Enemies on All Sides

In my line of work, being that of a humble businessman and meddler, you make many friends. Building a reputation for being a Professional is neither difficult nor costly.

But it does require vigilance.

I was familiar with the Luddites, who smashed the mechanized Looms and claimed allegiance to the fictitious "King Ludd." It took the weight of a nation to be brought down upon them to bring their insurrection to a halt. It is commonly held that the Luddites were against technical advancement. This is not correct. What they were really against is the threat mechanization posed to their carefully crafted and militantly maintained textile pricing scheme.

Recently, however, I have had my first encounters with persons describing themselves as NeoLuddites. In the first instance, a chap made it aboard the Anna Chronis and attempted to sabotage the engines. Sadly, his lack of technical knowledge sealed his fate, and I was left the messy chore of picking through his personal affects to learn what he was about. On his person was all manner of literature calling for the destruction of all Artifice and the end of the Machine Age.

It reminded me of when I was in Paris and had witnessed an artist attacked on Montmartre. It seemed a group of distinguished persons about town had taken to attacking avantgarde artists. While we were never clear as to what their initials F, O and P stood for, the crew and I took to calling them the Fraternal Order of Philistines.

Groups like F.O.P. and the NeoLuddites believe that they are saving our culture from its self-inflicted ruin. What they are really doing is trying to herd us into stagnation. They are afraid of the rapid change of our age, and fixate on some facet, whether it be the Arts or Technology, and do their damnedest to bring our culture to a screeching halt just so they can feel less out-of-control.

I do not fool myself into believing I have met with the last of either group.