Luddism

A Luddite on a computer is not the oxymoron that it seems to be. We true Luddites are not haters of anything new, but are opposed to technologies and even practices that affect one’s lifestyle in ways that can be construed as detrimental (as determined by me). And a look at the Luddite’s history will bear me out.

Ned Ludd, a feeble-minded young man (you can see why I like this movement), accidentally rendered a power loom inoperable in England in the early Nineteenth Century. He became the nominative leader of up to one thousand weavers after receiving a field commission to General Ludd. Disguised, unemployed weavers would show up at the cloth factories and destroy the machinery responsible for the loss of their livelihood.

It was not the power looms that these men were against, nor the factory owners. It was that their families for generations had been dependent on weaving skills for their income. Then with the invention of manufacturing mills those skills became useless. So, at this point, these formerly constructive members of society were out of work. Without marketable skills and no way to feed their families, and no business to pass to the next generation, they became more depressed, desperate and bitter against the perceived reason for their despondency… MACHINES.

The hand-weavers of two centuries ago were probably well founded in their ire and completely justified in their actions. But we are cut from different cloth. Machinery is not inherently evil, nor are the owners of the same. A skilled worker can use machines in the normal production of his craft. A machine is a tool, designed to help one do his work easier. Our tools in the modern world are not the same (always) as the medieval craftman’s. Because of access to advanced technology, we are able to complete our tasks without some of the adverse effects that were enjoyed by our ancestors.

Throughout the centuries, work was done by hand to the detriment of a person’s joints and spine. The ill effects of manual labor is easy to see in the hands, wrists, elbows, feet, knees and the back. Using the machines of this age prevent some of the “itises” (bursitis, arthritis), so craftsmen choose to take advantage of them. The machines help one to do his work rather than take work away from the workman.

So the modern craftsman is helped by machines, not supplanted by them. The Luddite of old was not given any choice in his non-employment because of people with more resources, and hence more choices ,i.e. the power loom owners. The choices that one makes determines the ultimate outcome, but we need a good dose of perspective to get a glimpse of what the effect of our actions could be.