Comments on: The Ruins of Fordlândia

By: JarvisLoop

JarvisLoop — Sat, 20 Jul 2019 12:20:44 +0000

And Fitzgerald is still right.

By: JarvisLoop

JarvisLoop — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 02:29:35 +0000

As F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different.”

By: rodeogirl

rodeogirl — Sun, 17 Jul 2016 13:21:15 +0000

The Rubber Industry has such a terrible history of abuse against native peoples. Was Ford’s experiment truly the Utopia we see it as? I think we need to cast ourselves as those people being asked to work and live the American way, and imagine how we would feel if Chinese, German or Russian overlords tried to impose their brand of lifestyle upon us. It’s true all successful businessmen know failure–and Thomas Edison had many people working at his New Jersey workshop who dealt with all sorts of dud tries at coming up with the light bulb–not only that, but in the end Westinghouse & Tesla greatly influenced America’s brand of electricity–which now today is seen as less useful than Edison’s as we now see the ingenuity of long-lasting batteries.
The true tragedy I see is the comments from xenophobics who think a Karaoke Bar is some kind of insurrection against the American Way of Life–sure, that and smartphones!
Read Jack Weatherford’s Native Roots and really understand where you live and what the American Way of Life is all about!

By: Vesparado

Vesparado — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 04:18:43 +0000

If you enjoyed this you will likely enjoy a book called “Seeing Like a State”, which chronicles a number of similar projects around the world, including early communist Russian state farms (the largest of which was designed by engineers in a motel room outside Detroit). From a broader perspective, the lesson isn’t “obscene wealth gives one the privilege— perhaps even the obligation— to make bizarre and astonishing mistakes on a grand scale.” (although wealth can do this). It is, rather, that the villain is power (most often State power) and the conviction that one knows more than the “backward” natives.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Thu, 14 May 2015 01:40:01 +0000

Who owns fordlandia now and how can I buy it?

By: Lynora

Lynora — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 04:00:45 +0000

Henry Ford did one thing and did that well, maybe not right by today’s standards. He ran a very paternalistic company that would not be well accepted today, altho many want their employer to take care of them they don’t want to be responsible to any rules set by the employer to limit their choices. That said, he may have done well if he hadn’t been swindled into buying the lame portion of the land. It would be computer companies providing their own software. Apple anyone?

By: Bill Wilson

Bill Wilson — Wed, 28 May 2014 03:10:09 +0000

frenchsnake said: “I wonder what Ford’s reasoning was for not hiring any botanists. We always learn about him being such a brilliant businessman.

Henry Ford grew up on a farm in Michigan so had some knowledge of agriculture. Michigan was denuded of it’s forests by then and many property owners replanted using pine sprigs that were set close together in rows. The strongest sprigs grew the fastest and choked out the weaker ones which died or were cut down. Ford probably figured that would be the most economical way to create a rubber plantation with strong healthy trees native to Brazil.

By: American Geographical Society Library

American Geographical Society Library — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 18:00:50 +0000

Some interesting maps of the area …

http://www.flickr.com/photos/agslibrary/sets/72157642502101443/

By: OKBoomer

OKBoomer — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:46:05 +0000

“Brazil seemed the ideal choice considering that the trees in question were native to the region, and the rubber harvest could be shipped to the tire factories in the US by land rather than by sea.”

This makes no sense, for three reasons. 1. There is no route by land between the US and Brazil (or South America; the highway stops in Panama) 2. There were no major highways in the part of Brazil where Fordlandia was built. 3. Even in the US it is less expensive to ship by water than by land. Avoiding the need to ship the rubber by sea could not have been one of the motives for establishing Fordlandia.

By: JohnMayer

JohnMayer — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 06:53:05 +0000

@Misfit7707
I can’t imagine why the entrepreneur you describe worked so hard to bring wasabi to the states when most Americans wouldn’t know wasabi if it bit them. I was happy that a Chinese restaurant opened near me, till I discovered I could eat their bland wasabi by the spoonful. Real wasabi has yet to gain a foothold here.

http://www.realwasabi.com/News/index.asp