Finally
Chapter 26
The police, and the strikers also, were determined that there should be no violence; but there was another party interested which was minded to the contrary--and that was the press.
How little things change . . .
As very few of the better class of workingmen could be got for such work, these specimens of the new American hero contained an assortment of the criminals and thugs of the city, besides Negroes and the lowest of foreigners--Greeks, Roumanians, Sicilians, and Slovaks. They had been attracted more by the prospect of disorder than by the big wages; and they made the night hideous with singing and carousing, and only went to sleep when the time came for them to get up to work.
. . . a throng of stupid black Negroes . . .
The Negroes and the "toughs" from the Levee did not want to work, and every few minutes some of them would feel obliged to retire and recuperate. In a couple of days Durham and Company had electric fans up to cool off the rooms for them, and even couches for them to rest on; and meantime they could go out and find a shady corner and take a "snooze," and as there was no place for any one in particular, and no system, it might take hours before their boss discovered them.
Sinclair's issue, obviously, is classism. He seems oblivious to his own racism, though. That is too often the case, that somone focuses on one form of oppression while perpetuating another. An example of a reaction to this is the recent Womanist movement. Women of color felt that feminists left out the race piece and civil rights left out the gender piece, so they started their own movement that included both. I was surprised when I ran across these stereotypes and racist prejudices in The Jungle, but I guess I shouldn't have been.
Chapter 27
And also he labored under another handicap now. He had acquired new standards of living, which were not easily to be altered. When he had been out of work before, he had been content if he could sleep in a doorway or under a truck out of the rain, and if he could get fifteen cents a day for saloon lunches. But now he desired all sorts of other things, and suffered because he had to do without them. He must have a drink now and then, a drink for its own sake, and apart from the food that came with it. The craving for it was strong enough to master every other consideration – he would have it, though it were his last nickel and he had to starve the balance of the day in consequence. . . .
All these horrors afflicted Jurgis all the more cruelly, because he was always contrasting them with the opportunities he had lost.
How true.
Chapter 30
In Massachusetts the percentage of white illiteracy is eight-tenths of one per cent, while in South Carolina it is thirteen and six-tenths per cent
Evidence of the north-south divide. Still seen in politics today.
The power which really governs the United States today is the Railroad Trust. It is the Railroad Trust that runs your state government, wherever you live, and that runs the United States Senate. And all of the trusts that I have named are railroad trusts – save only the Beef Trust! The Beef Trust has defied the railroads – it is plundering them day by day through the Private Car; and so the public is roused to fury, and the papers clamor for action, and the government goes on the warpath! And you poor common people watch and applaud the job, and think it's all done for you, and never dream that it is really the grand climax of the century-long battle of commercial competition – the final death grapple between the chiefs of the Beef Trust and 'Standard Oil,' for the prize of the mastery and ownership of the United States of America!
What's the buzzword today? Multinational corporations: Very large multinationals have budgets that exceed those of many countries. Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are multinational corporations. They can have a powerful influence in international relations, given their large economic influence in politicians' representative districts, as well as their extensive financial resources available for public relations and political lobbying. Almost everything that's come out against global warming in the last decade has been funded by oil companies. Again, has anything changed?
"I'm not interested in that – I'm an individualist!" And then he would go on to tell you that Socialism was "paternalism," and that if it ever had its way the world would stop progressing. It was enough to make a mule laugh, to hear arguments like that; and yet it was no laughing matter, as you found out – for how many millions of such poor deluded wretches there were, whose lives had been so stunted by capitalism that they no longer knew what freedom was! And they really thought that it was "individualism" for tens of thousands of them to herd together and obey the orders of a steel magnate, and produce hundreds of millions of dollars of wealth for him, and then let him give them libraries; while for them to take the industry, and run it to suit themselves, and build their own libraries – that would have been "Paternalism"!
The concept of individual liberty is one of the controlling ideas in the U.S. mindset. It defines us in contrast to other countries more than anything else. Lately I'm especially disturbed by the trend of individuals feeling that their personal rights take precedence over the common good. We seem to be getting even more selfish and individualistic in our thinking than ever before.
Chapter 31
His interests were elsewhere, in the world of ideas. His outward life was commonplace and uninteresting; he was just a hotel-porter, and expected to remain one while he lived; but meantime, in the realm of thought, his life was a perpetual adventure. There was so much to know – so many wonders to be discovered!
Was Sinclair describing blogging? :-)
There's too much to try quoting, but if you want to you can read the Socialist discussion of the wastes of Capitalism, beginning with And then Schliemann went on to outline some of the wastes of competition: . . . It makes you think. I've been told (by those who get paid to know) that hunter-gatherer societies actually spent very little of their day working, on average. Some of our modern advances are wonderful, but it also makes you wonder how much of what we do is excess that we could do away with. Of course, I think history has proven that his alternate vision of a Socialist world that follows is completely unrealistic, too. Still, it seems like there ought to be something we can take from the book, when I don't see it having really changed a thing. Most disheartening.
The police, and the strikers also, were determined that there should be no violence; but there was another party interested which was minded to the contrary--and that was the press.
