100 years ago, great grandpa was teaching little Appalachian boys who didn’t wear shoes except in the winter.
82 years ago, grandad was a Torpedo Man 3rd class getting asbestos rained on his head every time my wife’s ancestors scored a close hit.
45 years ago, at my other great grandpa’s place in Louisiana, there were black families down the road living in shacks. However you’re picturing a shack, it was worse.
38 years ago, there was a sport called “f** bashing”. Hicks or punkers would wait for gays to come out the bar and beat the shit out of 'em.
38 years ago, we Gen X kids casually lived under threat of global thermonuclear war. Meh. No biggie.
Yeah, not only did efficiency go through the roof, everything got better.
I think the big thing is that they can and should be better than this, too. We shouldn’t have to settle when we’ve made enough abundance for everyone.
Personally, I still want people desperate enough to do shitty jobs like dealing with trash and sewage and people. But I think we have enough to pay those people good money, give them good healthcare, an otherwise comfortable financial life, let them work 32 hours a week, and let them retire at 65.
Basically what unions would have given is if they hadn’t been gutted.
You’re right, it’s the should be better that’s important. But I think we can say that about nearly every human culture in history. It’s just that now we can see how fucked up inequality is.
And the study that the claim is made from is fairly dubious. It really only applies to specific types of peasants, during a specific period of time, in specific locations, and counts certain types of infrequent religious breaks from work as a common place given.
In exchange for indoor plumbing, we don’t have the time to do our chores. In exchange for concrete foundations and plastic floors, the entire world is poisoned and we no longer have community bonds. In exchange for electricity, we lost nature
We work far more than we ever have, and for what? To destroy our bodies and live in anxiety of losing what we have?
What truly matters in life?
I’m not saying it’s all bad, but there’s a balance. We live in the most exciting times in history - it’s so absurdly convenient, but it’s also deeply horrible
In a political context, the phrase means to generate public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy, but by diversion, distraction, or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace […]
Honestly that’s a thing today as well. Though funny enough the current US admin is trying it’s best to remove the bread part of that and only keep the circus. Hopefully they find out the hard way why both are needed.
I mean, they’re definitely not providing the circus.
The phrase literally refers to giving people loaves of bread and a more frequent holding of games and public entertainment to keep people happy, not the notion of just distracted.
The current admin is making it harder for people to meet basic needs, and not doing anything to pump approval ratings.
A more modern sense would be to look for ways to make life easier that doesn’t fix anything, and to make life better that doesn’t improve anything, but has the perk of being explicitly because of the admin. A check for $500 and a set of movie tickets.
“What do you mean you work more hours than us for less in return? Doesn’t your king fear a revolt?”
We get less of a percentage of our work, but certainly get more absolute value.
The gains in efficiency over the last hundred years have been insane. Today’s crumbs are better than the whole cookie back then.
No more dirt floors, indoor plumbing, electricity, books, etc.
100 years ago, great grandpa was teaching little Appalachian boys who didn’t wear shoes except in the winter.
82 years ago, grandad was a Torpedo Man 3rd class getting asbestos rained on his head every time my wife’s ancestors scored a close hit.
45 years ago, at my other great grandpa’s place in Louisiana, there were black families down the road living in shacks. However you’re picturing a shack, it was worse.
38 years ago, there was a sport called “f** bashing”. Hicks or punkers would wait for gays to come out the bar and beat the shit out of 'em.
38 years ago, we Gen X kids casually lived under threat of global thermonuclear war. Meh. No biggie.
Yeah, not only did efficiency go through the roof, everything got better.
I think the big thing is that they can and should be better than this, too. We shouldn’t have to settle when we’ve made enough abundance for everyone.
Personally, I still want people desperate enough to do shitty jobs like dealing with trash and sewage and people. But I think we have enough to pay those people good money, give them good healthcare, an otherwise comfortable financial life, let them work 32 hours a week, and let them retire at 65.
Basically what unions would have given is if they hadn’t been gutted.
You’re right, it’s the should be better that’s important. But I think we can say that about nearly every human culture in history. It’s just that now we can see how fucked up inequality is.
And the study that the claim is made from is fairly dubious. It really only applies to specific types of peasants, during a specific period of time, in specific locations, and counts certain types of infrequent religious breaks from work as a common place given.
No, we get more convenience
In exchange for indoor plumbing, we don’t have the time to do our chores. In exchange for concrete foundations and plastic floors, the entire world is poisoned and we no longer have community bonds. In exchange for electricity, we lost nature
We work far more than we ever have, and for what? To destroy our bodies and live in anxiety of losing what we have?
What truly matters in life?
I’m not saying it’s all bad, but there’s a balance. We live in the most exciting times in history - it’s so absurdly convenient, but it’s also deeply horrible
You also don’t have to cobble your own shoes or darn your only pair of socks.
It isn’t a serious perspective to say that medieval peasants had it better than anyone in a first world country today.
The romans figured that shit out a while ago already: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses
Honestly that’s a thing today as well. Though funny enough the current US admin is trying it’s best to remove the bread part of that and only keep the circus. Hopefully they find out the hard way why both are needed.
I mean, they’re definitely not providing the circus.
The phrase literally refers to giving people loaves of bread and a more frequent holding of games and public entertainment to keep people happy, not the notion of just distracted.
The current admin is making it harder for people to meet basic needs, and not doing anything to pump approval ratings.
A more modern sense would be to look for ways to make life easier that doesn’t fix anything, and to make life better that doesn’t improve anything, but has the perk of being explicitly because of the admin. A check for $500 and a set of movie tickets.
Oh they’re providing a circus. They’re all three rings.
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The amount of stuff even a relatively poor person has in a developed country would be mind blowing for a medieval peasant.
“You have running water, hot water on demand, and pipes to carry your shit away to a far away land??? You must be the king of kings!”