Ah, Luddite: such a useful phrase, so divorced from its origins. Writing the previous piece I found myself using Luddite again with only a sketchy knowledge of its real meaning. Part of me sensed that the anti-technological or technophobia aspect did not completely sit with memories of mill wrecking. Mill wrecking strikes me as an attack against capital rather than strictly technology – as this rallying call suggests.
The guilty may fear, but no vengeance he aims
At the honest man’s life or Estate
His wrath is entirely confined to wide frames
And to those that old prices abate
So: Neil Ludd (did he really exist) aka King Ludd and his Ites:
And as a bonus Thomas Pynchon on why it might be OK to be a Luddite. Interesting because it was written in 1984, in anticipation of some sort of anti-computer Luddism.