Becoming a Lambkin: How Odell and Skinner are Rebels
As Odell writes in How to Do Nothing, she uses B.F. Skinner’s writings in Walden Two to emphasize more of her writing. For the most part, Odell gives a negative outlook on the novel. She believes that the creator of the community, Frazier, in Walden Two is dictator like and a control freak. She believes the idea of a perfect society that is talked about in Walden Two is unachievable, which she is probably right about. She compared Frazier to the same corporate CEO’s and managers that are never satisfied with any type of work. However, there is connection between both authors. Both authors write in a way and develop a theme of being independent.
The members of the community of Walden Two are simply an experiment. They follow a code of guidelines and they just do it. They follow each other for the most part. On page 16, Frazier is talking about how the community in Walden Two herd their sheep. For a while, they used an electric fence, but after a few generations of sheep, they were able to take the fence down because the lambs learned from their elders not to go near the rope. The sheep, like people, just follow the crowd in front of them, but Burris adds that “someday a skeptical lambkin would put his nose on the string and nothing would happen and the whole sheepfold would be shaken to its very foundations”. In a sense, Odell is that Lambkin. Her novel is one of unique ways that change the outlook on life and the world. As Odell writes in her novel, arguing against the capitalist society and arguing against the everyday views on productivity and efficiency, Odell is the lambkin that wants to shake down human society. “Doing nothing” is her way of pressing her nose on the rope. By pressing her nose on the rope, she is helping others in doing so as well.
At the end of the Skinner’s novel, readers finally see how the sheep and the lambkin story plays out. As Burris and Frazier are watching from atop a hill, they point out one lambkin that keeps trying to escape the herd and press its nose up on the fence. With that being done, the herd was shaken to its core and the code of rules that they followed was reset. There is a comparison between the sheep of Walden Two and the people of it. The sheep at the end grow rebellious because they must follow their rules, or they are punished. Meanwhile, the people follow “the Code” because it is a rewarding thing for them. At this point, Burris can finally see what the “experiment” of Walden Two was about. The people tend not to rebel, while the sheep do.
Perhaps this idea of being a sheep and creating a new path was why Skinner’s novel became so popular in the 1960’s. The quote from Burris about sheep could encompass a general ideology that takes place all the time in our world. We see it all the time. People will just follow each other blindly. The saying “If your friend jumps off the bridge, are going to follow?” is one that is a little exaggerated, but it is also a little reality check. Sometimes though, it takes one person or thing to flip it upside down. With the communes, once one group of people decided to get away from the real society and move on to its own self preserved community, a few more followed and more and more followed them. This is what fueled the commune movement of the 1960’s. In a way, Skinner was a lambkin at the time as well. His novel pushed its readers to change their ways of thinking. Skinner was pressing his nose on the rope with this novel and it pushed more and more people to join in on the movement.
Odell is the lambkin as well in that she writes and calls on her readers to change their typical days of life. With her ideology of “doing nothing”, she has her own rebellious teachings that people would follow if only they were not intimidated by society’s push to constantly produce something. For example, Odell rambles on about how she would never want to work from home and she would never want the opportunity to pick her own work hours, because this would turn her home and time into a constant battle of never being able to get away from her work. She compares Frazier’s saying in Walden Two of “Their behavior is determined, yet they’re free” to Peter Thiel’s saying of “new technologies that may create a new space for freedom” on page 52. The people of Walden Two do not have the correct view of freedom. They are told to act a certain way and get good things for it. Frazier sets this “Code” and the people of his society follow it.
Technology is a major issue that Odell tackles in her novel. In How to Do Nothing, readers learn all about the traps of technology. These traps are very similar to the theme of the lambkin shaking down the whole herd. People scrolling through social media are just like those characters/sheep of Walden Two. With every social media platform having its own trends and influences, people of social media are trapped into this thinking as well. Some people will do anything they can for just a few more followers, and this is where their behavior being “determined” comes in, because they then just follow the same trend that they saw earlier. Social media is full of sheep, but Odell chooses to fight that as well. She claims how social media and all of technology are just trying to “grab our attention”. This is because if our attention can be grabbed, so can our mind. By just sticking an idea or a product in out head, big tech companies can fiddle with what is in our minds. With every trend on social media and every new “buzz” that goes around, the people following are just waiting to fall into the trap and be controlled. Until they act as the rebellious lambkin or follow that lambkin, they are fooled and just like the rest. Odell urges readers to get away from social media so that they can clear their mind. She pushes this with more than social media as well. Jenny Odell is tired of a society where everyone is judged based off what they can contribute and produce. She wants people to get away from this so they can clear their heads and live a happier lifestyle.
Odell claims that Frazier is “obsessed with productivity” (47). Considering that Frazier has the power to choose what types of people in his community can reproduce, this is entirely true. The “unfit” are not allowed to have babies and this just furthers the point that Frazier is obsessed with productivity. To point out Frazier’s obsession, while giving Burris and the rest his guests a tour of the community, he goes on exclaim that the members are urged to “view every habit and custom with an eye to possible improvement” (Skinner 25). For example, he believes that something as little as a tea service always has room to grow and become more efficient. This part of Frazier is everything that Odell tries not to be. As Odell urges her readers to take a break from this constant work mentality, Frazier feels the opposite. In How to Do Nothing, readers are told the value of getting out and taking a break. Readers are told what it is like to be able to step out of that constant work mentality. Again, in the capitalist society that we live in, being that it is all about efficiency, Odell is once again the rebellious lambkin. When people get caught up in their work for too long, they grow to be unhappy and too stressed out. Odell wants people to feel the opposite.
With all of Odell’s writing, it is clear to see her as the rebellious lambkin that shook up the world. Odell and her idea of “doing nothing” are her ways of trying to get people out of following the “codes” of life. Being the “Anti sheep” and not following others is just another definition of “doing nothing”. Skinner and Odell both take on this role and together shape society.
Sources
Odell, Jenny. How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. Melville House Publishing, 2019.
Skinner, B.F.. Walden Two. Hackett Publishing Company, 1976.
