• KevonLooney@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    6 months ago

    “The Jungle” famously spurred large reforms. The FDA exists and has a lot of power because people were disgusted by what they read.

    That’s why you’re reading a hundred-year-old book: it was influential.

    • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      it was influential.

      But only on one topic. Yes the FDA was created in large part from outrage over food condtions described in the book. But that really is only one chapter of the text, the majority of it deals with the exploration of workers in ALL sorts of industries (not just food), how preadatory home loans lead to finical ruins, how voting systems are rigged and how our policing system only produces more experienced criminals, not reform.

      The last 2-3 chapters are explicitly socialist talking points that are still being said, for good reason, today. If the book was as influential as Sinclair wanted it to be, then we would’ve seen FAR FAR FAR more than the FDA.

      I mean, heck, reread the passage I copied in. It’s not really about food.

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        6 months ago

        The last 2-3 chapters are explicitly socialist talking points

        My high school English class (in the Deep South) explicitly left those chapters out of our study of The Jungle lol.

      • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        14
        ·
        6 months ago

        So you’re intentionally exaggerating when you say “nothing has changed”. Yeah nothing has changed, except an entire Executive Branch department that didn’t exist before. It was more influential than many other books written at the time.

        Of course the author wanted the book to be even more influential, that’s why authors write. No writer says “this book kinda sucks, I hope people read half of it and put it down”.

        • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          15
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          6 months ago

          intentionally exaggerating

          🙄🙄🙄

          You can “uh actually” my phrasing if you really want to, but playing tone police is to miss my actual point how these are long standing and well known problem that Sinclair spoke about extensively.

          If you don’t have anything meaningful to contribute to the conversation, it’s okay to just keep scrolling.

          • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            11
            ·
            6 months ago

            😂

            Tone police? That’s rich, coming from the comment police. Besides, you said it twice:

            Nothing has changed, it was obvious what was happening long ago, but we’ve done nothing but watch it get worse.

            Do you think no one can provide context for your comments? Everyone has to agree with you 100%?