well as system of values. In short, there are more individuals who "are" (or maybe have become) their bureaucratic personnae than we actually think. As always, thanks for a great video!

[@jp5394]

It so awesome to find a channel about a smart guy commentating about things. Keep uup the good work.

[@ishbanyadav]

Everytime I watch your video, my subscription for you gets more convinced.

[@PointlessSillyName]

Bureaucracy is newspeak for "money for nothing", or "jobs for the lads". That set of steps is the perfect example. Toronto council had been promising - for 65,000 Canadian dollars - to build some steps to replace a dodgy slope that people were using to get into a local park. Months later and there were still no steps. So a retired mechanic hired a homeless guy and together they built a set of wooden steps in a day - for $550. This pissed the council off and they tore them down and replaced the steps with a concrete set at a knock-down price. A paltry $10,000 of taxpayers money... Hoorah for bureaucracy! Unfortunately though, because that mechanic took the law into his own hands, the millionaire contractor who had to build the new steps 'on the cheap' has had to shelve plans to take his kids to Hawaii for 3 weeks at Christmas, courtesy of the people of Toronto. Now his poor underprivileged offspring are going to have to settle for a measly 10 days at Florida Disneyworld...

[@MegamikazeMoriko]

toronto is the shittiest, most third world city in canada i'm not at all surprised... toronto is a huge mess of bureaucracy and government waste as soon as i get the money, i'm moving to northern ontario, where its peaceful and quiet

[@edsknife]

Valve does a really good job at maintaining the feel of a small organization, but they're still the most influential company in their industry.

[@kobathedread]

The worst instance of bureaucracy I experienced was not from a government department but from my mobile provider when they were unable to update my details for some unknowable reason. It got resolved in the end but only after an almighty struggle.

[@georgesartiano3559]

Living in Chicago, my ex-gf and I were rebuilding part of our house. One of us used to have to get up to go to the permit office around 5am once or twice a week to get a new permit. After meeting with the woman overseeing the architecture permits many times, we got on a first name basis with her. After a few weeks, we had to meet with her, then the dreaded plumbing overseer. His desk was literally next to the architecture woman's. We arranged to meet with the architecture planner first, then when that was complete to meet with the plumbing overseer. Everything went great with the architecture woman. We laughed and joked about things, and she stamped everything approved. A few minutes later was our appointment with the plumbing overseer. What we had learned was that he and the woman from architecture did NOT get along. So we sit wit him, and we pull out the copied of our plans, and he immediately says, "Oh you only have 3 copied of your plans, you need 4." We asked if we could use his copier to just make one copy, as it had taken us weeks to get an appointment with him. He said, "NO." The copier was the same one the architecture overseer used. We turned to look at her a few feet away, and she said, "Damn straight you can use my copier," while staring straight at the plumbing overseer. We got our copy. She laughed, and he had to approve our plans. What ridiculousness!

[@DanielAvelan]

Eventually every bureaucracy ends up only serving itself. The rules might never be changed, thanks to the stiffness of the system, but every day a new exception will be added. To address efficiency problems, they'll add band-aids, and them more to cover the damage of the band-aids. Old employes don't want to change a system which they're familiar with, the new ones have no hope of doing it. It's costly to keep things as they are, but even more to get a fresh start, so the bureacracy can justify it's existence.

[@NefariousKoel]

And once that bureaucracy is large enough, it becomes it's own self-interested social class.

[@brunoacostasilva]

@@NefariousKoel It's social cancer.

[@Mr2squids]

I work for a US bank that's part of a larger international bank. As one of the most regulated industries in America, I'm drowning in bureaucracy--the sheer amount of paperwork required to do even the most straightforward of tasks is ridiculous. I can respect, even admire, the idea that the more sets of eyes you have on a task, the less likely it is for said task to go wrong... but there comes a point where the job gets in the way of doing the job

[@memoryalphamale]

Bureaucracy is the nervous system of the evolving human super-organism. Thanks for the thoughtful vid GR-S :)

[@crayottawa4700]

"Command prompt" props, sir. In my town, they shut down a little girl's lemonade stand since she hadn't filled out the forms at City Hall. Sadly, I'm sure this isn't the only case.

