Luddites

Has anyone ever called you a Luddite?

The pejorative term usually indicates someone who is burying their head in the sand with regard to new technology, refusing to adapt to obviously beneficial changes.

In the early 19th century, at the cusp of England's industrial revolution, this term had a different connotation. Amid the rising tide of steam and machinery reshaping society, a faction of textile workers – the original Luddites – rose to challenge this new order. These were not reactionary vandals, but skilled artisans. Their livelihoods, identities, and traditions were under threat due to an unregulated rush of technology into their industry.

Identifying themselves as followers of "Ned Ludd," a mythical figure reputed to have defiantly destroyed two stocking frames, these workers mounted a protest steeped in desperation and a sense of justice. They orchestrated clandestine raids on mills and factories, targeting machinery they viewed as instruments of deception, reducing the quality …