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The Militant Miners Who Exposed the Horrors of Black Lung

100 points by HBlix 8y ago

ainiriand 8y ago
Very good article. My grandpa died from black lung as well. I never met him and that really sucks. Work safety is not something given, it is almost always taken by the workers themselves.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  That's what people forget when environmental and workplace regulations get marked as "burdensome"band something to be removed. There is a long history of employers ignoring harmful conditions although the problem is well known. Profit is more attractive than saving workers' health.
- brogrammer5 8y ago
  My grandpa did as well. He was a WW1 veteran and came back and was a farmer and miner. I never met him as he died when my dad was still young.
beezlebubba 8y ago
My grandfather left the mines in 1958, died of black lung in 1978. An insidious, nasty disease.
lazysheepherd 8y ago
Words of Margaret Mead comes to mind, once again; "Never ever depend on governments or institutions to solve any major problems. All social change comes from the passion of individuals."
- arethuza 8y ago
  Sometimes though those passionate people can make it into government and genuinely make a difference e.g. Aneurin Bevan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneurin_Bevan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneurin_Bevan
  - alexpotato 8y ago
    Colin Powell has a great quote that lines up with this (paraphrased): "I see lots of great people in the middle ranks of the military who have great ideas that challenge the status quo. The problem is that they express too early and that limits their career. They should instead play the game, climb the ladder and then implement those ideas once they've reached a higher position." I think about that every time I see an entrenched idea or process that isn't working. It helps me fight the urge to address it immediately and aids in making me more patient to get to the point where I can actually change things.
    - maxxxxx 8y ago
      Only a few people have the capacity to do this. It also didn't work out for Powell since at the end of his career he became a tool to spread false propaganda for the Iraq war. Maybe he should have stood up earlier.
    - anigbrowl 8y ago
      That's a great point, but I'd like to second the other poster's point that individuals can fall victim to institutional capture as much as the institutions themselves. Perhaps Colin Powell would have made an outstanding secretary of Defense but his tenure as secretary of State made poor use of all that military ladder-climbing experience, and in my view few benefits accrued to either the military or the diplomatic spheres.
      - alexpotato 8y ago
        There was a quote from a documentary where they claimed that they picked Powell to deliver the theory about WMD specifically because his approval ratings were so high. Apparently, Powell didn't want to do it and Dick Cheney (or maybe Rumsfeld) said to him "Why? Worried you will look bad? Given your approval rating you can afford to lose a couple points."
YeGoblynQueenne 8y ago
>> From past experience, miners knew that neither the companies nor the state and federal legislatures they controlled through hefty donations would ever voluntarily agree to regulations to protect the health of workers. Yeah, I don't get this. This kind of behaviour is lauded as good business sense (though certainly not in the open!) but all it is, is short-term, and dumb as bricks. You don't want to kill your workers. If you do, soon there will be no workers to mine your coal, or man your rigs or whatever you need them for. The ones that work for you now will die out and the new batch will see the death rate and go do something else, flip burgers or fix cars or whatever. Not to mention, you'll get the worse publicity possible, as an industry, that of uncaring, selfish assholes who kill your own workers. And then the suits will start coming in- and there goes your margin, that you supposedly secured by being an utter bastard (or, in any case, an organisation full of them). People find a way to saw the branch they sit on 0.5% more efficiently than ever before and feel so smug and smart about it.
- dwyerm 8y ago
  I want to agree with you, but I'm maybe too cynical about this. My dad was murdered with asbestos, and today people are taking paychecks doing work that could net them a miserable end with an untreatable cancer. "All I have to do is scrape these ceilings, and I'll get $20/hr? Okay!" Meanwhile, W.R. Grace still exists and is trading within a few dollars of their 52-week high. The tobacco industry still exists, despite their decades of lies. BATS is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index! Killing your workers and the public is apparently not enough of an disincentive. Forget 'past experience'; current experience suggests there's some wrists that need more than another slap.
  - Aloha 8y ago
    Asbestos can be handled safely - the issue was in the past it was not. Not even close to safely. The various Asbestos companies also paid dearly for their mistakes and omissions in the safety of it. Asbestos is a material that for some applications, its very literally the only material which is suitable.
- r0p3 8y ago
yread 8y ago
For once an article about miners that doesn't mention crypto!