[@LordBaktor]

I was born in Sweden and raised in Spain. My mother was Swedish and my father was a Spaniard. Sadly, my father died in a car crash when I was seven. When I was around twenty, Sweden changed their rules regarding double nationality so I would be able to get a Spanish nationality without forfeiting the Swedish one, therefore I went to the appropriate government entity to ask how to do just that. The first requisite was a copy of my father's death certificate and a paper from the registry stating that I was indeed his son. Incidentally, my father hadn't gotten around to registering me as his son in Spain (long story short: he was married to another woman and I was the product of an affair he had with my mother, so I guess he didn't register me in Spain so his wife wouldn't find that out by accident or something). So to get the first two papers I would have needed to contact my father's widow (who hated me and my mother) in order to get a copy of the death certificate and get in contact with the Swedish registry to get a paper from them stating that he was indeed my father (he had registered me as his son in Sweden), then get that paper translated, notarized and sent to Spain. I didn't even bother to read the rest of the requisites, but I remember there being like eight or so additional bullet points on the list.

[@danbirchett6621]

Well reasoned, and well stated. Terrifying cameo at 3:05.

[@manofcarbon883]

You make interesting, intellectual videos with a nice dash of humor. You are one of my favorite channels. I am very fond of listening to your video's as I work.

[@christopher7195]

My favorite writer, Robert Anton Wilson, Wrote in depth about this sort of thing. This particular one is the "2nd law of celine", a character in the Illuminatus Trilogy. I've quoted it to my superiors when they dont listen to feedback and step on my toes. Wilson rephrases this himself many times as "communication occurs only between equals". Celine calls this law "a simple statement of the obvious" and refers to the fact that everyone who labors under an authority figure tends to lie to and flatter that authority figure in order to protect themselves either from violence or from deprivation of security (such as losing one's job). In essence, it is usually more in the interests of any worker to tell his boss what he wants to hear, not what is true. In any hierarchy, every level below the highest carries a subtle burden to see the world in the way their superiors expect it to be seen and to provide feedback to their superiors that their superiors want to hear. In the end, any hierarchical organization supports what its leaders already think is true more than it challenges them to think differently. The levels below the leaders are more interested in keeping their jobs than telling the truth.

[@LaurelMysticmane]

I knew a man who was born in singapore to british parents because they were in a uk military base before singapores full independence. He was at the time, a citizen of both singapore and the UK. However, later on in life when he lived in the UK, singapore no longer recognised his citizenship due to being from a uk military base. At the same time, the UK did not recognise him as a UK citizen due to being born abroard and without a proper birth certificate. This was rather funny, due to that fact that he himslef had been in the army for around 10 years and was no longer a UK citizen. He was at this point only known as a 'nationless alien' and had to have the minister of defence personaly write him in as a british citizen. Peak Bureaucracy.

[@maddyg3208]

Same thing happened to my mum. Born in British India with no birth certificate because it wasn't mandatory there. After her father died when she was three, she came to Australia (where her father was from) with her mother, who ended up leaving my mum with in-laws and going to England. 40 years later, when my mum applied for an Australian passport, the issue of give us your birth certificate" went round in circles for FOUR YEARS before the local member of parliament intervened. They couldn't accept the fact that she didn't have one. It was kinda like "we can process your application without a birth certificate, if you give us your birth certificate".

[@hhhhhhyy]

I once came to an early morning appointment, that was discussed beforehand, only to be called stupid for coming in the early morning.

[@iAmTheSquidThing]

I guess the problem with that story about the stairs was not so much that people should be able to construct their own street furniture. It's that the public sector always seems to massively delay projects and inflate the cost.

[@MrAndreaCaso]

Very sober analysis. Keep up the good work

[@davidszondy]

I agree with the general thrust of this, but there are five very important points about bureaucracy. 1) It can be used as a deliberate weapon. Not only can it act as a shield against responsibility, but it can be used to destroy smaller rivals who don't have the resources to navigate through a complex and hostile process. Worse, the process is often controlled by those who want to hold onto their oligopoly. For example, in many parts of the United States, you need a licence to be a hair dresser or an interior decorator or a flower arranger. In each case, it was the already established businesses that demanded the regulations, which they wrote and now control. 2) Bureaucracies can implement rules that really serve no purpose or no longer serve any purpose. There are too many examples of some minor official thinking that something was a good idea, the idea was implemented, and now it acts as a maddening stumbling block despite the fact that it never did anything. One example is a rural township that decided to put in modern handicap access ramps at all the road crossings. Sounds brilliant, but the town doesn't have any pavements, so these expensive concrete protuberances sit there pointlessly and all new construction must still install them. 3) Bureaucracies don't need to be hopelessly inefficient. At least, not for very long. First, it is possible to build systems where it is possible to short circuit the tedious chain of command if needs be. This is how Louis XIV turned the moribund French system into an extremely efficient one by his appointment of royal inspectors who reported directly to him and had the power to act in his name. Second, if crony government interference is removed, private bureaucracies will quickly be destroyed by smaller, more efficient rivals. Look at how the telecommunications sector leaped ahead the moment the government sanctioned monopolies were abolished. 4) Many regulations that seem reasonable are actually fantastically self serving. Years ago, I attended to funeral of a relative in Minnesota who was buried in a metal casket built like a refrigerator, which was placed inside of a concrete vault inside the grave. When I asked why, I was told that this was because of local health regulations. But back in Britain, the very opposite is required with simple wooden coffins set directly in the earth for precisely the same reasons. The fact is that the rationale behind the Minnesotan practice was that theirs were much more expensive and meant a higher profit for the undertakers. 5) it results in insane inefficiencies because it is next to impossible to modernise. I try to have as little to do with bureaucrats as possible because I loathe re-entering my personal information over and over again who have all that in their files and have done for yonks. I can understand wanting an occasional verification or update, but when the property management company that I rent from keeps asking me for my address, which they MUST know because it's their property, it drives me spare. Surely in any business or government agency that I've dealt with before, my name and an account number should suffice.

