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Are you Eloi or Morlock?
While not completely descriptive (I would envision 3 classes with today's working conservative American between the two described), this old Sci-Fi tome provides some insight into the world of today IMO. Think of the eloi as the glitterati of today (celebs, actors, Libs, socialists living off transfer payments, etc.) and the Morlocks as everyone else (if there can only be two classes) --: Eloi and MorlocksIf you have not read H. G. Well's "The Time Machine" I highly recommend it as a science fiction masterpiece. The hero builds a machine that transports him hundreds of thousands of years into the future where he meets two different species of human beings, the eloi and the morlocks. The movie is as terrible as the book is excellent. The eloi evolved from the ruling class. They live in beautiful gardens and ruins amid fragrant flowers and tasty fruits. Their days are filled with fun. They have no understanding of the things that are provided for them and feel no need to understand. They are pretty but useless. The morlocks evolved from the working class. They live underground with the machines where it is dark and dangerous. They make things and provide them to the eloi whom they treat as food animals. They are ugly but productive. Allowing that the darkness and the cannibalism are plot devices I see this as a brilliant piece of extrapolation. As I look around I see two cultures with different values. Eloi and the morlocks walk among us today; you just have to look for them. Eloi live in the television world where appearance is everything. Their work is either interpersonal or artistic and rarely about making money. They believe in all types of magic. They don't understand what morlocks do. They regard machines, numbers, money, and weapons as evil and would like them to disappear so we could live like the happy chimpanzees. Eloi create our culture. Morlocks live in the concrete world where appearance is less important than productivity. Their work is with machines or numbers and is usually about making money. They rarely believe in magic. They don't understand how eloi survive without producing anything of substance. They regard machines, numbers, money, and weapons as sources of power and enjoyment that make us different from the unhappy chimpanzees. Morlocks create our material well being. Which are you???? 30 comments from 14 users
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posted by
ChicoEsquela
on Sep 11, 2008 at 07:58 AM
posted by
anglo1
on Sep 11, 2008 at 09:06 AM
Like this concept. Never thought the Time Machine that way. I did farm labor during my youth and early adult life. Worked for the KCFD for 30+ usually had a part time job, started a couple of businesses and invested in residential real estate. [ I turned into my dad early ]. Now I'm living the life I saved and worked for the last 40 years. Don't know where that puts me. posted by
AudreyB
on Sep 11, 2008 at 09:09 AM
posted by
CatherineBaker
on Sep 11, 2008 at 09:12 AM
posted by
randomfactor
on Sep 11, 2008 at 09:14 AM
posted by
ChicoEsquela
on Sep 11, 2008 at 10:02 AM
I would like to see a remake (book was great -- movie worse than bad) TOM SELLECK = TIME TRAVELER ALEC BALDWIN = HEAD OF ELOI JON VOIGHT = HEAD OF MORLOCKS MATT DAMON = ALEC'S ASST MADONNA = ALEC'S SQUEEZE (YVETTE MIMIUEX CHARACTER?) MICHAEL MOORE = OUT OF CHARACTER ELOI (FUGLY) DNC = ELOI ILLUMINATTI RNC = MORLOCK HIERARCHY
posted by
ChicoEsquela
on Sep 11, 2008 at 10:08 AM
NO FAIR RF! YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE ---- ELOI OR MORLOCK THATS THE POINT AND CB -- FTE MORLOCK OR ELOI! ROTFLMAO! (FTE = FULL TIME EQUIVALENT)) posted by
AudreyB
on Sep 11, 2008 at 10:08 AM
God! Chico. Those people could play the Elois and Morlocks in real time, they're so old! I say Brenden Frasier as Alexander Angelina Jolie as his main squueze "Herbie" the volkswagon as the time machine Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry (oops wrong show) Roseanne Barr as the Morlock Paris Hilton as the Eloi girl Sundry Hollywood hunks and blonds and the rest of the cast. posted by
tonyh
on Sep 11, 2008 at 10:18 AM
Morlock.....................Definitely. posted by
CatherineBaker
on Sep 11, 2008 at 10:24 AM
Chico--all of my jobs (except for stay-at-home mom) have been either numbers-related or desk jobs. My first job was when I was 16 (at a movie theater) and I've been working ever since. I've never had credit problems and I've always stayed within my budget. I'm not a clothes-horse and I don't follow trends. I also don't believe in magic (religion.) In those ways I'm like a Morlock. Some of my favorite hobbies and past-times are creative (reading, writing, music) and I like to follow what the stars are doing in the tabloids. In those ways I'm like an Eloi. More than anything, I have always done whatever the hell I wanted whether it was cool or uncool, approved by society or unapproved, and whether it fit anyone's preconceived ideas about my personality. That's why I think being either of those categories ALL the time would be a drag. Life's too rich and varied to limit yourself. posted by
ghostriter
on Sep 11, 2008 at 10:31 AM
posted by
ChicoEsquela
on Sep 11, 2008 at 10:43 AM
posted by
ChicaEsquela
on Sep 11, 2008 at 10:49 AM
Very appropriate that the conservatives here would choose morlocks. I like this description: said to be better suited to their subterranean habitat. They are described as "almost antlike", because they slink about silently during the night to catch their prey. Morlocks wear no clothing but are covered with fur. Yup bottom dwelling insects perfect analogy chico! Btw, you are the third one from the right, correct? posted by
TomW
on Sep 11, 2008 at 11:11 AM
Definately a morlock. Spent more time in the belly of buildings than most. Chico, I'm surprised you'd consider yourself a morlock. Didn't you spend most of your life traveling around the world supervising morlocks? posted by
ChicoEsquela
on Sep 11, 2008 at 11:17 AM
