The Black Death, the great equalizer

[Bloofer_Lady]

I'm watching a program about the Black Death on the History Channel, and one of the outcomes of it was that the wealth of Europe was more spread out among the people after it occurred. Instead of just a small percentage of people having the wealth, more people became middle class and prospered. Many of the super rich died and their land was left fallow, so survivors would come along and take over the land and farm it for themselves.

Is it going to take a disaster such as this to change things in this country?

[patrice]

1. wow.

[roguevalley]

21. it ended feudalism until this century. :)

[Withywindle]

2. well, if the anti-vaccine crowd got their way

it could happen again literally.

[jp11]

3. I'm sure our rich have heirs or those they've awarded their fiefdoms to so as to keep us riff raff

from enjoying their demise as mentioned in their wills. At the very least other rich SOB's would swoop in to snatch up the land/property at prices none of us could afford.

[Bloofer_Lady]

5. Actually, no heirs were found alive back then.

Since over 50% of the population died a lot of the time there were no heirs. I also don't think that money would matter as much in such a situation. I think food any such things would be more important since there wouldn't be as many people tending to the land to grow crops to feed the people that are left.

[RKP5637]

4. If you follow the conspiracy theorists some say something akin to

this will be orchestrated by the wealth/power brokers of the world against the masses.

[Bloofer_Lady]

6. I'm just morbid as hell.

Scientists pretty much say that we are past due when it comes to a deadly contagious disease taking out a good chunk of the population.

[RKP5637]

16. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. It crosses my mind and I also really

wonder how well the US is really prepared or would react. I'm concerned some lab experiment or whatever will go haywire someplace and release whatever that migrates across the earth. I don't think it's really too far-fetched to have that cross ones mind from time to time. And it seems to me just a mutated virus or whatever could occur. It's happened before and IMO could again.

[tblue37]

17. On one of my websites I have an article about the Black Death--and the risk we run of

another pandemic because the agencies that watch for antibiotic resistant strains are so badly underfunded:

"Bubonic Plague: Yesterday's Scourge--and Tomorrow's?"
http://salvoblue.homestead.com/plague.html

[Bloofer_Lady]

18. Antibiotics are so overused.

There is a very virulent form of TB out there that is resistant to antibiotics now. If that spreads we are pretty much screwed.

[hobbit709]

22. If it's a virus, antibiotics are totally useless.

[OHdem10]

7. I am watching the same program. It really makes you think, does

it not???

Let us hope we do not have to endure such circumstances.

[Bloofer_Lady]

9. It really does.

It makes you realize how fragile our civilization really is.

[Confusious]

8. Since there were fewer people, labor prices shot up

That's what gave everyone money.

[Bloofer_Lady]

10. Yep, because they needed people to harvest crops,etc...

People could demand a wage that enabled them to get out of serfdom.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. Yes, a lot of wealthy died from the Black Death, but a disproportionate

number of poor died. The wealthy were not living in such close quarters, and had more opportunity to get out of infected areas. I have a feeling that this is the same situation we would have today.

[Bloofer_Lady]

12. They did, but they still died just like everybody else.

Since they didn't understand how it spread a lot of them still died. They didn't understand such things as burning the clothes of the dead,etc... There was a village in England (can't remember the name) that isolated itself during the plague, and even though they took precautions many still died.

[Curmudgeoness]

14. The book Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks tells that story.

I recommend that book.

[kestrel91316]

23. That's one of my very favorite reads!

[Mark Baker]

25. They isolated themselves to keep the infection _in_

to protect neighbouring villages. So it's not surprising a high proportion of them died.

The village was Eyam, in Derbyshire.

[izquierdista]

13. If that's the case.....

I better take this cage of rats over to the rich part of town.....

[FirstLight]

19. *snort*

...:spray: almost spilt mah beer!

side note...we have squirrels and chipmunks all over the forest up here that carry plague, no outbreaks yet! thank goodness

i think MRSA, TB etc will be more of a threat...but then again, pollution, crop failure, etc are also contenders for doing us in

[AnArmyVeteran]

15. Read "No Blade of Grass" - it was a great equalizer.

If a disease or virus could ever be created that would attack only the greedy can you imagine how much our world would change for the better?

[burnsei sensei]

20. The Black Death also created a

scarcity of workers, and thus a more favorable climate for negotiations between the remaining laborers and lords.
The European economy gained, for a short while, a laborer's market.

[Meldread]

24. Please tell me that you're not actually hoping for such an event...

Please tell me that you're not actively hoping for such an event that would ensure the death of millions - if not billions - of people.

[a la izquierda]

26. My ancestors were from Sicily...

on one side of my family. I often think about the odds of their survival, and how, if they'd been claimed by the plague, it would have had a butterfuly effect.
That'll really get you thinking in the middle of the night.

[a la izquierda]

27. Delete-Dupe...stupid computer