[@KorboXD]

Just gotta say, I love this channel. Keep doing what you're doing cause its great.

[@blandotsev1838]

I couldve sworn you were at 3k when i subbed, well bloody done

[@olstar18]

We must expand the bureaucracy to support the expanding bureaucracy.

[@Phlebas]

My entire job is kind of bureaucratic. I'm an archaeologist working in the field of "Cultural Resource Management" (CRM). Basically, the heritage laws of my province require that whenever there's some sort of ground disturbance involved with a new development, an archaeologist is required to assess the area for archaeological potential. This is a good law, in my opinion, but it's applied in strange ways. Putting in posts for a power line (ie. sticking a 30 cm wide pole into the ground every hundred metres) requires an archaeological assessment. A massive logging operation, which uproots trees, does not because the ministry doesn't consider it "ground disturbance". Safety regulations are also kind of funny. We generally work for oil and gas companies and, as contractors, have to follow their rules. A common one is having to wear hard hats when walking around in a wide open farmer's field with no overhead equipment. But my favourite one is when a client required us to wear a life jacket while working around a creek (the creek was about 20 cm deep and it was narrow enough to cross without even getting our feet wet).

[@BlueMorningStar]

Would love if you did a part 2 of this talking about Franz Kafka and how modern bureaucracy informed his work.

[@KP-yq8id]

I enjoy your videos. It’s great that I can watch something intelligent and well-researched like this and then scroll down and see how the Predator movies have changed over time 😊. Thanks!

[@tonicpop6686]

“We are all just small cogs.” Love the dry wit.

[@Shyboy70]

Great video GRS. I'm an Army Captain and originally joined the military to fight the good fight and defend those that can't defend themselves. I selected a combat arms branch, but found that instead of fighting Jihadism i just have dealt with endless amounts of paperwork. Its a good thing I can run 2 miles in 14 minutes and go road marching with a 60 pound pack, so that I can keep up with the endless administrative requirements and shoulder the burden of vestigial departments suffering from chronic complacency. Keep up the good mix of content and consider opening up and an Instagram account!

[@juliaa365]

Thank you for making consistently interesting and well made videos, it makes me feel educated

[@humanice2]

You're very informative on various complex subjects, I hope this channel gets very popular

[@benjones1717]

Bureaucracy is why big companies flip houses and you find out that it leaks and it's your problem. It's buyer beware for life changing purchases, ripoff merchants who are also snobs. The sort of snobs who look down on people who go to university and study anything other than business or economics. Argh the paperwork taking away my time is giving me panic attacks. I've seen lawyers and house purchases ruin people's lives - they just won't admit afterwards that's it's happened to them. The myth of self sufficiency were no one does anything they just add 'value'. Ripoff merchants all the way down. It's passing the work down from the powerful to the least powerful. Beuracracy is natures way of showing you that you can't keep bolting bits onto old frameworks. Sometimes you have to scrap it and start again.

[@Swinburnean]

"Can you prove you are who you say you are?" "Well, I've got my birth certificate, my student ID, my debit card and my degree certificate." "So, no passport or driver's license?" "I don't drive or travel abroad, so no. But, I've got an obvious paper trail of references from birth, all the way through school and university." "I'm sorry, if you don't have a valid photo ID, you'll need to fill out an additional form and get it signed by a lecturer or school teacher." "You mean the people who've already issued me my student IDs and my degree?" "Yes." "Hold on, I think I had to do something similar when I applied for student finance. Yeah, here's a form with my course leader's signature on it." "I'm sorry, sir, we can't accept a form that was issued more than three months ago."