Not any more Tom. Haven't traveled in quite a while. Just a home boy nowdays. Glad I don't have to fly anymore BTW. I used to go American Airlines and had so many "banked" miles I felt like selling them! But that was in the days when it was first calss all the way -- KLM = Free Bottle of Jakc, Swissaire = Box of Chocolates, Air Edudor = Steak and Prawn with Dom Perignon, Air Malaysia = All I could eat satay sticks, etc........... posted by
CatherineBaker
on Sep 11, 2008 at 11:23 AM
posted by
ChicoEsquela
on Sep 11, 2008 at 12:58 PM
posted by
adampayne
on Sep 11, 2008 at 01:00 PM
Statistically there are about 285,000,000 Morlocks, and roughly 15,000,000 Eloi. What's for dinner, Cheeks? I'll take the Kerkorian flank with a side of Buffet and Pickens ribs. posted by
CatherineBaker
on Sep 11, 2008 at 01:01 PM
posted by
ChicoEsquela
on Sep 11, 2008 at 01:07 PM
posted by
Ray_Harwick
on Sep 11, 2008 at 01:20 PM
Chico, excellent subject to discuss. I'll add a blurp quickly them come back later. i think we all have Morlock in us to a great extent and a little Eloi when we have the luxury to do so, and I include Hollywood actors in this assessment. On a side note, the film may be the very first movie I ever saw. It come out in about 1960, when I was about 6 or 7 years old, and my brother and I walked to see it. We both NEVER forgot it. It was a super scary movie to our young minds and really thrilling, futuristic, harrowing stuff. posted by
Ray_Harwick
on Sep 11, 2008 at 02:02 PM
I have much agreement and some criticism to note on this topic. I'll be mixing it up so bear with me. First, there's a real irony to your point that the Eloy (which, by the way, is my gardener's first name, and is also the name of a small city in Arizona) live in the world of television (meaning, film and art) and you use film and art, not the dogma of conservatism, to explain the difference between working people and, apparently, do-nothings. So, to make the point that conservatism is a good idea, you say that actors are more like the Eloy: they don't actually do work. It would seem to me that film, indeed, is a kind of tool of society and Morlock's, by your standard, are tool users. This is a "this-does-not-compute" moment, here. You are USING art, to condemn ART. The Time Machine, both the book and the film, are the end products of ART, which you just said are associated with the do-nothing Eloy. What the film actually shows is that the Eloy live in a world in which ALL NEEDS are provided for and they have forgotten what it is like to have a need. They don't even know what it means to have conflicts or war, and they have no understanding of what it means to resist. In short, they have lost something that is important to real humans. But that is a Utopian representation that ART is able to show. The important thing we understand about conservatives is that they are REALISTIC people. The can be realistic and at the same moment, be enriched and rewarded by art. Art is one of the princlple means by which we pass on our shared values. Before there was mass literacy like we have today, painting was one of the chief means by which man passed on his values to the next generation. So, honestly, if a central value of being a conservative is that they are realistic, they also are VERY realistic in terms of understand that any ONE thing may have MANY explanations. That's why conservatives have a strong tendency to mistrust anyone who say "There is only one way, one truth." Let's take painting. A chemist might say that a painting is a mixture of oils. A practical person might say it is something you buy as an investment for the future. An artist might say it is a depiction of reality. A conservative would say, "They are ALL right." And that goes to the heart of what conservatives believe. It's the most realistic view of the world we have - that practically all situations we encounter have the quality of offering many different points of view AND many different choices and options. Conservatives don't limit. They ask questions. They are natural skeptics. The don't trust absolutes. If a politician say, "This is the ONLY solution" conservatives will knock the guy down with a hundred other solutions. So, while I most certainly think you are on the right track in principle, you are wandering far afield from what a conservative really thinks. I have some reading material for you if your interested. It will help you understand the entire scope of conservatism. Conservatism is definitely the implied topic, and I think you are making a good stab at it, but you have some study to undertake. posted by
ChicoEsquela
on Sep 11, 2008 at 04:08 PM
It is a contradiction isn't it HM? But in contradiction, there is beauty. I like movies, just not most of the actors in them (anymore) -- at least politically. Acting is a craft -- it renders no more (or less for that matter) acuity or acumen upon the practitioners thereof than a carpenter, baker, candlestick maker. But we seen to bestow upon them the gravitas to pass judgment upon others far beyond that of other professions. Its called celebrity. Hey I remember that guy from "XXXXXX" he must know what he is talking about. Sophistry. Pure and simple. To make the movie metaphor more apropos one could say the morlocks are more like the Islamic terrorists (in that they are a danger to the oblivious eloi) and the latter are more like Democrats. Now I really got yer knickers in a knot, huh? Come on now, laugh....... you can do it! BTW, I know Eloy, Riz........... nice place..... if you're a Gila Monster..... LOL! posted by
ChicoEsquela
on Sep 11, 2008 at 04:11 PM
And BTW & FTR, Bush is NOT a conservative! Neither is Johnny boy. (but Barry is so far removed from it he couldn't spot it with a Leupold 6-24 with 60mm objective lens.) posted by
galvandr
on Sep 12, 2008 at 02:06 PM
Chico, Only a choice between two speices? Morlock; my daddy was a Morlock, his daddy was a Morlock and his daddy was a Morlock. However, an education in higher learning does tend to give one doubt.
