Last week we were assigned sections of Henry Thoreau’s Walden. His section on ‘Economy’ was interesting as a whole but there were a few pages and specific passages I thought still greatly apply to the world today. I wanted to take a further look at two of them.
First, Thoreau refers to the laborer as some one with “no time to be anything but a machine”. This phrase could very well be applied to the working force today in a few different ways. Although a ‘laborer’ in the time of Thoreau is very different than the ‘laborer’ of the 21st century, there is striking similarity between the lifestyles. Literally it can be applied because the majority of work is now done on/with machines. With the assembly line, laborers skill level is minimal. The laborer is one who is faceless to the consumer society. With the raging capitalism and mass production in corporations like Walmart, laborers are forced into factories where their face is irrelevant and their rate of production is all that matters. They are essentially a “machine”. If they break (get sick, injured, etc.) they can be easily replaced with a new part (employee) as there is no shortage of people entering the work force on a daily basis.
Second, Thoreau states, “Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.” A line that English teachers in high schools across the United States should dedicate a class to, because if were being honest it would save hormonal teenagers every where a lot of tears…anyways…back to Thoreau. Interestingly enough Thoreau wrote this while spending two years by himself at Walden Pond; completely isolated from public opinion, proving himself right. In personifying opinion, I think Thoreau is trying to show the affect it can have on some one. A human can do serious physical harm to another just as an idea or opinion can do serious mental harm to another. Claiming that public opinion is a “weak tyrant” is a slight oxymoron because to become a tyrant, leadership has to be obtained and weak is a word rarely associated with leaders (at least in ones ability to obtain the leadership position). Personally I think that Thoreau is saying we give public opinion the power we should be giving ourselves. If we put the faith and trust into anything, that gives it power so why not focus this energy on us to guide our futures.
Finally Thoreau claims “…it appears as if men has deliberately chosen the common mode of living because they preferred it to any other. Yet they honestly think there is no choice left.” In essence we choose who we are and yet we think we have no choice. In accepting our fates as ‘machines’ we let ‘public opinion’ guide our lives and our decisions because we think we don’t have any other choice.
I like your ideas, especially how you establish a connection between Thoreau’s work to present day. You state that, “The laborer is one who is faceless to the consumer society.” referring to the masses of laborers who aren’t visible. I think that you could also apply this idea to the laborers who are visible, but remain unseen, such as: the people who work in retail shops, restaurants and other service related businesses, because they are as interchangeable as the factory worker. This also relates to the idea of perceptions relating to choices. Often times the laborers in our society feel as though that have little or no choice but to work so that they may support themselves, because the alternatives would fly in the face of public opinion.
You bring up some interesting points about Thoreau’s philosophy on private opinion, fate and identity. In theory, it is very poetic to carve out your own identity without the “weak tyrant” of public opinion. But where in this globalized overpopulated world are we entirely free of the influence of others? Society is unavoidable and when we live on the outskirts of civilization, we are still defined by society, in that we are living on its edges as outsiders. Arguably, Thoreau was not free of the influence of public opinion because through out Walden he hypothesizes about the opinions the townspeople have of him as they pass by and observe his unorthodox bean growing techniques. His identity, in this respect, is coming from society. Human’s are social creatures and no matter where we travel, society exists inside of us. The question is, can we control the degree of influence? I’d say yes, and in that respect, Thoreau still stands.
Very matrix-esque! I agree with the ideas on public influence in part because in the time I have spent in the wilderness I have often thought about the lack of strong public influence. During these times I realized that I liked how everyone could interact as they wished without constant surveillance from their peers. Cool ideas!
I also believe that quote is very strong and I full heartedly believe that people have chosen the easy way of things because that is what everyone else does. I feel that the age of choosing how to live your life is becoming younger and younger. The public opinion is guiding the new generations to be machines just like they have guided many generations.