[@chilldude30]

I thought this was really well nuanced. I work in the civil service in a very beaurocratic area and have very similar views about the good and the bad of bureaucracy. Where i work, workplace harassment, discrimination and general bullying and toxic managers are rare and that behaviour is effectively stamped out through the beaurocratic systems and the union. At the same time however, there are serious cruel 'decisions' made by people just applying the beaurocracy. For example, a girl I knew got sacked for misconduct because she accidentally put that she'd got a B instead of a C in an A level of a totally irrelevant subject, and that a level had nothing to do with why she got the job. But she was sacked, just as covid was really kicking off. It was a case where no one wanted to do it, but it 'had' to be done, because no person can override the beaurocracy. I was furious about this but the union couldn't/wouldn't do anything because they were only applying their contract. She told me the HR manager who told her she was sacked, and I suppose "signed off" on it was crying in the meeting. Quite scary stuff. You explained how I feel about this kind of thing well, thank you!

[@GnosticAtheist]

I love it. This way I dont have to talk to random people at whatever gov office I am at. I just fill out a form and leave.

[@Shavinism]

Very interesting subject and great execution again amigo. I think you touched upon the main issues - bureaucracy lacks empathy. There is no individual in words on a paper. A system definitely needs bureaucracy, but the implementation of it will result in: A) it will cost more money for the people that need the service B) it will mean people spending too much time on paperwork than their job. c) apathy I see a difference I'm sure you see as well of how Mexico and UK are different in how they treat bureaucracy and how it's implemented. For better and worse.

[@Blurredman]

As someone who works for the NHS in the Telecommunication department (not the switchboard- more like.. Old British Telecoms Engineers in the 80's) that is also not part of the IT department, this video resonates with me. I'm finding applying for a mortgage easier than getting a new telephone line installed in the hospital!

[@juliaavocado343]

There's an inherent difference between a government bureaucracy and a corporate one: one you can avoid, one you cannot and you also have to fund it. Only one type of bureaucracy can destroy your life and has no incentive to adapt to its users. If a company has the worst bureaucracy ever, it eventually goes out of business and everyone gets fired. If a government bureaucracy is atrocious, it gets more public funding and forget about firing anybody...

[@crazychips123]

I know lava lamp is film videos but man I never realised how much I liked it till it's not in a video.

[@ZuluUtahKiloOscar]

Never clicked off of my... research... so quickly.

[@hosebeefstick]

Bigoted Ice Cream From your name, I expect you to tell, "Vanilla Pride!" a lot.

[@slipknotboy555]

Loser's Club 1. That was great 2. I remember seeing you in the chat on Nyx's livestream Seems like you have good taste in channels

[@hosebeefstick]

slipknotboy555 I feel so cool/lame right now. But anyway, thanks baby cakes. lol If you see me on another stream​, say hi!

[@ruairimasun1073]

Vanilla pride world wide! we are the superior flavour. keep our freezers pure

[@hosebeefstick]

Ruairí Másún Chocolate lives matter! Poor taste, maybe? lol

[@nicoevergreen3885]

ridiculous bureaucracy: since 2014 I have been trying to join the US military, its taken me this long because I accidentally told an army doctor that I got into a car accident as a child. (I was quite hungry and mildly delirious) Because of that slip up I've been barred from joining the US Navy, seen three psychiatrists, taken four physical exams gone through three different recruiters and on this coming August 4th I have to go pick up an expensive Sleep Test Machine so that I can apply for a medical waiver which might also be turned down sending me to the Air Force to try again. RIPeroonies.

[@TruthfulAndHumble]

Nico Tenney It has been two years, any success? 🤔

[@Loner-Wolf]

Georg your style of presentation reminds me of Clive James.

[@kevinbrosius8965]

I've enjoyed quite a few of your videos. Thanks for the fun, high quality videos. Keep it up.

[@utubeisCensorred]

My experience with bureaucracy: I try to game it as much as possible. For example: I was unemployed for awhile and had the option not to pay tax on my checks. I never reported it. However, the tax man did eventually catch me about 8 years later and I had to pay it back. But.. I just saw it as having a several thousand dollar loan interest free for 8 years. No harm done.

