Luddites Unite!

I have heard Luddites defined as people who eschew technological change, but I didn't really know the origin. Turns out that there are several unreliable stories about a fellow in the late 18th century named Ludd or Lud or Ludlum or something else altogether, who broke a stocking frame to pieces in a fit of rage. Thereafter, when people would emulate his behavior they were said to be doing a Ned Ludd. But it wasn't until about 30 years later that the Luddites became a more organized group of unhappy workers who called on an apocryphal "King Ludd" to justify the destruction of machines that were taking away their jobs.

I was originally thinking of this in terms of myself, and my seeming inability to adjust to my new smart phone. I have been sorely tempted to destroy this stocking frame of a device, and have used some rather coarse language in its presence. I have even told a couple of people that this phone and I are locked in mortal combat. So I began to think of myself as a modern day Luddite, with only a vague knowledge of what Luddism actually was.

The phone and I are going to part company. It's all over but the details. I'm going to return happily to my previous device, which is much better matched to my needs and capabilities. It has given me pause, though. Have I risen to my level of incompetence? Anybody remember the Peter Principle?

Of course, now that I looked up Ned Ludd and the Luddites, I'm struck by the timeliness of their struggle. I'm by no means a student of the labor movement. Most of what I know has been gleaned incidentally as I focus on other aspects of social history. But it has always struck me as people who were fighting the good fight, looking out for their fellows, tending to those who must work in difficult and thankless jobs to keep their families together. The one time I found myself in a (short-lived) job in the offices above the shop floor, I was acutely uncomfortable. My allegience will always fall with those who eat lunch on the loading dock.

I have watched the assault on the labor unions, and on workers in general, with growing dread. I take some comfort in knowing that there have always been workers, male and female, who will only be pushed so far before taking matters into their own hands. History has proven that. But the current consolidation of wealth and power in the hands of so few is alarming to me. And it makes no sense.

I know I'm a Pollyanna and usually try to extract the positive in almost any situation. At the same time, I'm not immune to the suffering of others. How is it possible for people to be oblivious to the transitory and equalizing fact that we are all "fellow passengers to the grave", as Dickens said? Do those who are greedily raking in all the chips while regarding the other players as marks and chumps, think they're not equally vulnerable to the limitations of life? Name one leader, despot, dictator, oligarch or boss man who has managed to elude sickness, decline and death. We are all made of the same stuff.

I know, I know, that's not the point. The Power Elite will not end their days in a refugee camp or a cardboard box. Probably. Nothing is certain. I guess it's just hard for me to imagine being so divorced from one's own humanity and shared destiny not to discern the humanity of others.

My own brushes with poverty ----- yes, I've been on welfare and food stamps before ----- are nothing compared to what millions, probably billions, of human beings on this planet experience daily. Yet somehow, there is likely to be joy, however fleeting, even in the most destitute, if they have connection to themselves or another person. When I was on the skids, what held me together was my baby. He kept me on this side of the dirt because he didn't know anything except warm milk, cradling arms, and life.

There are no new questions, no new concerns, no new cries for justice, no new grabs for power. The "Right to Work" euphemism seeks to veil the destruction of workers and their claim to a fair wage for necessary work. When it comes, the demand for decency, fairness and a piece of the prosperity will once again swell into a movement that cannot be ignored. Both sides, from their own perspective, will demonize the other, opening the way to bloodshed, heartbreak and tragedy. And the cycle begins again.

Is it human nature, inborn and immutable, for some to dominate others? For some to feel superior and entitled to take all the big cookies, leaving only crumbs for the 'undeserving'? Perhaps, since we are simply organisms that occupy a biological, ecological position on the earth, an animal among all animals, that is to be expected. But my Pollyanna nature leads me to believe that we can rise above savagery and wish for others what we wish for ourselves: the necessities of life, as well as serenity, peace, joy and most of all, love.

Pollyanna, meet Rebecca --- she's from Sunnybrook Farm.