Come See us: 123 Main St

•

Find us on Social Media

After the Future

The Historical Norm

A description of Germany around 1618: The peasantry for the most part lived in ingnrance of the events happening about them, suffered their efffects mutely, and broke into revolt only…

A description of Germany around 1618:

The peasantry for the most part lived in ingnrance of the events happening about them, suffered their efffects mutely, and broke into revolt only when conditions became intolerable. Among townsfolk a better diffusion of knowledge made possible the rudimentary expression of public opnion, but only the relatively wealthy and well educated consistently assimilated or made use of of political information. The great majority of people remained powerless, ignorant, and indifferent.  From The Thirty Years War, by C.V. Wedgwood, written in 1938.

Plus ca change, . . .

Comments

3 responses

  1. JP Avatar
    JP

    I’m thinking that a lot of this had to do with the Holy Roman Empire being basically defunct at this point in history.
    Germany was a patchwork quilt.
    Which was why the Thirty Years War treated Germany like a chessboard.

    Reply
  2. Jonathan Avatar
    Jonathan

    “Political information”? What in the world is that? Sounds like something the KGB would arrest you for. Also pretty sure the word “knowledge” is misapplied there. I don’t know much about Dame Wedgwood, but it sounds like this book was really about Germany in 1938, not 1648.

    Reply
  3. Jack Whelan Avatar
    Jack Whelan

    Political information is simply information about what those who have power plan to do with it. People who have economic power usually have the most political power, and those with the most political power use it to enhance their economic power. That’s the plus-ca-change part. It’s true always and every where, and the more wealth and power there is, the smaller the group in control of it.
    We don’t have peasants anymore, at least in the technical sense, but we do have a large mass of citizens who have the vote but don’t feel engaged enough to use it. Why should they? They understand it’s a rigged game, and their vote doesn’t matter in any way that is going to appreciably change their lives. They, like the peasants of the early 17th century, are long suffering and impotent, and they know that the only vote that matters, whether you’re in a democracy or an autocracy, is to vote with ones’ feet–and that means torches and pitchforks or a general strike, . That’s the only real power ordinary people have. But things have to get really bad before they do it.
    I’ve recently started to wonder if rule of law is something that makes sense anymore. There are laws and a lawmaking process, but all it is at this point is a legitimation or institutionalization of elite interests–and elites pretty much do what they want anyway, so why bother to legislate unless legislating is simply a means to an end, the end being more slop in the trough where they feed.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *