Fergus Cassidy

Ludd fud

CALL it a sixth sense, but when the word Luddite pops up in any context, the hairs on the back of the neck have their own version of a rising.

Luddite is one of my pet words. A survivor in a world where many, many words have disappeared from common use and now languish in the word-lottery of a dictionary. The other reason I'm very fond of Luddite is that it is part of a small band of words which owe their origin to real people.

Captain Boycott was shunned by his neighbours in County Mayo in 1880. Gerrymander comes from the political activities of governor Elbridge Gerry in the US in the late 1700s.

Ned Ludd, alone to keep his capital letter, is believed to have broken knitting machines in northern England in the early 1800s as this piece of poetry commemorates:

Just then Ned Ludd
came 'a running in the room
he saw that power loom
and he sensed impending doom,
and we don't know why
but Ned Ludd went awry
he screamed and had a fit
and he crashed right into it
And it shuddered and it fell
and the weaver's liked it well.
      The Battle of Ned Ludd

His name was given to the protesters who followed his example and broke machinery around 1812-18.

And his name lives on almost 200 years later, which is some achievement for someone who probably felt that the end of the world was nigh. Although he disappears for long spells, even decades, he always manages to reappear to remind us that he hasn't gone away you know.

As it is near enough to the 50th anniversary of the production of the first colour television (in the US), I'm mindful of the fact that my mother steadfastly held on to her black and white set for more than 20 years longer than the vast majority. Even her beloved snooker programmes failed to get her to go colour. Her secret was to concentrate on the opening break of a frame and then memorise the position of the balls thereafter.

My father never drove or owned a car in his entire life, preferring to cycle until the streets turned mean. That bicycle brought him every day to his work, immersed in the then cutting-edge technologies of radio and television. He was one of the first people in Ireland to learn the ins and outs of colour television receivers and one of those valved monsters provided heat for our family during the winters of the late 1960s.

So was I raised by Luddites? If I was, how does that explain the 15 different devices connected to the mains in my living room (let's not get started on the rest of the house)?

Like many of their generation, the main constraint on technology for my parents was money. But there was also something else which informed their attitudes toward technology and change. And like Ned Ludd it was deeply human.

Fear is an innate trait that has been with us since the origin of the species. Its purpose is to provide alertness for action - defense or flight. When Ned Ludd saw the effects which technology was having on his livelihood, he genuinely feared for himself and his family. Many others did too, and have done ever since.

But at least he did something when he crashed right into that power loom. The movement which took its name, albeit misguided and misdirected, was nonetheless a response and an emotional one at that.

Yet when Luddite appeared in an Irish Times article on electronic voting last week, the word was used to convey something negative and backward. The word has also been used in the Dail (parliament) recently on the same issue and with the same negative barbs.

Used as it is in these circumstances, a Luddite now seems to be defined exclusively as someone who doesn't want to 'move with the times' or modernise. The human emotions of caution, maybe even fear sometimes, are glossed over at best and ignored at worst.

In a country with our history, there appears to be a growing stampede to prove our modernity by embracing any technology that happens along. Worst of all is that any questioning or fears expressed are now dismissed as Luddite unless they come from so-called experts, the high priests of high tech.

Caution is an enduring and indispensable human trait. A very positive one because it makes us alert to the consequences of change. Helping us to distinguish between the baby and the bathwater and square the future with the past.

And there isn't a better day than today to witness this. In the Christian calendar Easter Sunday falls today because (deep breath) it is the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon, which is the first Ecclesiastical full moon after March 20th! This was ordained in 1582.

Happy Easter.