In Praise of Luddism
August 15, 2010 2:01 PM Subscribe
In Praise of Luddism: In lieu of some attacks on Luddism elsewhere on MeFi, I thought I'd dig up this old Thomas Pynchon essay defending the Luddites and putting them in historical context.
And Ned Lud's anger was not directed at the machines, not exactly. I like to think of it more as the controlled, martial-arts type anger of the dedicated Badass.
...
The knitting machines which provoked the first Luddite disturbances had been putting people out of work for well over two centuries. Everybody saw this happening -- it became part of daily life. They also saw the machines coming more and more to be the property of men who did not work, only owned and hired. It took no German philosopher, then or later, to point out what this did, had been doing, to wages and jobs. Public feeling about the machines could never have been simple unreasoning horror, but likely something more complex: the love/hate that grows up between humans and machinery -- especially when it's been around for a while -- not to mention serious resentment toward at least two multiplications of effect that were seen as unfair and threatening. One was the concentration of capital that each machine represented, and the other was the ability of each machine to put a certain number of humans out of work -- to be "worth" that many human souls. What gave King Ludd his special Bad charisma, took him from local hero to nationwide public enemy, was that he went up against these amplified, multiplied, more than human opponents and prevailed.
And Ned Lud's anger was not directed at the machines, not exactly. I like to think of it more as the controlled, martial-arts type anger of the dedicated Badass.
...
The knitting machines which provoked the first Luddite disturbances had been putting people out of work for well over two centuries. Everybody saw this happening -- it became part of daily life. They also saw the machines coming more and more to be the property of men who did not work, only owned and hired. It took no German philosopher, then or later, to point out what this did, had been doing, to wages and jobs. Public feeling about the machines could never have been simple unreasoning horror, but likely something more complex: the love/hate that grows up between humans and machinery -- especially when it's been around for a while -- not to mention serious resentment toward at least two multiplications of effect that were seen as unfair and threatening. One was the concentration of capital that each machine represented, and the other was the ability of each machine to put a certain number of humans out of work -- to be "worth" that many human souls. What gave King Ludd his special Bad charisma, took him from local hero to nationwide public enemy, was that he went up against these amplified, multiplied, more than human opponents and prevailed.
This post was deleted for the following reason: This may be better as a comment in the other thread. Posts framed in terms of direct reaction to other posts/comments on mefi aren't generally a good way to go. -- cortex
Also, that's not what "in lieu of" means.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 2:09 PM on August 15, 2010
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 2:09 PM on August 15, 2010
I read Robert Reid's excellent Land of Lost Content: Luddite Rebellion of 1812 many years ago and thus have been banging on about the poor deal the Luddites got from posterity ever since.
posted by Abiezer at 2:12 PM on August 15, 2010
posted by Abiezer at 2:12 PM on August 15, 2010
Please don't frame your FPP as a direct attack on another FPP.
posted by griphus at 2:18 PM on August 15, 2010
posted by griphus at 2:18 PM on August 15, 2010
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posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 2:08 PM on August 15, 2010