Evan Prodromou3d ago

Reminded of the Audre Lorde quote by @majorlinux: "For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house."

This is a weird quote because it doesn't really follow within the logic of the metaphor. Why wouldn't his tools work to dismantle his house? What's wrong with them?

Show threadEvan Prodromou3d ago
It'd make more sense if the person's profession was one that used vastly different tools than would be required by the dismantling process. "The printmaker's tools will never dismantle the printmaker's boat." "The stonemason's tools will never dismantle the stonemason's newsletter."
Show threadEvan Prodromou3d ago

But maybe there's something in here about a rich and dominant man that might make his tools inappropriate for house-dismantling.

Consider a man who owns an estate, maybe a farm or ranch. If everything there belongs to him, does that include all the tools, too?

On a big property, there'd have to be tools for demolition too, right? Sledgehammers and axes and explosives or whatever?

Maybe those don't count as his tools. Like, financially, sure, but they really belong to those who use them.

Show threadEvan Prodromou3d ago
So maybe the quote isn't talking about the tools of the whole enterprise, but the master's *personal* tools; the ones he keeps neatly in a workshop in his home. Maybe these tools would not dismantle a house. Why not, though?
Show threadEvan Prodromou3d ago
One reason might be that he only does hobbyist rich guy things with these tools. Like he builds ships in a bottle, or paints birdhouses to look like the heads of American presidents. If you tried to dismantle a house with the long tweezers he uses for setting up the rigging on little bottle sloops, well, they're just not going to do the job.
Show threadEvan Prodromou3d ago
Another reason might be that he doesn't buy tools to use them; he buys then to show off to his rich friends and selected underlings. So he might have a really high-end saw, but he's never bothered to take the factory edge off or sharpen it, so if you tried to use it to saw through a joist, it'd warp or just take ffe.
Show threadEvan Prodromou3d ago
He might also buy a lot of dumb tools that he doesn't need for anything, just because they look bad ass. He might have an awesome post holer, really big with oak handles and brushed steel with his initials in it. It's no good for tearing down a house though.
Show threadEvan Prodromou3d ago
But maybe the quote is about some kind of metaphysical incompatibility between the master's tools and the task of taking apart his house. Maybe the axe stops magically mid-stroke mere millimeters from the columns. Or maybe the tools themselves have a will of their own -- animated household objects like in a Disney film. "Nooooooooo," squeals the sledgehammer plaintively as you lift it. "That's my *owner's* house. I could never hurt his house! I wuuuuuvvvv him!!!"
Show threadEvan Prodromou3d ago
Or maybe it's just the nature of the game. After all, the white bishop can't capture the white queen in chess, no matter how well-positioned it is.
Show threadEvan Prodromou3d ago
That might be the key to it -- the Zen riddle at the heart of Lorde's quote. The master's tools can never dismantle the master's house because by the time we get to the house-dismantling stage, they're not his tools any more. He's dead or run off or in some really hazardous informal custody by this time and tool ownership can no longer be enforced. They're our tools, or maybe nobody's tools -- a mob's tools, the crowd's collective tools.
Show threadEvan Prodromou2d ago
Honestly, if you wanted to trick a mob, this quote would work really well. When that mob rolls up with all the liberated tools, ready to do some rapid dismantling, you could chuckle patronizingly. "Now, aren't those the *master's* tools? Well, you can't use *those* to dismantle *this* house. It's the master's house, himself! Those tools won't work for the task at hand -- everyone knows that!
Show threadEvan Prodromou2d ago
"Now, did you bring some other tools? Your own, or somebody else's? No? Well, sorry, everyone, but it seems like your time has been wasted here. There's just not going to be any dismantling tonight. Wait! I had an idea! Why don't you go try dismantling some *other* houses with the master's tools? That should work! Go home and try it on your own houses. See if that works."
Show threadEvan Prodromou
Another thing about this quote is that it sounds like something Jesus would say. But as far as I can tell, it really is an original image of Lorde's.
May 29 at 1:09pmWeb
Show threadMaj - 🇨🇦2d ago

@evan I started at the wrong end of your thread and was wondering which song it was from...

#lorde #lorde

Show threadBrooke Vibber 2d ago
@maj @evan rofl