In honor of May Day, bed time reading tonight was Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type. Farmer Brown is frustrated that his cows have learned to type on an old typewriter found in the barn and are making demands for more amenable working conditions. Namely, electric blankets to keep them warm at night. Capital, of course, finds this request ridiculous and denies it with demands for increased production. In solidarity, the chickens join the cow’s strike.
Ultimately, Capital concedes to the demands of Labor. Farmer Brown creates no value on his own: he merely collects and markets his employees production to those would need that product – milk and eggs – regardless of Farmer Brown’s intermediation. Through the Duck – who acts as a neutral third party – Farmer Brown offers the blankets in exchange for the typewriter and the cows agree.
As we dig deeper into the series, we learned as a family that the Duck instigates the primary action in each story. He is a troublemaker, who does not realize that there’s really only one or two things of value a duck might produce: charming paint-by-numbers canvases and the best french fries. That doesn’t stop the duck from typing is own demands for a diving board for his temporary residence – a pond. Even no leverage, Farmer Brown acquiesces.
Tomorrow night we’ll start The Origins of Totalitarianism.
