This quote was true for the wealthy monarchs and aristocrats ruling Europe in Hugo’s day, but no longer so. In fact, I ran across a column from the Los Angeles Evening Herald from 1918 which eloquently explains why this no longer applies. Written at a time when the standard of living was much lower than today, but when sane perspectives were still found in newspapers.
Some excerpts:
🔹”In India you might see a rajah sleeping, and a miserable slave awake all night moving the “punkah,” or fan, to keep the air running. There the misery of all-night labor inflicted on a poor man gives pleasant sleep to a rich man. But in the American Pullman car, in July, the commercial traveler sleeps by night—and an electric fan, representing human intelligence, keeps the air moving, and nobody suffers.”
🔹”When the Queen of Sheba went to see Solomon, a camel probably carried her jolting on his back. And slaves ran beside her keeping off the flies, tiring themselves out. Later, in fashionable Paris, the rich man going to his dinner was carried in a Sedan chair, with poorly paid human beings running and carrying the weight of his body.”
🔹”There the comfort of the rich was based upon the discomfort of the poor. But today the prosperous gentleman rolls along in a large limousine car on the air which fills rubber tires. A chauffeur, paid a hundred dollars or more a month, well clothed and well fed, turns a little wheel.”
🔹”In tropical countries slaves brought down snow and ice from the mountain tops to cool the drinks of their masters. Now a cheap little refrigerating device, run by a small engine, supplies ice and ice-cold water and even the poorest workman drinks it.”
🔹”Fortunately for the world the number of those who enjoy luxury or comparative luxury is constantly increasing. And the extent to which the happiness of a few is based on the torment of many is diminishing every day”
🔹”But it is not wise to tell any man, rich or poor, that his troubles are all based on the crimes or heartlessness of somebody else, that he is a being without faults, and would be absolutely happy if somebody would kindly get off his back.”
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19180402.2.856&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------
As with the leftist freak out over “banned books” this is not banning books, it’s still easy to get Harry Potter and bookstores should be able to limit whatever books they want for whatever reason. But not only does it show a double standard, the rationale is far less justifiable than removing certain content from school libraries. At least there the justification was the content of certain books are inappropriate for children, clearly not every book should be available in a school library. Here, there’s no argument about the content they just don’t like the author’s politics!
Because news came out about his letter to the FBI, revealing he was a nutcase. The letter was rambling and incoherent, claiming he was trained by the US military off the books, and that Walz had instructed him to kill Amy Klobuchar so he could run for Senate. None of it made any sense (Walz is not running for Senate) and none of the assassinations made any sense, even in a diabolical way.
Nearly all of his hit list was Democrats (including Walz) and abortion clinics, but he was supposedly working for Walz?! Plus, one of the guys he killed wasn’t even on his list, and others were no longer in office or deceased. None of it makes sense from any coherent angle.
Basically, it appears the guy was mentally ill and neither the left or right can use the incident to push their agendas anymore, so the story was dropped.
This is so dumb. First, this means LA began as Spanish land founded to support Spanish missions (i.e. colonialism). Which contradicts their entire premise. But the reality is that Los Angeles is a quintessential American city.
▪️When the US acquired California in the 1840s, LA was a small town of less than 2,000 people. It was basically nothing. It became large only after the gold rush and the railroads completed in the 1870-80s, which brought thousands of new settlers and a booming commercial center.
▪️But LA had a major issue limiting its growth, no water. It wasn’t until Mulholland found a water source and built an aqueduct down from Northern California that LA had the infrastructure to grow into a major city.
▪️Then, a combination of oil, real estate and the film industry caused it to boom in the early 1900s. Post WWII, industries like aerospace continued its spectacular growth. Calling this “Mexican land” is a brain dead take. Neither the Mexicans, Spanish nor ...
