LUDDITES AND THE ECONOMICS OF THE STREAMING
For those who have forgotten some of the details of history classes they took in high school or college, a quick review of the Luddites is in order. This was a movement of English textile workers in the early 19th century, in a period most of us know little about……except maybe we remember some of Charles Dickens writings about a harsh society…..you know, including debtor’s prisons, etc. In other words, a time in England when colonialism had created an empire, mercantilism was king, and the state supported industries in shutting down opposition. The Luddites were easy to mis-characterize because they were a secret, oath-based organization and protested against the use of machinery in the textile industry.
They went down in history and are principally remembered as trying to halt the progress of technology, and the term now is generally used to describe someone opposed to industrialization, automation, computerization and new technology. Historical context is important: the Luddite movement occurred in a time when less than five percent of the population had an education beyond grammar school, there was no suffrage and there were lots of oppressive laws from Parliament…..like the Tea Act of 1773 that sparked the American Revolution less than forty years previously. End of history lesson!