I would prefer not to

Polite refusal is the way to #staysane

Bartleby the Scrivener was Melville’s short story about an office boy who spent his days staring at a brick wall. When asked to work, to vacate the office, to get off the staircase, to cease sleeping in the doorway at night he famously replied ‘I would prefer not to’.

He dies in the end, preferring not to eat. Bartleby, though something of an extremist, nevertheless has a solid lesson to impart to us all. He is a symbol of the power of speech, which can make an obstacle of a person when intentionally used as an instrument of sabotage, or control.

We are all compelled at times to acknowledge the madness of the world. We know well that there are penalties socially and professionally for failing to celebrate the latest act of vandalism upon Reason. Pronouns and their increasing use amongst people who send emails for a living is one recent example. Others include the zelotic worship of criminals, frenzied attacks on statues, clapping a service which won’t help you and whose injections are t…