Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.

For years corporations have been mechanizing production and reducing jobs. Jobs requiring manual labor have been dropping for years. Jobs for machine operators and paint sprayers as well as a variety of trade jobs have been replaced with automation in order to lower costs. As we all know, lowering costs produces obscene bonuses for chief executives and other senior managers.

Since the jobs being eliminated belonged to a class of people we found easy to ignore and because we were not affected we rationalized. It was efficient to eliminate blue-collar jobs; it made us competitive; it was progress.  

Now thanks to the information revolution the jobs disappearing belong to us. Suddenly we care about the jobs that are disappearing. The jobs of people who had followed the rules; who had done what they were told to do; have disappeared most likely permanently.

Remember Martin Niemöller’s quotation:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out –

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out –

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out –

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.