except the ghost dance actually had a purpose rooted in preservation of tradition, religion, culture, and a people. I've always marveled at the appeal of Calvinism, which seems such a bleak and dehumanizing way of looking at the world and salvation.
if you haven't already read it, I highly recommend "The Stripping of the Altars" by Eamon Duffy, also "The Reformation" by Diarmaid McCullough. both point out that once the monasteries and convents had been desecrated and destroyed, the British monarchy found itself with the harsh realization that those places had provided necessary charity to the poor...not something considered in Henry's mad rush to destroy everything Catholic.
Weber makes a very good point when he notes that the Calvinist approach to work is similar in many ways to that which you saw in a working monastery. Convents and monasteries were also economic engines. Monks and nuns worked hard to support their community and their God. They used the fruits of their efforts to help the poor and engaged in trade and barter with their more prosperous neighbors. They ran industries ranging from brewing to textiles and everything in between. Calvinists liked the prosperity but hated the mysticism, so they wound up with a secular work ethic that, predictably, wound up being secularized and serving Mammon instead of God.
The Reformation destroyed some of Britain's most beautiful historical monuments, including the tombs of Arthur and Guinevere. It ruined shrines that had been honored since Britannia's pre-Roman era. And it set a precedent for erasing history to create your own brave new world that many others would take up with even greater enthusiasm.
They liked the work but hated the mystic....yep. and one other thing you see: monasteries were intact communities. there was a community ethos and as you note, a sense of responsibility to the surrounding people. that connection was destroyed by industrialization...the very idea of intact, supportive communities was challenged by the mobility and nature of how work changed with industrialization. the connections between certain local crafts and industries were broken.
An interesting and apt eval., thanks to your invoking Weber and his tremendous insights. Pity that those, though well appreciated by many for a while now, remain unrecognized by so many others at a time of tumult when viable understandings arrived at decades ago have been obscured by politicians and activists who evince little interest in achieving anything on behalf of the rest of us poor slobs other than their own self-agrandizement. So...thanks again!
I am a junior-grade would-be polymath with a decidedly limited skill set. But I did teach world history to inner-city kids at a hard-scrabble high school in south LA - the ‘hood. With no one looking over my shoulder and a crap textbook that no one wanted to read (largely because of underdeveloped reading skills), I wrote-up my own texts for the subject page by page.
In surveying the roots and pathways of modernity it is possible to discern a handfull of crucial revolutions, as you also note. And the painfull transition from the old farm-based subsistence economy is a relevant issue for kids who were born into a remnant of that kind of life, as some of my students from Central American families were. But I missed the connection between the fall of the cloister/nunnery ‘safety net’ and subsequent rise of the workhouse as the ‘protestant work ethic’ morphed into the modern capitalist mindset. Exploring that, especially as an example of the power of ideas, would have been fun and a great exercise for my students. I wish I’d read this 9 years ago when I was deep into my ad hoc process of re-writing the history book!
But allow me to point out a couple things. First of all, my ethnic base is half Dutch, and on behalf of their brief blaze of glory 4 centuries ago, I take a bit of umbrage at your omitting them from the list of Euro-capitalizers/colonizers. Hey, if the Portuguese deserve mention so do the Hollanders! Their extraordinary case also underscores the necessity of a balanced perspective of broad scope when considering that past. They were among the most violent of Reformation iconoclasts, a fact which seems regrettable today. But they also waged an indefatigable fight for independence from Spain and eventually won. And no one today wants to defend the Spanish of the time - particularly the Duke of Alba, right? And they also bequeathed us modern capitalism‘s real roots: ‘high finance.’ Not to mention the fact that they had concurrently developed the purest form of continental Calvinism outside Geneva. So include them in your next update maybe?
Also, to be fair, recall the Calvinist emphasis on literacy and the motive for that. That seems unimpeachable given the circumstances at the time. If greed seems to have prevailed in the end, it clearly must still answer claims laid by those for whom literacy’s revolutionary impact is of undeniable importance. People such as you and me.
I want to hear what you write next about work ethic, wealth disparity, and the question of the character of the poor. Do you think there will be a purge?
I think we are already seeing bloodless purges. Most of the interesting dissident Right thinkers have been purged from the major social media outlets in fear they might gather a following. Any public figure who steps outside the bounds of acceptable speech quickly becomes unmarketable.
Bloody purges would require a greater degree of social stress than we have at present and either a greater or a much lesser degree of control amongst our ruling classes. But there are definitely a lot of people who would participate if given the chance.
Thanks for your thoughts. I do expect there will dead bodies, all the same. The Holodomor eliminated as many as 10 million in less than two years. That would be something like all of New Jersey.
