The quote below was published in 1871, & it is therefore reasonable to assume that it is no longer in copyright, & can be reproduced in full, without violation of SDMB policy.
Is this a valid criticism? Part of me feels it is.
Do Americans lack a genuine sense of Home?
Of ease & repose?
Do American Men cut themselves off from the joys of Home & Family in ways men of other countries do not?
Are American Women isolated from the bonds of children & husband in ways women of other countries are not?
Does our way of life deny us peace of mind?
Does American Culture swindle us, spiritually & emotionally?
Well - I’d rather have been an American farmer in 1871 than a Central European peasant. I rather think the Count was acquainted more with robber barons and merchant princes.
But today? Today, I have to say, his words ring pretty true for those of us who wish for something more than the rat race and the material gifts it promises.
I could say more, but no time. :rolleyes: Typical, hmm?
Like everything else, it’s true for some and not for others. My wife and I, for instance, see a ton of each other. I work at home and she works close to home, so she comes home for lunch and is home in the evening by 5:15. And we’re not especially hard working.
Hell, we have more ease and repose than I feel comfortable with.
If you buy into the rat race and all that, then you won’t have “ease and repose.” If you opt out, then you can. American culture is quite diverse and it’s ridiculous to try and pigeonhole everyone into one category in order to try and justify an outdated and inaccurate saying from the 1800’s.
It’s clear enough to me. ‘Farmer’ and ‘Peasant’ are both ‘Bauer’ in German, but they have different connotations in English.
‘Peasant’ in English implies a downtrodden state, likely a tenant farmer beholden to some local lord. Weren’t the social residues of feudalism still much in evidence in 19th-Century rural Central Europe?
‘Farmer’ on the other hand, usually connotes a freeholder; in 1871 who would likely have been a homesteader, or a person who took a parcel out of the wilderness and began farming it, and thereby acquired title persuant to the Homestead Act of 1863.
It may have been a valid criticism for a good portion of the American work force back then. Certainly there are people who still work long hours, don’t interact with their family as a result, and who may be in poor health due to hard work. But I don’t believe that is the case for a large enough number of Americans to validate the statement today.
However the OP asks if Amercian culture swindles us emotionally and spiritually. I say quite possibly, but not because of hard work. I’d say poor choices, lack of opportunities, poor resource management, unfair governmental policies, marketing pressures, shrinking middle class, lack of parenting skills, over-litigious society and maladjusted personalities are more likely to blame.
Thanks for chiming in, Spec. I assume as you do. There certainly wasn’t nearly the social mobility or the easier access to land that there was for Americans. (My great-great-grandfather was one of those Homestead Act-created farmers.)
While it may be true that good hard work never killed anybody, let’s give credit where due. Careerism, consumerism, materialism, the media, and, yes, even our legendary work ethic all play a part in isolating us from one another and life.
If I’m to judge by the latter link in BG’s post, one of the biggest swindles perpetrated on us is the constant paranoid attack-dogging of anyone who believes the free market ever produces anything less than the best possible results for all.
You have to take Hubner’s comments in the context of their time. In 1871 America stood out (along with England and Germany) as a big industrial, capitalist, market-driven, middle-class nation. The Austria-Hungary Empire was notably conservative, aristocratic, and agrarian, with a large class of farmers with no upward mobility. It’s no surprise that a diplomat would want to justify the situation, implying: “We’re not oppressing our poor; we’re just saving them from the exhausting, soul-crushing, family-destroying industrial world.”
I don’t mean to declare that everything Hubner says about America is wrong, only that he definitely had a purpose here.
America has given the world many economic benefits albeit at the cost of individuality ,many ground breaking scientific discoveries and protected the West during the cold war,but tv/movie entertaintment tends to be of an almost universal blandness(not awesome ,not awful) and a fair amount of U.S. foreign policy in recent years has been very naive.
I’m not so sure farm life in America in the 1870s was so much better than that in Central Europe.
Please allow me to acquaint you with the Panic of 1873 and the ensuing “Long Depression”. The resulting economic crisis on American farms led to the formation of the Farmers’ Alliance and then to a generalized agrarian revolt, culminating in the formation of the radicalized People’s Party (better known as the Populist Party).
And if you think American farmers weren’t beholden to lords, well, they had “lords” of the American variety, namely railroads (whose monopolies allowed them to charge confiscatory rates to ship farm goods) and banks (which charged similarly confiscatory interest rates).