[@VulpesHilarianus]

Ah, yes. Bureaucracy. My least favourite recurring enemy. Two years ago I had applied for a competency test in order to challenge a college level class to obtain a certificate. This is because I couldn't at the time afford to actually attend the proper classes. In order to complete the paperwork I had to provide proof of at least a G.E.D. However, I had never received a copy my G.E.D. because I was a minor in state custody, meaning it was sent to the agent at the Department of Health and Human Resources who presided over me and had legal jurisdiction over me. Except in the intervening three years she had left the DHHR and nobody could figure out where the documents regarding my case were held. To top it all off I could not for the life of me remember what the name of the school was where I had earned the G.E.D. to ask them for a copy. And so I had to fill out another form giving the DHHR permission to open the files regarding my case, wait three weeks, and call multiple times to bug them once the three weeks were long passed. Two months later I finally got the original G.E.D. I still haven't challenged the course to obtain the certificate because of this ordeal and simply go off previous work experience and credentials in place of it.

[@kijijiallin]

You are my fav channel now, I signed the forms.

[@oninbo]

Really enjoy the videos Georg. This is a gem of a channel, I've been telling my mates to check it out. Keep up the good work!

[@declandillman82]

That green-shaded table lamp is a poor replacement for the Lava lamp, which added much to the pleasant yet slightly bizarre atmosphere of these videos... The lava lamp provided an interesting counterpoint to Georg's dry yet humorous style. Please bring it back!

[@footbroke]

Informative and entertaining. This was a good video.

[@simongoodman3702]

"This form is lethal" - actual comment from a functionary at a bank where I had a (mercifully) short contract.

[@TheSchmuck2]

Great video! It makes me want to sing a song. "Brazil~ Where hearts were entertaining June~"

[@lifeisagame2023]

The jobcentre exemplifies beauracracy, they present themselves as helping you out, where as their beauracracy enviablely does the opposite

[@yandnat1656]

I love the parody of bureaucracy you'll find in the hitch hikers guide to the universe( not that terrible movie ), and even the 12 tasks of Asterix. Ps keep up the great work Georg.

[@conradtm]

It's funny you mention India because their bureaucracy is legendarily slow. As in "file paperwork for a simple permit with the government and wait for years to hear back" slow. Also, I definitely feel like bureaucracy in the government is a good thing to an extent. Granted, it can go too far, as you said, and I think you kind of touched on it, but when you have millions and millions of people, you can't really afford to make snap decisions. When you get up to that kind of a scale, the decisions you make can have impacts that you won't see until years later and it may be too late by then. So you have to move very slowly and very carefully. You do still have to actually MOVE, which is why some parties that don't want things to change ever are just incorrect. The world changes, so the systems within it have to change. That being said, if a government changes too much too fast without the extensive checks necessary, not knowing who to sue when you fall down steps will be the least of your issues. Dope ass video, though. Enjoyable as always.

[@letsburn00]

I've often heard India as a good example of how hard it is to end corruption and inefficient beurocracy at the same time. If you have money, you pay "a fee" to bypass the rules. So the 20% most powerful don't have to deal with it, plus government employees don't need to be paid much because they really get paid in bribes. The problem is, you fix the beurocracy, the bribes stop, so you need to pay these employees properly. At the same time, if you just stop the corruption, the workers can't feed their families and the system that is broken can't function it's its natural state.

[@BigHosMan]

Great insight,Georg. Thanks,mate!

[@matthias_samahl1266]

I don't know if this counts as bureaucracy but i once applied for a job and the usual procedure was that you first have an interview with person 1 (which was a man) and then if he gives you the green light if you will, you can have a second interview with person 2 (which was a woman) so on the day that i went in for my interview they told me that person 1 was sick so i would just automatically go on to person 2 instead, wich ended up giving me the job but because of standard procedure she told me i would have to come in some day in the near future and get interviewed by person 1 just so people wouldn't feel like i was being favorited. And of course what ended up happening was that person 1 told me i wasn't fit for the job in his opinion, so ultimately I didn't get it.

[@spacesiphonophore9191]

Rip

[@kaktotak8267]

Bureaucracy happens when government workers whose position is most suitable to perform certain functions and make and execute certain decisions, are either not given enough authority to make those decisions and instead given a procedure to follow, or given such an authority but still prefer not to use it to avoid responsibility associated with it. This is a symptom of an ill culture of authority and responsibility in the government that can be a result of : a) the culture of autocratic tyranny (almost always accompany undemocratic regimes), b) excessive scrutiny, criticism and punishment of a government institution due to public paranoia, media sensationalism or internal squabbles in the government (more likely in democratic countries).

[@SirKenchalot]

DBS checks in the UK (Disclosure and Barring Service) are just the worst. I heard of a senior medical researcher at a hospital who had to have 70 checks done on him for one drug trial! That's 70 identical checks for different organisations or levels of organisation!

[@gr3g0ryxxx37]

I'm not sure it isn't the place of law to make moral judgements. Hart would argue that what specifically distinguishes "law" from "rules in general" is that they make distinct normative judgements