"luddite and proud" im sure they didnt mean this but the luddites originally came about to protest textile machines, which made carpet faster and cheaper than a human, at a fraction of the quality. this is all pretty similar to the modern response to ai, which is that just because it's faster and cheaper doesn't mean it's better and worth replacing humans!
the luddites were also fighting because the only ones who could actually afford the machines were wealthy industrialists. they would have loved to have machines to make their lives easier. but those machines were expensive and required a lot of energy to run. and as they were losing their livelihoods their options became limited to working for the rich industrialists for a fraction of what they would regularly make without any control over what they produce, how much they produce, when they produce it, how many hours a day they work to produce it, etc.
basically, it was a fight between working class skilled labourers and early leaching capitalist industrialists and was one of the first pushbacks against what would eventually be called capitalism.
obviously and unfortunately, the luddites lost. and that's why mainstream history looks at luddites like they were a bunch of backwards low intelligence people afraid of technology. they weren't that at all! they were fighting for survival against the rising capitalist industrial revolution that enclosed and displaced people from their land forcing them to move to dirty overcrowded cities to work long hours in dirty dangerous factories for low pay and without any semblance of labour rights, and ya, capitalists just up and stole their way of life for the same reason we are in the shit position we are today: profit line must go up!
podcast recommendation: cool people who did cool stuff, the episodes about the luddites. don't remember exactly what the episodes were called but some combination of those words in your search should bring them up. cuz turns out they were pretty cool.
once you understand what the luddites were actually about and learn more about the battle they fought, you understand that “luddite” isn't an insult at all. it's actually the sensible and sane reaction to our current situation.
