David K. Farkas - Wealth and Illth
[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]
|
09:57 pm
[Link] |
Wealth and Illth
John Ruskin was the greatest British art and architecture critic of the Victorian era. He was an important social critic as well. Ruskin hated the industrial revolution and especially mass-produced merchandise made by workers enslaved in soul-destroying factories. He looked back toward a simpler, more humane age when artisans hand-crafted furniture, tools, garments, and the other things people needed. Late in life Ruskin retreated to St. George’s Guild, a utopian community that he founded. Ultimately, he went insane.
Ruskin condemned Victorian culture with savage humor. In one of his essays he distinguishes between “wealth” and “illth.” Wealth truly adds to people’s lives. Illth does not. Much of it is expensive crap.
Jean and I learned about Ruskin as undergraduates at the University of Rochester, and we sometimes categorize the merchandise we see in stores as wealth or illth. This is, of course, a subjective distinction, but certainly Nordstroms sells a lot of illth—for example, those gaudy $400 handbags. I believe that affluent Americans could learn to live much simpler lives and be better off for it.
Globalization and other economic changes are likely to substantially reduce the income of many Americans. There is no immutable rule that says that we need to be wealthy and Pakistanis need to be poor. I hope we make the adjustment gracefully.
|
|
| |
That sounds a little like James Howard Kunstler. The manifesto published on his site also forecasts some major shifts in American life due to economic factors like the depletion of natural resources and sprawl. I don't really buy into the new urbanist ideas that Kunstler supports (seems like a "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" situation), but I am currently addicted to his Eyesore of the Month feature.
Thank you for introducing me to Kunstler. Yes, he is like Ruskin, though he seems to be enjoying like more than Ruskin did. Kunstler annoys me some because he probably ridicule Lake Forest Park, the little suburb where I have lived for 20+ years. I'm not directing this remark at Kunstler, but some of the criticism of suburbs--which often means unfancy suburbs--equates to affluent people being snobby about less affluent people.
| From: | (Anonymous) |
|---|
| Date: | March 27th, 2007 06:18 am (UTC) |
|---|
| | Good Info Site Thanks | (Link) |
|
Hello all
Nice design on david-k-farkas.livejournal.com, good info, thank you.
| From: | (Anonymous) |
|---|
| Date: | April 30th, 2008 06:54 pm (UTC) |
|---|
| | Funny quote | (Link) |
|
All this big deal about white collar crime -- what's WRONG with white collar
crime? Who enjoys his job today? You? Me? Anybody? The only satisfying
part of any job is coffee break, lunch hour and quitting time. Years ago
there was at least the hope of improvement -- eventual promotion -- more
important jobs to come. Once you can be sold the myth that you may make
president of the company you'll hardly ever steal stamps. But nobody
believes he's going to be president anymore. The more people change jobs
the more they realize that there is a direct connection between working for
a living and total stupefying boredom. So why NOT take revenge? You're not
going to find ME knocking a guy because he pads an expense account and his
home stationery carries the company emblem. Take away crime from the white
collar worker and you will rob him of his last vestige of job interest.
-- J. Feiffer
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://blurty.com/users/alycebridgeswx
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
david_k_farkas's journal
