The Luddite’s Gift Guide

Thursday, 16 December 2010 18:49

The Luddite’s Gift Guide

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With all the hur-de-hur about technological gadgets on these very pages, I submit to you that there is one subset of the community that is underserved by our constant reportage: the Luddite. To that end, I propose a short exploration of the Luddite’s psyche and suggest a few possible items for their consumption this Holiday period.

The term Luddite comes from Ned Ludd, the mythical or at least

apochrphal head of a group of anti-technologists from the 18th century. Ludd, a weaver, grew so agitated by his working conditions one day that he beat some weaving frames into a “heap.” Like “Notme” and “Ida Know” of Family Circus fame, the refrain “Ned Ludd did it” became the comic excuse for broken gear in the 19th century.

So what about modern Luddites? It seems to me the modern Luddite is tired of computers. He or she needs something tangible, usable, and extremely inexpensive. Yet he/she doesn’t want to end up on the wrong end of a homemade blunderbuss when the end times come and he’s raiding someone’s log cabin for MREs. He’s (or she’s) not a survivalist but is looking for a way to survive in an increasingly complex world. Here’s what you should buy them with your RFID-chipped credit card or via Paypal.