How little things change . . .
As very few of the better class of workingmen could be got for such work, these specimens of the new American hero contained an assortment of the criminals and thugs of the city, besides Negroes and the lowest of foreigners--Greeks, Roumanians, Sicilians, and Slovaks. They had been attracted more by the prospect of disorder than by the big wages; and they made the night hideous with singing and carousing, and only went to sleep when the time came for them to get up to work.
. . . a throng of stupid black Negroes . . .
The Negroes and the "toughs" from the Levee did not want to work, and every few minutes some of them would feel obliged to retire and recuperate. In a couple of days Durham and Company had electric fans up to cool off the rooms for them, and even couches for them to rest on; and meantime they could go out and find a shady corner and take a "snooze," and as there was no place for any one in particular, and no system, it might take hours before their boss discovered them.
Sinclair's issue, obviously, is classism. He seems oblivious to his own racism, though. That is too often the case, that somone focuses on one form of oppression while perpetuating another. An example of a reaction to this is the recent Womanist movement. Women of color felt that feminists left out the race piece and civil rights left out the gender piece, so they started their own movement that included both. I was surprised when I ran across these stereotypes and racist prejudices in The Jungle, but I guess I shouldn't have been.
Chapter 27
And also he labored under another handicap now. He had acquired new standards of living, which were not easily to be altered. When he had been out of work before, he had been content if he could sleep in a doorway or under a truck out of the rain, and if he could get fifteen cents a day for saloon lunches. But now he desired all sorts of other things, and suffered because he had to do without them. He must have a drink now and then, a drink for its own sake, and apart from the food that came with it. The craving for it was strong enough to master every other consideration – he would have it, though it were his last nickel and he had to starve the balance of the day in consequence. . . .
All these horrors afflicted Jurgis all the more cruelly, because he was always contrasting them with the opportunities he had lost.
How true.
Chapter 30
In Massachusetts the percentage of white illiteracy is eight-tenths of one per cent, while in South Carolina it is thirteen and six-tenths per cent
Evidence of the north-south divide. Still seen in politics today.
The power which really governs the United States today is the Railroad Trust. It is the Railroad Trust that runs your state government, wherever you live, and that runs the United States Senate. And all of the trusts that I have named are railroad trusts – save only the Beef Trust! The Beef Trust has defied the railroads – it is plundering them day by day through the Private Car; and so the public is roused to fury, and the papers clamor for action, and the government goes on the warpath! And you poor common people watch and applaud the job, and think it's all done for you, and never dream that it is really the grand climax of the century-long battle of commercial competition – the final death grapple between the chiefs of the Beef Trust and 'Standard Oil,' for the prize of the mastery and ownership of the United States of America!
What's the buzzword today? Multinational corporations: Very large multinationals have budgets that exceed those of many countries. Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are multinational corporations. They can have a powerful influence in international relations, given their large economic influence in politicians' representative districts, as well as their extensive financial resources available for public relations and political lobbying. Almost everything that's come out against global warming in the last decade has been funded by oil companies. Again, has anything changed?
"I'm not interested in that – I'm an individualist!" And then he would go on to tell you that Socialism was "paternalism," and that if it ever had its way the world would stop progressing. It was enough to make a mule laugh, to hear arguments like that; and yet it was no laughing matter, as you found out – for how many millions of such poor deluded wretches there were, whose lives had been so stunted by capitalism that they no longer knew what freedom was! And they really thought that it was "individualism" for tens of thousands of them to herd together and obey the orders of a steel magnate, and produce hundreds of millions of dollars of wealth for him, and then let him give them libraries; while for them to take the industry, and run it to suit themselves, and build their own libraries – that would have been "Paternalism"!
The concept of individual liberty is one of the controlling ideas in the U.S. mindset. It defines us in contrast to other countries more than anything else. Lately I'm especially disturbed by the trend of individuals feeling that their personal rights take precedence over the common good. We seem to be getting even more selfish and individualistic in our thinking than ever before.
Chapter 31
His interests were elsewhere, in the world of ideas. His outward life was commonplace and uninteresting; he was just a hotel-porter, and expected to remain one while he lived; but meantime, in the realm of thought, his life was a perpetual adventure. There was so much to know – so many wonders to be discovered!
Was Sinclair describing blogging? :-)
There's too much to try quoting, but if you want to you can read the Socialist discussion of the wastes of Capitalism, beginning with And then Schliemann went on to outline some of the wastes of competition: . . . It makes you think. I've been told (by those who get paid to know) that hunter-gatherer societies actually spent very little of their day working, on average. Some of our modern advances are wonderful, but it also makes you wonder how much of what we do is excess that we could do away with. Of course, I think history has proven that his alternate vision of a Socialist world that follows is completely unrealistic, too. Still, it seems like there ought to be something we can take from the book, when I don't see it having really changed a thing. Most disheartening.
posted by Degolar at 8:29 PM
2 Comments:
Glad you made it through, Degolar. I enjoyed your posts.
Likewise.
Although I'm not quite done sharing all my thoughts yet.
And should we beging considering another selection, maybe for the new year?
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