...and fear--
undermines the moral base
of business."
undermines the moral base
of business."
-- Alan Greenspan, "The Objectivist Newsletter", 1963
"One of the most widespread delusions of our age
is the belief that the American worker
owes his high standard of living
to unions and to "humanitarian" labor legislation."
is the belief that the American worker
owes his high standard of living
to unions and to "humanitarian" labor legislation."
-- Nathanial Branden, "Common Fallacies About Capitalism", 1962** ("..former student and one-time romantic partner of novelist Ayn Rand, Branden had a prominent role in promoting Rand's philosophy, Objectivism.)
Those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it.
Those who do remember it and do not care are condemned to walk the Earth as soulless Libertarian assholes.
10 comments:
Well done.
A shame that a willfully ignorant populace will never see it; never think it; never realize it.
Thank you for remembering Triangle Shirtwaist and posting this. I live in NYC, less than a mile from the tragically-sounding Asch Building, and I take every chance I can to educate people about it.
Believe it or not, the NYTimes actually has a very large, very well-done collection of pieces today. According to Frances Perkins, eventually FDR's Secretary of Labor and first female Cabinet member ever, who worked with the Committee on Safety (formed after the fire) and the Factory Investigation Commission, Triangle Shirtwaist was "the day the New Deal began."
And, if you can stand it, one of the greatest pieces of spot reporting in history was written that day. "Thud-dead" is burned in my brain.
dg - Thank you for a powerful, powerful post.
As usual, thanks, Driftglass.
I wonder if there will be a commemorative moment for the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire tomorrow on GMA or Morning Joke.
You know, a stirring montage, perhaps with some of the same images you chose to display. And some of that poignant music that we usually reserve for rundowns of our casualties in MidAsia or video obits of deceased politicians.
Yeah, and they might send me a shoutout over the airwaves on my birthday next Tuesday.
As an architect, I deal day-to-day (depending on better economies than this one) with a significant array of building codes, that are ever-increasing in complexity and difficulty to understand.
The advent of the International Building Code has made some of this a bit easier to deal with over state and national lines...
But this anniversary is worthwhile to remind that the reason for these requirements is because otherwise, people die.
Testament to the work that building code authors is that when terrible things happen like the quake in Japan, newer buildings manage better.
Government Regulation. It allows all of you (even Rand Paul) to enter buildings on a day-to-day basis without dying.
In Raeford, NC, in the late '80s, a lot of poultry workers died in a fire because the owners of the plant blocked all the exits to keep workers from using them to do various things the owners didn't like. North Carolina is a "right to work" state--that is, it has laws like Wisconsin's new anti-labor law since from back in the '50s.
Right now, the union busters are saying that they only oppose collective bargaining for public employees. If they prevail, that will change very quickly.
Could not get down there this year for the ceremony, but I have gone other years. There's a white carnation with each victim's name. I TIVOd, and last night watched an HBO special on the fire. http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/triangle-remembering-the-fire/index.html
The whole thing is indescribably sad. It did not have to happen. Governor Walker needs a tour of that building (now part of NYU's campus).
Well this really made me think.. thanks for a great post
Today's ceremony was live-streamed and I watched it. The speeches on the whole were good. The president of the Wisconsin teachers' union drew parallels to the fight there.
NYC Mayor Bloomberg was booed and heckled. The only speaker who was. (BTW, he has been making sounds that are anti-union, and his company was very unorganized and proud of it.) I wondered how he would be received; it didn't take long for the booing to start.
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