62 bar falls 29.85 3mph NNW dewpoint 29 Beltane
Waxing Crescent of the Hare Moon
“The capitalist bookkeepers’ theoretician was German sociologist Max Weber, whose 1910 book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism argued that the key feature of capitalism was that making money becomes ‘a calling’, an end in itself. The bourgeois worked for the sake of work, denying himself the fruits of his labour. The pre-modern man would have been flummoxed by this, says Weber: what is the point of this, ‘to sink into the grave weighed down with a great material load of money and goods’? ” from an article in Spiked
I love this quote from Weber. What is, after all, the point of sinking into the grave weighed down with a great material load of money and goods? None, as far I can see.
I disagree with Weber though about the state of pre-modern people. Many, many cultures not only thought this was a good thing, but literally did it. Those wealthy or high born enough took servants, food, furniture, money, painting, all manner of things to the grave.
Two tours today. Winnipeg kids on a band tour. They had been to the Mall of America and Bubblegum, a restaurant there and had lots of other places to visit. They didn’t think the Days Inn where they were staying were showing them very good hospitality, though they did admit that having that many teenagers in one place created a lot of ruckus. This was a bright, attentive and thoughtful group. We saw the installation with the children’s photos, Frank, Magritte, Van Gogh and Goya. They were talkative and had many ideas.
The Weber tour had three people, a couple and Stacy Pydych. Stacy had to leave early, but the couple stayed on for the whole tour. He had been to Japan when he was 24 years old and a serviceman. They, too, were attentive and talkative. We saw most of the exhibit because I skipped part of my usual tour in teaware and Tale of Genji. They thought I was a professor of Japanese history. I assured them the museum taught us what we needed to know.
Got a thank-you card today from Robbinsdale Japanese language students. The teacher wrote a nice note and each kid signed it and some offered comments. Amazing, when you consider these are high school students.
