“Here, there was the continuous purring of a machine at work, the customers shovelled in, heaped in front of the displays and dazzled by the goods, before being hurled against the cash desks. And it was all organized and regulated with mechanical precision, a whole nation of women caught up in the power and logic of the turning cogs.” Aux Bonheur des Dames Zola
Welcome to Iron Scape, a nation of work, toil and endeavor. Housed in the shell of Shunt’s three story ‘Money’ machine, work your way to the top and prove your worth by becoming a master builder, to make Ibsen proud. Or challenge your position and apply for a promotion through interview, exam or medieval fight! But borrowing from Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, in order to survive in this world, profit must abound and all those playing within this sphere must make sure to be acting in a fashion that maximizes production and themselves for economic benefit.
MANIFESTO IRON SCAPE
Ask yourself, what has the Invisible Hand done for you today? In this great City of London, Financial Capital of the World, the Bankers unwittingly create warmth and compassion, devoting their lives to spreading the benevolence of The Invisible Hand to the farthest reaches of the world.
After all, as our intellectual benefactor, Mr. Smith tells us. “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.
We intend only our own gain, and we is in this, as in many other cases, led by The Invisible Hand to promote an end which was no part of our intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was not part of it. By pursuing our own interest we frequently promote that of the society more effectually than when we really intend to promote it.
I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good. It is an affectation, indeed, not very common among merchants, and very few words need be employed in dissuading them from it.”
But we have two hands; one the invisible, the other made of iron.
The iron hand is rather more noticeable. It will be made in to a fist to hammer industry in to shape. Can you hear the emanations? The tacacatac tacacatac of the train locomotive? The tang tang of the rivets being driven? The clang clang of the iron being worked in to swords and ploughshares?
Amen.