You know, like what Stalin did. Or Pol Pot. Both started with cultural leaders including teachers, artists, writers, intellectuals, and the priest class. Thought criminals. But they could just as well start or continue with the poor, disenfranchised, homeless. I wrote a piece about the Holodomor, where food was weaponized to conduct genocide. You can weaponize almost anything. I don't think it's that hard. There's evil loose in the world.
except the ghost dance actually had a purpose rooted in preservation of tradition, religion, culture, and a people. I've always marveled at the appeal of Calvinism, which seems such a bleak and dehumanizing way of looking at the world and salvation.
if you haven't already read it, I highly recommend "The Stripping of the Altars" by Eamon Duffy, also "The Reformation" by Diarmaid McCullough. both point out that once the monasteries and convents had been desecrated and destroyed, the British monarchy found itself with the harsh realization that those places had provided necessary charity to the poor...not something considered in Henry's mad rush to destroy everything Catholic.
Weber makes a very good point when he notes that the Calvinist approach to work is similar in many ways to that which you saw in a working monastery. Convents and monasteries were also economic engines. Monks and nuns worked hard to support their community and their God. They used the fruits of their efforts to help the poor and engaged in trade and barter with their more prosperous neighbors. They ran industries ranging from brewing to textiles and everything in between. Calvinists liked the prosperity but hated the mysticism, so they wound up with a secular work ethic that, predictably, wound up being secularized and serving Mammon instead of God.
The Reformation destroyed some of Britain's most beautiful historical monuments, including the tombs of Arthur and Guinevere. It ruined shrines that had been honored since Britannia's pre-Roman era. And it set a precedent for erasing history to create your own brave new world that many others would take up with even greater enthusiasm.
They liked the work but hated the mystic....yep. and one other thing you see: monasteries were intact communities. there was a community ethos and as you note, a sense of responsibility to the surrounding people. that connection was destroyed by industrialization...the very idea of intact, supportive communities was challenged by the mobility and nature of how work changed with industrialization. the connections between certain local crafts and industries were broken.
An interesting and apt eval., thanks to your invoking Weber and his tremendous insights. Pity that those, though well appreciated by many for a while now, remain unrecognized by so many others at a time of tumult when viable understandings arrived at decades ago have been obscured by politicians and activists who evince little interest in achieving anything on behalf of the rest of us poor slobs other than their own self-agrandizement. So...thanks again!
I am a junior-grade would-be polymath with a decidedly limited skill set. But I did teach world history to inner-city kids at a hard-scrabble high school in south LA - the ‘hood. With no one looking over my shoulder and a crap textbook that no one wanted to read (largely because of underdeveloped reading skills), I wrote-up my own texts for the subject page by page.
In surveying the roots and pathways of modernity it is possible to discern a handfull of crucial revolutions, as you also note. And the painfull transition from the old farm-based subsistence economy is a relevant issue for kids who were born into a remnant of that kind of life, as some of my students from Central American families were. But I missed the connection between the fall of the cloister/nunnery ‘safety net’ and subsequent rise of the workhouse as the ‘protestant work ethic’ morphed into the modern capitalist mindset. Exploring that, especially as an example of the power of ideas, would have been fun and a great exercise for my students. I wish I’d read this 9 years ago when I was deep into my ad hoc process of re-writing the history book!
But allow me to point out a couple things. First of all, my ethnic base is half Dutch, and on behalf of their brief blaze of glory 4 centuries ago, I take a bit of umbrage at your omitting them from the list of Euro-capitalizers/colonizers. Hey, if the Portuguese deserve mention so do the Hollanders! Their extraordinary case also underscores the necessity of a balanced perspective of broad scope when considering that past. They were among the most violent of Reformation iconoclasts, a fact which seems regrettable today. But they also waged an indefatigable fight for independence from Spain and eventually won. And no one today wants to defend the Spanish of the time - particularly the Duke of Alba, right? And they also bequeathed us modern capitalism‘s real roots: ‘high finance.’ Not to mention the fact that they had concurrently developed the purest form of continental Calvinism outside Geneva. So include them in your next update maybe?
Also, to be fair, recall the Calvinist emphasis on literacy and the motive for that. That seems unimpeachable given the circumstances at the time. If greed seems to have prevailed in the end, it clearly must still answer claims laid by those for whom literacy’s revolutionary impact is of undeniable importance. People such as you and me.
I want to hear what you write next about work ethic, wealth disparity, and the question of the character of the poor. Do you think there will be a purge?
I think we are already seeing bloodless purges. Most of the interesting dissident Right thinkers have been purged from the major social media outlets in fear they might gather a following. Any public figure who steps outside the bounds of acceptable speech quickly becomes unmarketable.
Bloody purges would require a greater degree of social stress than we have at present and either a greater or a much lesser degree of control amongst our ruling classes. But there are definitely a lot of people who would participate if given the chance.
Thanks for your thoughts. I do expect there will dead bodies, all the same. The Holodomor eliminated as many as 10 million in less than two years. That would be something like all of New Jersey.
You know, like what Stalin did. Or Pol Pot. Both started with cultural leaders including teachers, artists, writers, intellectuals, and the priest class. Thought criminals. But they could just as well start or continue with the poor, disenfranchised, homeless. I wrote a piece about the Holodomor, where food was weaponized to conduct genocide. You can weaponize almost anything. I don't think it's that hard. There's evil loose in the world.
https://unitedstatesofanderson.substack.com/p/designer-famine