in praise of slowness

[May 19th, 2004] While In Praise of Slowness enjoys success in Britain, few Americans seem to be reading the book. Why? More than likely because they don't have time. The world, especially America, moves at an unhealthy velocity. Speed kills: motorists, leisure, home life, education, democracy and thought.

The age of the sound bite, a direct result of speed, is the perfect tool for the brand of fascism spouted by pundits like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and our appointed president, George Bush II. Carl Honoré's In Praise of Slowness recommends working less, having more sex, eating better, and giving our friends, families, and children time. This advice might easily be followed were it not for a few extremely powerful forces.

Corporate America robs more than half the American people of the time necessary to create a good life, for the sake of a few extra bucks. Realistically, however, it's a false economy. The true costs are severe: stress, obesity, high blood pressure, rage, depression, sleep deprivation (an approved form of torture, apparently), disturbed children, costly hospitalization and early death. Americans now work more than any other people in the industrialized world, though we produce less on an hourly basis than our 35-hour-per-work-week European cousins. Also, medical research has shown that a 60-hour-per-week worker is twice as likely to have a heart attack as a 40-hour-per-week worker.

In Praise of Slowness is not a perfect book. Honoré too often forces his thesis beyond credibility. Nevertheless, the reader is presented with a careful road map to a happier life. Killing ourselves to work at a high speed of inefficiency is insanity. Workers of America, slow down! All you have to lose are your heart attacks.