Bureaucracy...

I don't think that I've ever come across someone who really liked bureaucracy. Still, it's like EVERYWHERE. Why? It's a social construct. It doesn't have to exist. This, like all social constructs exists because we collectively say so. The question become, why do we say so? Why do we make something that we so clearly hate exist?

Well, I've come to the conclusion that the only thing worse than having a bureaucracy is not having one. When trying to make something happen I need to first know who to bug about it. Without something resembling a bureaucracy, I don't have anything to go on. Who do I ask? How do I ask? Where to I go to ask? Who knows? I sure don't. Sure, someone would be dedicated to answering those questions, but it doesn't do me any good if I can't find that person.

At least with a bureaucracy I go to a general building and ask a receptionist. Will I get a run around? Probably, but even that is preferable to never even figuring out where to start. Moreover, that paperwork takes a wide range of very different kinds of inquiries and converts them into like terms, making it far easier to deal with very large numbers of inquiries while stripping a lot of the natural human bias of the thing.

Is it perfect? Fuck no. But it's simply superior than the ad hoc way we used to do things. Until we figure out a better way to do things, I'll just be grateful that we have what we do. That still won't stop me from praying that we figure out something better, however.