Dante The Luddite

A while back Mr. Soot called me a “luddite.” I wasn’t sure what it meant but he said that it was someone that hated technology. Now, while I am not a fan of technology I do get some of its uses. Like the internet for porn, watching people fall off shit, and getting stuck on Wikipedia for five hours all because I wanted to learn the definition of one word that was used in a Batman comic. One of the definitions of luddite goes like this.

“Many of the ideas that were encompassed within the Luddite Movement have been studied and evaluated in modern economics literature. The concept of ‘Skill Biased Technological Change’ (SBTC) posits that technology contributes to the de-skilling of routine, manual tasks. A changing world and new technologies are usually the blame for the world’s worries. In modern usage, ‘Luddite’ is a term describing those opposed to industrialization, automation, computerization or new technologies in general.”

Technology is a beautiful thing in some cases like I mentioned. But there are times where I wish an EMP would wipe everything out and we’d have to start from scratch. This is usually when I am hanging out with someone and they start texting in the middle of a conversation or when people start talking about the newest iAnything. Fuck those conversations.

If it does this near your face I'll probably laugh.

Now for people who look at the shiny pictures and don’t read what I write, I’ve already pointed out that technology is good in some ways. But socially its fucked. Like, I was talking to Hoozle who is thousands of miles away for hours about all kinds of stuff and it was fun. But then I can physically sit across from someone and tell you how many split ends they have on the top of their heads because they spend too much time texting.

How did we get to a place where it is normal to not talk to someone sitting across from you that you aren’t mad at? Its gotten to the point where I wont even hang out with some people because I know how they are with their phones. There have been so many conversations I haven’t had or cut short because a vibration stopped me from continuing. I know that its 2012 and I’m supposed to accept this as reality and just get used to it but balls to that nonsense.

This needs to be the Luddite logo.

As for the aspect where people don’t know how to do any manual labor, that is quite true. Some folks cant even sit and type without their wrists turning to dust let alone when the Dirt People come and we have to shovel mud to grow food. What can I do? I can lift heavy shit including dead bodies. I learn fast. I can survive in a world based on hard work. With some people if they miss a spin class they gain ten pounds and drown themselves in Diet Coke or eat something that has real sugar and drop dead of a heart attack at 14.

"You gonna eat that?"

It may not seem like it but we’re still new to technology. We haven’t even had real electricity for 200 years. This stuff is getting faster and better and making us all slower and worse at the same time but its happening so quickly that we’re not only not noticing it, but we’re proud of it. People purposely refuse to spell out entire words anymore. If I am going to be called a luddite I’m gonna accept it and wear it proudly. Better that than being known as the guy whose cell phone is attached to his face.