Are We All Simply Ruthless Pragmatists?

Are we all simply ruthless pragmatists?

March 10, 2014  //  By: Laura Werup  //  DISCUSS, Featured  //  2 Comments

Being downloaded so often that you wonder whether so many Americans are watching it that first-quarter GDP must suffer, no Netflix-addicted person can ever have missed out on the appealing 2013-series-infatuation. Short recall: ‘A congressman works with his equally conniving wife to exact revenge on the people who betrayed him’. We’re talking politics. We’re talking business. We’re talking an IMDB rating of 9/10 – indeed we’re talking about House of Cards.

Ruthless pragmatic – with this stunning arrangement of grandiose words, I do not simply cite the main character Frank Underwood’s (Kevin Spacey) greatest compliment bestowed upon anyone to his colleague Jacqueline Sharp in season II. This denotation equals ‘doing things that make us ethically uncomfortable’. As I was sipping on my shitty Solbjerg Plads-canteen-coffee (for better coffee go to Nexus) the other day, a man’s exclaiming words on his cell grasped my interest: ‘there is one right way – my way’. I started thinking about how, in 2014, the pure careerist-mentality infiltrates many people’s minds. Because sadly, (yes, sadly although good old Adam Smith would advocate it is a great thing) we live in a world where a great deal of people are motivated solely by self-interest.  And similarly, the problem with House of Cards is that by being bleak and Machiavellian, it underestimates that intrigues usually are motivated by something far more dangerous than selfish blind ambition – namely idealism.

Because we are the generation of overachievers

It is unavoidable to notice that many people scheme their way to the top. Like an intense game of chess, we have to believe that we’re always two steps ahead. The ‘failure is not an option’-classical plot permeates many House of Cards episodes in the same way as it does for many determined business students when it comes to their grades, work or relationships. Problems are made to be seen as challenges and only the fittest will survive. And if Spacey’s character is considered to be odious, we still root for him not only because he’s smart and witty but because he is effective – exactly the same way as we root for our own success in that McKinsey-interview.

Because we are meant to do business

‘It’s going to be many sleepless nights, making plans’, Underwood confers to his wife, Claire (Robin Wright) in the very first episode. The statement boils down to a persistent eagerness to break rules in order to properly lead. Nor is it a coincidence that the writer of the show, Beau Willimon, has composed the characters’ abilities with inspiration from true masters of political magnitude such as Lyndon Johnson, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln in particular, as Hollywood’s Steven Spielberg recently reminded us, made all kinds of corrupt bargains to ensure the passage of the 13^th Amendment.

During that coffee break I also began thinking whether Spacey’s character actually would bring this cold-hearted strategy into the 21^st century. I quickly changed my mind, and concluded that it has already been implemented. Edward Snowden, Goldman Sachs…not to mention the most contemporary example: Monsieur Putin. Extending thoughts to current legislative paralyses around the world, it is certainly revealed, as the major paradox shows that the people who are making the rules sometimes have to break them in order to move us forward. Because after all, I think we all have a pinch of ‘Underwoodianism’ in being ruthless pragmatists as we commonly strive for getting what we want, or need, at any price. However, to bear in mind is that the real world is after all not entirely the same as in the movies.

About the Author : Laura Werup

With 21 so far rainy November-birthdays passed, Laura is always in a great mood if she’s not struggling with hysterical screaming children, any 50-shades of Grey-literature and plastic mats on bathroom floors. Before hitting CBS International Business and Politics, her past as a horseback rider to an accountant freak as one of the CO-founders of a company with SIC-code belonging to 73111, brought her to an abruptly and short phase of Swedish law studies as well as a semester in literature studies in Paris where both heart and soul got crushed. A humorous yet sarcastic tone is always permeating her statements, primarily determined by the fact that she is constantly bitter that she still hasn’t become a skateboard pro, yoga guru nor a rock star.