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Questions From a Worker Who Reads - from an iPad

by talos Mon Oct 10th, 2011 at 09:11:03 AM EST



Questions From a Worker Who Reads, Bertold Brecht, 1935

Who built Thebes of the seven gates?
In the books you will find the names of kings.
Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?
And Babylon, many times demolished
Who raised it up so many times? In what houses
of gold-glittering Lima did the builders live?
Where, the evening that the Wall of China was finished
Did the masons go? Great Rome
Is full of triumphal arches. Who erected them? Over whom
Did the Caesars triumph? Had Byzantium, much praised in song
Only palaces for its inhabitants? Even in fabled Atlantis
The night the ocean engulfed it
The drowning still bawled for their slaves.

The young Alexander conquered India.
Was he alone?
Caesar beat the Gauls.
Did he not have even a cook with him?

Philip of Spain wept when his armada
Went down. Was he the only one to weep?
Frederick the Second won the Seven Year's War. Who
Else won it?

Every page a victory.
Who cooked the feast for the victors?
Every ten years a great man?
Who paid the bill?

So many reports.
So many questions.

front-paged by afew


[General idea first posted in Greek in Ιστολόγιον, more links added in this English version - cross-posted at Histologion]

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Bertold Brecht would be proud of this version. Though i'd bet he'd have written on Apple too.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
by Crazy Horse on Sat Oct 8th, 2011 at 02:30:27 PM EST
Money isn't a primary motivation for engineers.  Which is why we are easily ripped-off.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Sat Oct 8th, 2011 at 02:42:26 PM EST
same as with musicians, and they get ripped off for precisely the same reasons

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sat Oct 8th, 2011 at 07:13:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Pity the poor recording engineer.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sat Oct 8th, 2011 at 08:44:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
he gets the rock'n roll lifestyle and hangers on without the need to learn to play a guitar.

I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing :)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sat Oct 8th, 2011 at 08:48:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
But, unless he also becomes a record producer, he usually also gets ripped off. Even the union engineers that worked for Disney couldn't afford dental work.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sat Oct 8th, 2011 at 11:21:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Ha, ha. The 99%. They should have chosen to be rich.
by asdf on Sun Oct 9th, 2011 at 04:37:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That must be why factory workers are not ripped off.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Oct 10th, 2011 at 08:40:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The Chinese electronics assembler with the thousand mile stare is an eloquent statement by itself.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sat Oct 8th, 2011 at 06:16:00 PM EST
Would the stare of the electronics assembler be any different if she was anywhere else? The stare is a result of the work, I think, no matter what system or conditions she is working under or in. Assembly is mind numbing.
by Magnifico on Mon Oct 10th, 2011 at 01:09:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]


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