How they even approved high-fructose corn syrup to be permitted as a sweetener is beyond comprehension - not to mention revoking the approval once it was shown in vlinical studies that hfcs is causing cancer, not to mention advancing diabetis.....
"I wonder how we lost the skill (or is it the will?) to build things that last."
I have wondered about this too! While I was doing research for a post I wrote about labor, I discovered some really interesting thoughts that the philosopher Hannah Arendt had about this (in 1958!)
"It consists in treating all use objects as though they were consumer goods, so that a chair or a table is now consumed as rapidly as a dress and a dress used up almost as quickly as food. The mode of intercourse with the things of the world, moreover, is perfectly adequate to the way they are produced. The Industrial Revolution has replaced all workmanship with labor, and the result has been that the things of the modern world have become labor products whose natural fate is to be consumed, instead of work products which are there to be used."
Basically, because the limitless accumulation of wealth requires people to labor without stopping, companies needed to create a demand for a nearly unlimited number of goods. I find it really interesting that she was able to look at the way that labor practices were changing in the mid-20th century, and then predict the rise of Ikea and fast fashion.
Yes!! All true. I visited Lyon, France in 2008. The centuries old buildings were beautiful, elegant works of art. Transportation was affordable and owning a car was not necessary. Shops closed in the afternoons so workers and owners could have a restful lunch lasting well over an hour. It was delightful. My son lived there for a year and never needed a car. The train to Paris was clean, fast and easy to navigate. We have sacrificed too much for the profits of a few.
.... and the FDA is all in on it!!!
How they even approved high-fructose corn syrup to be permitted as a sweetener is beyond comprehension - not to mention revoking the approval once it was shown in vlinical studies that hfcs is causing cancer, not to mention advancing diabetis.....
Begs the question who is paying them off.....
All this lobbying in DC is criminal.
"I wonder how we lost the skill (or is it the will?) to build things that last."
I have wondered about this too! While I was doing research for a post I wrote about labor, I discovered some really interesting thoughts that the philosopher Hannah Arendt had about this (in 1958!)
"It consists in treating all use objects as though they were consumer goods, so that a chair or a table is now consumed as rapidly as a dress and a dress used up almost as quickly as food. The mode of intercourse with the things of the world, moreover, is perfectly adequate to the way they are produced. The Industrial Revolution has replaced all workmanship with labor, and the result has been that the things of the modern world have become labor products whose natural fate is to be consumed, instead of work products which are there to be used."
Basically, because the limitless accumulation of wealth requires people to labor without stopping, companies needed to create a demand for a nearly unlimited number of goods. I find it really interesting that she was able to look at the way that labor practices were changing in the mid-20th century, and then predict the rise of Ikea and fast fashion.
Great post!
Thank you for that quote Rebecca. Hannah Arendt was one of the great thinkers. This reads so prophetic
Yes!! All true. I visited Lyon, France in 2008. The centuries old buildings were beautiful, elegant works of art. Transportation was affordable and owning a car was not necessary. Shops closed in the afternoons so workers and owners could have a restful lunch lasting well over an hour. It was delightful. My son lived there for a year and never needed a car. The train to Paris was clean, fast and easy to navigate. We have sacrificed too much for the profits of a few.