前几天看到朋友圈有推荐Downfall这部纪录片,昨天东航出事的时候,我觉得只有看一部关于空难的片子可以给我一些answers或者说想看到别的空难investigation的结果来缓解当下没有结果的时候的uneasiness.

首先DISCLAIMER:我要说明我看这部片子和写这篇文章绝对不带有任何蹭热度或者流量的intention。我的平台流量都很小而且也从没计划扩大,平台对我来说是满足表达欲的地方不是宣传我的personal brand的机器。我写出来我现在内心的想法只是in case我的读者有跟我类似的感觉可以跟我resonate或者说开启一些理性的讨论。另外也绝不代表我认为东航空难是由于和737 max两次事故一样的原因。像我昨天转发的微博里说的一样,我们应该 “为逝者默哀的同时,耐心地等待局方的中期报告和最终报告。这会是一段非常漫长的时间,但这是得到真相所必须付出的。请等待官方的调查报告和事故原因” (原微博@ZBAARWY01)。

片子的summary大家可以去看豆瓣或者看全片(资源可以找我要)。全名叫做Downfall: the Case against Boeing. 为了有一些语境我这里copy一下Wikipedia的简介: "Interviewing relevant people and featuring archival footage, the film looks into the events throughout the history of the aircraft manufacturer company Boeing that led to the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, both involving the Boeing 737 MAX and occurring within a short time span, as well as its subsequent investigation. The film sides with interviewees in criticizing the capitalization of Boeing, noting that the urge to beat major competitor Airbus led to the neglect of component failures within the 737 MAX."

这部片子给我最大震撼是波音和麦道尔merge之后管理层因为想要最大化他们的股价和市值,采取了各种cost-cutting strategies来“降本增效”让financial statements变得亮眼 —— 毕竟Wall Street那帮子financial geniuses不过是拿着revenue和margin来拍出几十倍的PE估值 (or whatever the fancy/BS valuation method that is trendy right now). 这些降本的手段包括减少quality control personnel、忽视一些质检人员对飞机安全提出的问题并且刻意隐瞒737 MAX的MCAS系统(就是导致坠机的系统)其实是需要extra pilot training的(额外的training需要pilot去模拟器两天,造成很大的成本/margin pressure on their financial statements for Boeing)。这个刻意隐瞒新系统我真的是忍无可忍,lion air出事之后发现MCAS系统根本就没有告诉飞行员们,告诉了以后努力否认extra training的必要性,然后就ethiopian air空难了。For Christ's sake!

片子中lead investigation的国会议员说了这样一句话:“The safety culture at Boeing fell apart. It was corrupted from the top down by pressure from Wall Street. Plain and simple.” 看到这句的时候是很痛心的,有很多波音former employees在merger之前是非常proud of their safety culture和Boeing重视的工匠精神的。当一个人上飞机的时候真的是把命给飞机和机长的,所以制造飞机的时候不应该想的是能不能让成千上万需要飞行的人安全到达他们需要达到的目的地,而不是some hedge fund manager making bank out there...

看完了之后按照惯例刷豆瓣看到一个短评是这样写的:"Lion Air机师的遗孀说,难道赚钱比人命更重要吗?肯定会有无数金融骄子们告诉她of course." 当时就想到下午差点陷入键盘撕B战的事儿了。这就先放一下我昨天自己在的群里的几个截图:

一开始我看到这些“投资群去谈正常吧”的话其实是找不到一个合理的argument反驳的。但是我先发的微博里面是这么写的:“真的好讨厌炒股圈子。你闷着short我不管但你不要基于别人的death赚了钱还标榜你professional的姿态。谷歌可以教你怎样开户怎样空仓 so help yourself ”。我一直找不到反驳去做空的decision,只是觉得你得了便宜还抖机灵 while families of the victims suffer实在是恶心。但看了片子我才formulate我的counter-argument, which is that 资本家手里是有血的。我不是说东航的case因为还没有结论,但是资本家手里的血还不够多么?

波音的case就是因为资本家和一心想要服务资本家的企业家一起贪婪,完全漠视自己作为安全要求最高的一个高端制造category需要遵守的职业本分。很多人跟我说,市场是有效的,需要有profit人们才可以be incentivized。但不是的,心理学基础理论都有教过我们"Intrinsic motivation is typically a more effective long-term method for achieving goals and completing tasks in a way that makes you feel fulfilled. While extrinsic motivation is helpful in certain situations, it may eventually lead to burnout or lose effectiveness over time" (这段摘录来自University of Rochester但基本每个你能找到的intro to psych教科书都这么写的). 我相信是有engineers and entrepreneurs out there who genuinely hope to transport people safely from one place to another - to fulfill the dream of greater human mobility instead of maximizing their paychecks andbroker accounts. 片子里有一位engineer就说以前的Boeing是focus on the plane itself andknew that profits come after.

这个可能是我anti-capitalist的核心所在:我不是跟钱过不去,但是我相信不能把钱作为ends. 钱是by-product,是让我们继续努力的sustenance (necessary but not sufficient!). Self-actualization, benefiting the society, pushing the boundaries of human potential这些才是我们最想要看到的结果不是么?

Figure: The families of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines crash of the Boeing 737 Max jet held a vigil in front of the U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 10, 2019, the six-month anniversary of the Ethiopian Airlines crash.


一落千丈:波音大调查DOWNFALL: The Case Against Boeing(2022)

上映日期:2022-02-18(美国)片长:89分钟

主演:未知

导演:罗瑞·肯尼迪 / 

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