100 points by HBlix 8y ago

Very good article. My grandpa died from black lung as well. I never met him and that really sucks. Work safety is not something given, it is almost always taken by the workers themselves.

maxxxxx 8y ago
That's what people forget when environmental and workplace regulations get marked as "burdensome"band something to be removed. There is a long history of employers ignoring harmful conditions although the problem is well known. Profit is more attractive than saving workers' health.
brogrammer5 8y ago
My grandpa did as well. He was a WW1 veteran and came back and was a farmer and miner. I never met him as he died when my dad was still young.

beezlebubba 8y ago

My grandfather left the mines in 1958, died of black lung in 1978. An insidious, nasty disease.

lazysheepherd 8y ago

Words of Margaret Mead comes to mind, once again; "Never ever depend on governments or institutions to solve any major problems. All social change comes from the passion of individuals."

arethuza 8y ago
Sometimes though those passionate people can make it into government and genuinely make a difference e.g. Aneurin Bevan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneurin_Bevan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneurin_Bevan
- alexpotato 8y ago
  Colin Powell has a great quote that lines up with this (paraphrased): "I see lots of great people in the middle ranks of the military who have great ideas that challenge the status quo. The problem is that they express too early and that limits their career. They should instead play the game, climb the ladder and then implement those ideas once they've reached a higher position." I think about that every time I see an entrenched idea or process that isn't working. It helps me fight the urge to address it immediately and aids in making me more patient to get to the point where I can actually change things.
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    Only a few people have the capacity to do this. It also didn't work out for Powell since at the end of his career he became a tool to spread false propaganda for the Iraq war. Maybe he should have stood up earlier.
  - anigbrowl 8y ago
    That's a great point, but I'd like to second the other poster's point that individuals can fall victim to institutional capture as much as the institutions themselves. Perhaps Colin Powell would have made an outstanding secretary of Defense but his tenure as secretary of State made poor use of all that military ladder-climbing experience, and in my view few benefits accrued to either the military or the diplomatic spheres.
    - alexpotato 8y ago
      There was a quote from a documentary where they claimed that they picked Powell to deliver the theory about WMD specifically because his approval ratings were so high. Apparently, Powell didn't want to do it and Dick Cheney (or maybe Rumsfeld) said to him "Why? Worried you will look bad? Given your approval rating you can afford to lose a couple points."

YeGoblynQueenne 8y ago

>> From past experience, miners knew that neither the companies nor the state and federal legislatures they controlled through hefty donations would ever voluntarily agree to regulations to protect the health of workers. Yeah, I don't get this. This kind of behaviour is lauded as good business sense (though certainly not in the open!) but all it is, is short-term, and dumb as bricks. You don't want to kill your workers. If you do, soon there will be no workers to mine your coal, or man your rigs or whatever you need them for. The ones that work for you now will die out and the new batch will see the death rate and go do something else, flip burgers or fix cars or whatever. Not to mention, you'll get the worse publicity possible, as an industry, that of uncaring, selfish assholes who kill your own workers. And then the suits will start coming in- and there goes your margin, that you supposedly secured by being an utter bastard (or, in any case, an organisation full of them). People find a way to saw the branch they sit on 0.5% more efficiently than ever before and feel so smug and smart about it.

dwyerm 8y ago
I want to agree with you, but I'm maybe too cynical about this. My dad was murdered with asbestos, and today people are taking paychecks doing work that could net them a miserable end with an untreatable cancer. "All I have to do is scrape these ceilings, and I'll get $20/hr? Okay!" Meanwhile, W.R. Grace still exists and is trading within a few dollars of their 52-week high. The tobacco industry still exists, despite their decades of lies. BATS is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index! Killing your workers and the public is apparently not enough of an disincentive. Forget 'past experience'; current experience suggests there's some wrists that need more than another slap.
- Aloha 8y ago
  Asbestos can be handled safely - the issue was in the past it was not. Not even close to safely. The various Asbestos companies also paid dearly for their mistakes and omissions in the safety of it. Asbestos is a material that for some applications, its very literally the only material which is suitable.
r0p3 8y ago

yread 8y ago

For once an article about miners that doesn't mention crypto!