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Quote
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:date: 2011-07-25 10:59:31
:author: bnewbold
:category: quote
:slug: 2011-07-25-societies-everywhere-fall-between-two-extremes
:status: published
Societies everywhere fall between two extremes. First, there are
societies in which every person works, and no one is demeaned by his or
her toil. In these societies, individuals pride themselves on their
workmanship, and they exhibit a natural concern for the welfare of their
entire community. As examples of such “productive” societies, Veblen
mentions Native Americans, the Ainus of Japan, the Todas of the Nilgiri
hills and the bushmen of Australia. Second, there are “barbarian”
societies, in which a single dominant class (usually of warriors) seizes
the wealth and produce of others through force or fraud—think ancient
Vikings, Japanese shoguns and Polynesian tribesmen. Farmers labor for
their livelihood and warriors expropriate the fruits of that labor.
Exploitative elites take no part in the actual production of wealth;
they live off the toil of others. Yet far from being judged criminal or
indolent, they are revered by the rest of the community. In barbarian
societies, nothing is as manly, as venerated, as envied, as the lives of
warriors. Their every trait—their predatory practices, their dress,
their sport, their gait, their speech—is held in high esteem by all.
— `Etay Zwick in The
Point <http://www.thepointmag.com/archive/predatory-habits/>`__
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