The Craftsman versus the Industrial Complex

[tripleblessed]

What is that other than your "feelings" about "factory" goods. And I'm not looking to "make a connection" with my shoes, kilt or skivvies, nor am I looking for some level of "authenticity", whatever that means to you.

While he is talking about how he actually feels about something important, and this is important, but difficult to talk about, he's also talking about a very real sense of connection that people once had to the world about them. The fact that you say it how you say it shows for you that connection is lost. 100, 500, 1000 years ago people didn't look to "make a connection" with their shoes, kilt, or whatever, it was there. Already. You had it, you knew it, and you relied on that perception or you probably didn't survive. That awareness has been shown in the lab to still be in place, just beyond awareness in most people. The unwillingness of people in modern society to acknowledge what Einstein called relativity (relatedness, connectedness) is what allows the rise of Walmart. I used to buy sheet rock screws and plywood from Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank from a new idea store in Decatur, Georgia. From them. They were in the store, you could talk to them. Once they passed 25 stores, the fun was gone. By 100, it had become painful to go in their stores. I hope to be able to say Home Depot ceased to be a source for me in 1990, like MacDonald's and Coca-Cola did in 1974.

I'm not attempting to beat anyone up here, or accusing anyone of anything. In addition to a working life in the trades spanning from the early '60s til now, I also have done private work and taught classes in awareness, perception, healing, and other down-to-earth weirdness from the '70s forward. There's a whole lot of science most people don't know about, and it's used against one every day by the people who make decisions for us. The price of freedom is very high, and few are willing to pay it, even if they knew how and where.

I don't claim to be much freer than most, and the freight on what little I have has been frightful. I certainly don't claim to have all the answers. I'm just asking that we be a little more open, and to know there's more possible. My goal is educational.

[DWFII]

I'm having trouble Not calling an elitist attitude.

And yes, I am an elitist. Like a lot of people who work with their hands--craftsmen--I believe...

Without "good" there is no "better," without "better," no "best."
And without the recognition that there is a hierarchy of excellence in all things, nothing rises above the level of mundane.

And like most craftsmen, I come by that belief honestly.

[DWFII]

And I will confess, I've been beat up by the kilt police....

The whole "kilt police" thing is bogus and simply a way to dismiss the opinions of people you've already decided to disagree with. Calling someone "kilt police" gets you off the hook of having to think about or respond to opinions that differ from your own. It's another one of those shortcuts (or should I say "efficiencies) that cut us off from other people--like calling someone a Nazi.

What's more the whole idea is so contrived...if there's is a kilt police, where is the enforcement?

If you can't stand someone disagreeing with you, or offering opinion you might not like, you probably ought to steer clear of forums in general.

and called a cross-dresser by so many people on so many forums that I loose track of who has and who hasn't..

All the more reason to respond to the words that are actually written and not your first (or uncertain) perception of the person or your hasty interpretation of what they mean.

And in passing...all things in comparison and in moderation. I don't know that everything made since the Industrial Revolution is crap. I was born well after and I'm making things. Boots, shoes, sgian dubhs sporrans, tools, wooden bowls, etc..

I do know that things made in a factory...or from a mentality that buys into all the priorities of a factory...reduce our sense of connection. The products themselves almost universally have a sterile quality about them that is devoid of authenticity. And how could they not be? It's all copies, clones and ticky-tacky.

Is it necessary? Only to the extent that it is so widespread that our economy depends upon it. Only to the extent that we welcome that sterility into our lives rather than resist it. Only to the extent that we defend it.

Do I buy factory made goods? yes. Do I buy cheap imports? Sometimes. But like wearing a flat cap, which I like and wear regularly or other "deviations" from Traditional Highland Dress...I don't defend it.