Keith Hudson wrote:
At 18:52 24/05/2005 -0400, Brad McCormick, Ed.D wrote:
Keith Hudson wrote:
Interesting article on the long-term unemplopyed in America.
Keith Hudson
<<<<
THE NEW PROFILE OF THE LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED
Louis Uchitelle
[snip]
"There are just not new jobs being created in the things these people did before," said Andrew Stettner, a policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project and co-author of a study of long-term unemployment.
[snip]
Well, that's the difference between (1) both an oikos [a household] and
a polis [a community of peers], and (2) an "economy" [a structure for exploitation of
human as well as natural resources]:
When either a family member or a member of a real community becomes
"useless", he or she is still supported nonetheless because of
the human [blood or collegial] ties among all the co-subjects of
their co-constituted lifeworld.
Not at all. Most pre-agricultural societies neglected, killed or allowed old people to die when they were beyond experiential or physical help to the community. To a lesser extent, this occurs in agricultural societies. The excessive preoccupation with keeping old people alive -- even in a vegetative state -- is a Christian phenomenon due to the old person having a "soul".
You make a very good point here, which, I hope,
nuances not conflicts with what I wrote.
The day after I left on holiday I read in Le Monde of a case where an old woman in India (as is/was the Hindu custom) threw herself onto her husband's funeral pyre. The thing is that this is now against the law and her neighbours were obliged to stop her. However, she apparently walked through the whole village to the fire and the police enquiry found that no-one "remembered" seeing her walk by -- until, of course, it was too late and she was in the burning embers.
We know that ancient peoples did often
provide care for injured persons (from healed bone
breaks, etc.)
I don't know about "often". There are about half-a-dozes cases of both neanderthal man and prehistoric humans having had severe fractures mended but all these were young males and were presumably still useful to the group -- some of them might have been leaders, of course.
I believe there are many cases of Egyptan mummies showing signs of advanced surgery (e.g. cranial) but these are among among the royalty and the rich. Tutankhamun died, I believe of a broken ankle, but not from the break itself which was easily dealt with but probably from a subsequent infection. Pyramid builders who broke limbs were also skilfully repaired but I doubt whether the same services were available to ordinary villagers.
-- I think there is a big difference
between a caring community caring for, e.g.,
a person blinded and who has lost half their face
in a war for their country (or saving people
from an industrial accident), etc.,
but still retains their mind and a will to
live...and
"Right to lifers" "caring for" a brain-dead used-to-be-a-person.
The issue, however, if not primarily about
cripples, but about physically and mentally
normal persons who are not members of
the "in group" of enterpreneurs,
"old money" et al., who get discarded on the
free-enterprise superhighway -- persons who, had they
dropped out of a different birth canal, i.e., one
in and not out of the "in group", would be taken
care of even if they were prodigal sons like
Bushido....
Yes, as intimated above.
Keith Hudson
\brad mccormick
We have been able to afford this during the fossil fuel boom, but not for a great deal longer. The amount of suffering and neglect in state retirement homes is enormous -- at least in England, and nation-states in the coming decades will certainly not be able to afford to look after their old people -- considering that their own families will not look after them but pack them away in state homes. The rise of euthansia as a matter of political debate in relatively recent years is symptomatic of a growing problem. The modern nation-state will no more look after its poor old people anymore than, for example, really helping Africans.
Keith Hudson
In an "economy", when a resource becomes useless it just
drops off the radar screen.
Probably somewhere in some country at least once in the
coming decade, one useless drop-off who in his or her
earlier years did something for someone whose fortunes
in the economy prospered will be discovered in the
gutter by the prosperous person and "saved" [Androcles and
the lion?]
Not many of them, however, I expect....
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ <http://www.users.cloud9.net/%7Ebradmcc/>
Keith Hudson, Bath, England, <www.evolutionary-economics.org <http://www.evolutionary-economics.org/>>
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/
Keith Hudson, Bath, England, <www.evolutionary-economics.org>
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