Idleness

"Work is of two kinds: first altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second telling other people to do so." I found this the most hilarious yet most true statement of our human civilization. Bertrand Russells passage was very humorous but strangely in touch with reality. I found his example about the pin production industry very well thought of and optimistic however I dont think the worlds leaders would try such an optimistic approach of making people work four hours a day. I found it almost Marxist in the way certain phrases were worded such as "morality of work is the morality of slaves" and in regards to moving matter "The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid". What I particularly liked was idea of how the rich are not seen as idles (double meaning) as they rely on exploitation of people beneath them in order for their idleness. As a matter of opinion i do not agree that people shouldn't save i think it would only be eligible not to save finance in the ideal world that Bertrand Russell speaks of but in the world we live in now where anything is possible and everything we buy feeds the fat capitalist cats manipulating our society then saving becomes a means of mental security in the least. I do agree with Bertrand Russell on the issue of working to hard. I think it would make Aristotle turn in his grave knowing that people can often fall in love with the means and forget about the ends, meaning people work so hard all their lives trying conflict poverty or compete on income and chasing pay packets then actually realise that they have enough money to relax and now what they are chasing is on the foundations of greed. Heres a really funny music video on idleness and when it goes terribly wrong http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XaNuB52_Irc