[lbo-talk] Why Is America So Violent?

[bitch at pulpculture.org]

Also, I dimly seem to remember that 19th century farming was extremely
seasonal in terms of labo/leisure. During winter there was not a lot
you could do. Some repairs. and wood chopping and so forth, but no
planting,weeding or harvesting or crop processing. So there were
periods when you had tons of leisure, were maybe working a 20 hour
week.  But maybe this is a myth.

--

E.P Thompson wrote an important book about the shift from task-oriented
work to time-oriented work.

on the blog somewhere, I have some quotes, among which is an industrialist
in New England bitching about farmers in town. He wanted to see to it that
they weren't milling about town lest the factory workers see them. They
were a bad influence, he said, because they were slackers. IOW, when there
was little work to do -- not the harvest or planting time or whatever --
farmers hung around town and made mill workers long for that kind of life,
rather than the drudgery of living by the time clock.

as for this issue, it seems pointless to wonder about whether it's really
true -- if the epxlanation for why the disparity between what's really
true and perception is wrong. Which is to say, if people expect more out
of life, so? They should. Dismissing people for feeling overworked and as
if they deserve better lives surely does us little good. Instead, the
point would be to get people to ask the bigger question. How do we change
things so that we do get out of life what we expect. Beating people over
the head for having the temerity to watch television, rather than deal
with the bullshit that goes on in some leftist enclaves at meetings hardly
seems worthy of a dicsussion list inspired by the notion that pop culture
ain't such a bad thing.


:)