Casualties of a Bloodless Revolution

For all its benefits, the Industrial Revolution has turned out to be far more revolutionary (and perhaps more revolting!) than we might realize. Not only did it change forever our way of producing and distributing goods, it also changed dramatically the way in which we view those goods, the distribution chains that provide them, and the services attendant to those industries. A circular, interdependent relationship between builder, seller, and user was replaced with a delivery system designed to place goods and services into the hands of the consumer, or from another vantage point, a delivery system designed to place consumers' money into the hands of businessmen.

These reformulated attitudes have "trickled down" into virtually every area of our lives, coloring how we work, play, eat, sleep and even worship. Michael Pollan's books, The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, depict ways in which the industrialization of American food production has encouraged and in turn been supported by the perception that food is nothing more than a nutrient-delivery system, and one which can be improved upon by science and technology.

In much the same way, Americans have come to view work as a sort of income-delivery system. From the other side of the desk, workers are viewed as productivity-delivery systems. Sleep is a rest-delivery system. Because many of us have no real relationship with our work or with the people who benefit from it, we find the need to "get away" once in a while. So we spend vacations and holidays at resorts, spas, amusement parks, etc., which are actually carefully-engineered delivery systems for rest, relaxation, recreation and fun. Longer-term we look forward to retirement, when we won't have to wear ourselves out any more in the "rat race." We then seek systems which will deliver to us the things we feel we missed out on by working all of our young lives.

So, then, we tend to see ourselves as points in a huge mess of delivery systems, for which we need yet another delivery system to provide us with the means to sort everything out. Depending upon the particular system, we might be the recipient, the provider, or some stepping-stone in between. Contrast this with the quaint notion of living as part of a great circle in which our roles are never defined but easily understood. We have gained much from the Industrial Revolution, but we have lost much as well.

Unfortunately, some things just don't respond well to the revolutionary parameters of industrialization. Food is one of them. The American diet, far from the nutritional masterpiece promised by science and technology, is shamefully responsible for obesity, heart disease, diabetes, tooth decay and a host of other ailments where it has replaced traditional dietary customs. Stores are full of manufacturers' attempts to conjure healthier foods from constituent elements. Everywhere we are surrounded by books, television programs and seminars trying to teach us what to eat. But this abundance of information and technology has utterly failed to avert the diseased destiny of American-style eaters. This tells me that food is more than the sum of its nutrients, and that the way in which it is prepared and consumed is nearly, if not entirely, as important as the ingredients used to concoct it.

American consumers are also immersed in a sea of information and products designed to make us better workers, better bosses, better investors, better travelers, better parents, better spouses, better friends, better worshipers. American businesspeople are likewise inundated with the counsel and tools they "need" to become better providers of such things as employment, financial products, travel destinations, recreational opportunities and worship experiences. In all of these areas, as with food, this glut of advice is symptomatic of the failure of industrialization to make good on a promise of betterment. In other words, there are many areas of our lives which do not adapt well to a purely industrial outlook.



More on this in future posts...