Sometimes the theory of progressivism lurks where we least expect it. Maybe because it's so easy to commit oneself to the progressive principle: everything will be better in the future. Or maybe because some people are simply clueless, I don't know. Today, Half Sigma falls short when he tries to explain why middle class people should keep away from manual labour:

I’m not embarrassed or ashamed to say that I think that manual labor sucks, and I’m glad I don’t have to do it. Especially outdoor manual labor. If the prospect of doing hard labor in the hot summer sun or freezing winter isn’t bad enough, the pay also sucks. For this reason, agricultural work has to be one of the worst possible jobs, which explains why a lot of this work is done by Hispanic immigrants (both legal and illegal).

Of course I am aware that someone has to do this work, and also that more than half the people have IQs below 100 and aren’t qualified to do intellectual work, and wouldn’t enjoy such work anyway. I have nothing against blue collar workers, so long as they have middle-class values and not poor-people values.

Aww, is manual labour too much for his intellectual, white middle class status? Well, not very long ago that same middle class emerged from a background of manual labour, which has, in turn, been the practical reality to which mankind has been confined for most of its evolutionary history. Some things have changed, but a few basic facts remain:

• You will find yourself impotent and useless in situations which require manual labour if you’re unable or unwilling do it.
• Your physical (and mental) health depends on some form of exercise, where manual labour combines both practical productivity and physical training.
• The easiest way to combat depression is to plant a tree.
• Lack of physical, practical stimulation eventually leads to boredom.
• The more manual work you let other people do for you, the less control you have over your own life, which is a main factor leading to self-defeatism.
• You're not going to impress many women by leading an intellectual-nerdy lifestyle, effectively limiting your mating choices to pale academics from the Victorian age.

Pentti Linkola, Finnish ecophilosopher, argues that every child should learn how to clean a fish in such a way that only the big shiny bones are left over. I have argued the great importance of cooking your own food. Martin has demonstrated the value of old-school mowing. We're all saying the same thing: stop being a sensitive nerd and start getting your hands dirty already. Maybe, if you learn over time, you'll be able to match the labouring brilliance of the people before you who built the society in which you're spending your time whining.