Cousins who were best friends dead from carbon monoxide gas in Saskatchewan home

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I was at a party with my younger boyfriend, and I overheard him in another room talking loudly with his friends.

They were all bombed, guzzling beer and rating their girlfriends’ looks. I was listening for my guy to chime in. He finally said I was “a five without makeup, a 6 1/2 with it, but her great personality makes up for the rest.”

I can’t believe he would say that to other people, but he was drinking a lot — disgusting. I’m thinking of leaving him. What do you think?

— ‘Five Without Makeup,’ Osborne Village

The word “Luddite” carries a particular connotation. Typically, it’s a term of mockery hurled at a person deemed technophobic, perhaps simply too stupid to appreciate modern technology. But the Luddites were a real group of people with an important place in history. And it isn’t fair they’ve become synonymous with ignorance.

In 19th century Britain, technological advances in the textile industry reduced the amount of labour necessary in manufacturing. Unsurprisingly, this new tech was implemented to undercut labourers, reducing both jobs and wages, with zero social safety net in place to compensate the workers’ loss of livelihoods. The capitalist owners profited massively as they shunted workers aside.

Rather than accommodating these displaced labourers, the government passed legislation restricting workers’ ability to collectively bargain. People began to go hungry and the institutions of society met their rumbling bellies with indifference.

Then the riots started. With no other recourse, workers began to smash, loot and burn, all under the aegis of a mythical leader they named Ned Ludd, which is how they earned their moniker.