Tim Tyler wrote:

In uk.rec.gardening Sue & Bob Hobden wrote:

: I would be interested BUT only if these plants were also made sterile,
: as all GM plants should be.

That's the luddite position.

Being an ex-North American, I wondered what this term 'Luddite' actually
referred to. So I investigated -- and found no reason to regard it as an
insult. Those who smashed the machines were not fools spurred by fear of
the unknown. The followers of 'General Ludd' knew precisely what they
were doing, and why: they were protecting the livelihoods of the
knitters, lacemakers and weavers who faced poverty and ruin in the hands
of those building the new manufactories. Traditionally entire families
found comfortable employment in the industry: the youngest children
prepared the raw materials, the wife and older girls spun the yarns,
while the husband and sons did the weaving. They worked at home, often
in small villages, where they were able to maintain gardens and perhaps
livestock for food. Contrast this with the lives of workers living in
the new industrial centres, and I at least understand why men would risk
their lives to destroy the machines before the machines destroyed them,
and their families. The Industrial Revolution had costs as well as
benefits, and we're still paying for it today.


regards
sarah


--
"Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view,
is silence about truth." Aldous Huxley