Bull****.

The notion that "in the old days" everything was made with thoughtful
consideration to detail is nothing but bull****. There were just as many
shoddy pieces of crap produced in every era of human existence as there are
today. To think that the pour souls that stood at a bench and planed doors
and furniture parts from sunup to sundown with no break, food or water, and
often not allowed to speak, "worked carefully, and... took care with every
aspect of their work" and that "nothing was swept under the rug" simply
ignores the reality of humanity, such that it is.

The pieces that have survived to tell the tale of how things were made "in
the old days" are, by definition, the best built, the best cared for, the
most fortunate specimens. Period.

To think otherwise would be like thinking that all posts to rec.woodworking
were as poorly worded and crafted as this one. Generalizations based on
incomplete data, and especially data that is ignored and/or inappropriately
analyzed, are worthless bull****. As is this post.

Michael Latcha - at home in Redford, MI


"Tom Watson" wrote in message
...
"In the elder days of art
Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part,
For the Gods are everywhere."

"The point of these lines is clear. In the old days, craftsmen did not
cut corners. They worked carefully, and they took care with every
aspect of their work. Every part of the product was considered, and
each was designed and made to be exactly as it should be. These
craftsmen did not relax their thoughtful self-discipline even with
respect to features of their work which would ordinarily not be
visible. Although no one would notice if those features were not quite
right, the craftsmen would be bothered by their consciences. So
nothing was swept under the rug. Or, one might perhaps also say, there
was no bull****.

It does seem fitting to construe carelessly made, shoddy goods as in
some way analogues of bull****. But in what way? Is the resemblance
that bull**** itself is invariably produced in a careless or
self-indulgent manner, that it is never finely crafted, that in the
making of it there is never the meticulously attentive concern with
detail to which Longfellow alludes?"


On Bull****
Harry Frankfurt
Princeton University


http://web.archive.org/web/200402120...ticles/bs.html




Tom Watson - WoodDorker
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/ (website)