posted by
Ray_Harwick
on Sep 12, 2008 at 02:29 PM
And BTW & FTR, Bush is NOT a conservative!Neither is Johnny boy. I owe you a cold one, Chico. There certainly was HOPE that Bush and McCain WOULD be conservative. John McCain showed symptoms of conservative thought but now he is unrecognizable. We don't know WHAT he believes any more. It makes my heart SICK. Bush and McCain invested their soul in the WRONG idiology. They DUMPED conservatism and adopted fundamentalist politics and for WHAT REASON? To WIN. Not to serve America. They are NOT working for America. Equal time here: Is Obama? Here's what I grant Obama. His greatest emphasis has been on the domestic problems we face. It's a little unnerving at this point because, TRUE, we don't really know if Obama has enough Bill Clinton in him to say NO to entitlement programs. He sounds like Bill Clinton in most ways and he most certainly is a Clintonite in terms of doing what makes sense for a politician - emulating/imitating the positions of a president who brought our country into spectacularly good economic shape. Clinton did not do that all alone. Newt Gingrich forced the issue and that make Bill Clinton a lot better president. When Bill Clinton said, "The day of big government is OVER" I just about fainted and then I worried if he would carry through. He did, in spite of being a habitual liar. I just cannot see John McCain focusing on the economy when he has spent most of his campaign rattling sabres. It makes me nervous. We DO need a strong defense, but we need it right here at home more than we do in Iraq or Georgia. posted by
Ray_Harwick
on Sep 12, 2008 at 02:36 PM
However, an education in higher learning does tend to give one doubt. Doubt is what conservatives excel at. It's one of the great assets of the conservative mind. We must ALL be skeptics when our economic future is being financed at a great big bank called China. posted by
Ray_Harwick
on Sep 12, 2008 at 02:52 PM
It is a contradiction isn't it HM?
But in contradiction, there is beauty. Film is a tool of capitalism. Those who are messengers of great power DESERVE their heightened celebrity. It's the fruits of their talent that we should never begrudge them, because it's their daily bread. Do we have to listen to their political views? We did with one actor, Ronald Reagan, and hey. He was pretty darn smart, don't you think? Suffice to say that regardless of what kind of work you do, you are entitled to it's rewards. Acting just happens to be one of the occupations (along with virtually ALL of popular culture) that has an added effect of celebrity. So does religion. Think Billy Graham, Pat Roberson, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell. Should they be taking advantage of their celebrity? I, personally HATE all of these religious figures EXCEPT Billy Graham, and I'd wish them off the campaign trail in a flash if I had magic powers. But being a realist, I grant them the right to use their celebrity in any way the want. I'm not required by the constitution to believe what they say. I make the exception about Graham because he, specifically, stayed the hell out of politics. The others did not and that is why the GOP is DEAD now. It's not the party of Abraham Lincoln any more. It' the party of the Pope, the fundamentalist Christian Right, and anyone else who wants to meddle into the personal liberties of Americans in the name of religious morality. We had enough of that with Prohibition. We need to be clear that our individual liberty is the MAIN reason we are conservatives. I don't see Obama policing our computers and bedrooms. With McCain, YES! It's a worriesome as they have in China where there are neighborhood snitches who report their neighbors for going against the "religion" of the state, whatever that happens to be at the time. Freedom is the highest goal of a conservative. We need to pick a president who upholds that principle. McCain AIN'T going to. He's sold out to the religious right. posted by
dcs217
on Sep 12, 2008 at 03:32 PM
"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" Recognize that? But I'm a boring old Morlock, trudging across the tundra. posted by
ALICEN
on Oct 7, 2008 at 07:46 AM
Chico: Sorry I haven't read this before now. I have to (sort of) agree with CB on this. I can't say for sure I'm either one. But maybe the question is moot inasmuch as I'm just a woman.
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