Wendell Berry\u2019s Citizenship Papers<\/em> piles up repetition of ideas, and it\u2019s starting to wear on me. His ideals are noble: agrarianism. But, I must admit that the essays are repetitive, and before I long I will be asking someone else to join us at the table on Fridays. Our next book will be M. Volf, The End of Memory<\/em>. But, Berry\u2019s chapter \u201cThe Prejudice against Country People\u201d struck me. Wendell Berry\u2019s Citizenship Papers piles up repetition of ideas, and it\u2019s starting to wear on me. His ideals are noble: agrarianism. But, I must admit that the essays are repetitive, and before I long I will be asking someone else to join us at the table on Fridays. Our next book will be M. Volf, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[476],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nI wouldn\u2019t go so far as to suggest that Berry here appeals to political correctness in how we speak of and think about farmers, but he\u2019s got a real point: the stereotype of farmers is demeaning.
\nBerry says that the world\u2019s farmers and other \u201cprovinicial\u201d people \u201chave about the same status now as enemy civilians in wartime\u201d (109) and there is an \u201ceconomic suicide\u201d underway. Most of us don\u2019t know enough farmers to experience this. I grew up among farmers and do know that there are some major, major changes that threaten their livelihood. Many have been crushed by the incorporation of farming.
\nEven the sentimental stereotype is demeaning. They are involved in the \u201cidyllic life\u201d or as \u201csalt of the earth\u201d or the \u201cindependent son of the soil\u201d or a \u201cchild of nature.\u201d This leads them to being seen as rustic simpletons or uncouth rednecks. He suggests some of this comes from manual labor being perceived as bad and unworthy of the educated.
\nI remember when we had a new roof put on our home. The man we employed, a white man, along with ten or so Mexicans, showed up about 8am and by 2pm were gone \u2014 and the job was done. He told me that young American boys were unreliable. It made me wonder what will happen to \u201cmanual labor\u201d jobs in the next generation \u2014 have desk jobs and technology jobs and the like completely replaced the agrarian and manual life for many?
\nWho will be our mechanics? our custodians? our furniture makers? (I could go on.)
\nHas a stereotype of the manual work life, the agrarian life, been established so deep into our minds that we are preparing the last generation that will have any connection to the soil? Is there something wrong with farming, landscaping, building furniture, etc?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"