Dumbest Thing I Have Seen Written in A Long While, Courtesy of Douglas Ruchkoff
Thanks to Don Boudreax for the quote, this is from Douglas Rushkoff’s new (apparently execrable) book, Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus.
The same goes for agriculture, textiles, and many other sectors where returning to local, human-scaled enterprise will lead to less worker exploitation and environmental damage while producing better, healthier products. Nonindustrial practices may be more labor-intensive, but they’re also better for us all. For those of us used to white-collar jobs, the idea of growing vegetables or making clothes may seem like a big step backward toward more menial labor. But consider for a moment the sorts of activities the wealthiest Americans or most satisfied retirees engage in enthusiastically: brewing craft beers, knitting, and gardening. If there’s really not enough work to go around and there are so many extra people to employ, we can always farm in shifts.
My response to anyone who told me this: You first. Ugh, this would be a one-way ticket to poverty and starvation. Ghandi had this same idea for India, and if he had had his way the poverty would have been even more mind-blowing than what actually obtained.
