What is the main idea of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair?

The main theme of The Jungle is the evil of capitalism. Every event, especially in the first twenty-seven chapters of the book, is chosen deliberately to portray a particular failure of capitalism, which is, in Sinclair's view, inhuman, destructive, unjust, brutal, and violent.

 

 

In 1935 Upton Sinclair said, without claiming originality

“It’s hard to make a man see something when his job depends on his not seeing it.”

"It's hard to make a man see the truth when his job depends on not seeing it."

“It’s Hard to get a Man to See the Truth About Something if His Job Depends on Not Seeing it.”

 

From:  http://www.themoneyillusion.com/?p=13919  

 

[As Upton Sinclair, American novelist and social reformer said,
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. ]

[As Upton Sinclair might have said, "It is difficult to get a Government Official to understand something when their salary depends upon not understanding it".  –FNC]

[Again, as Upton Sinclair might have said, "It is difficult to get a Big Science Scientist to understand something when their salary depends upon their not understanding it".  –FNC]

[Yet again, as Upton Sinclair might have said, "It is difficult to get a Big Science Scientist to understand something when their Corporation's profit depends upon their not understanding it".  –FNC]

[As Upton Sinclair might have said, "It is difficult to get any real scientists who know WTF they are talking about to fully understand and offer up pro bono publico a full balanced risk assessment of modRNA vaccines when their salary depends upon their not understanding how to do that".––––FNC] 

 

1.   
Gravatar of happyjuggler0happyjuggler0
14. April 2012 at 14:59 

According to wikiquote it was from Upton Sinclair:

I used to say to our audiences: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”

I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked (1935), ISBN 0-520-08198-6; repr. University of California Press, 1994, p. 109.

I tried checking it out from the googlebooks preview, but it didn’t cover that page. However whenever someone comes up with a citation that precise, I am inclined to believe it!

2.    Gravatar of happyjuggler0happyjuggler0
14. April 2012 at 15:02 

Of course it may be that Upton Sinclair didn’t originate that quote, and was just using it….

3.    Gravatar of Peter NPeter N
14. April 2012 at 21:49 

I’ve so far found attributions of the quote to Upton Sinclair (In 1935 He said he used to say it, not claiming it to be original. There’s also reference to a 1908 book I haven’t been able to check), Sinclair Lewis (maybe a Sinclair confusion, but they were friends at one point), Mark Twain, H. L Mencken, Brianna… I guess Sinclair is ahead on points so far.

Here are a few more selected to be of use to an economist when giving a talk. In researching this, I found a few treasure troves with thousands (literally) of quotes on politics, ethics, economics, the law and human frailty in general – very little junk, like:

1.    http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/HomePage/aphorisms.htm and

2.       http://allisonlegal.com/quotes/quotes.htm

For every complex problem there is a simple solution. And it’s always wrong.
– H.L. Mencken

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”
– Winston Churchill

It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.
– Jonathan Swift

“If we torture data long enough, it will confess
????

“The trouble with quotes on the Internet is you never know if they are genuine.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force.
Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”
George Washington

It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.
— attributed to Mark Twain, Yogi Berra, Niels Bohr and Sam Goldwyn among others. Probably said by . Danish cartoonist Robert Storm Petersen and popularized by Bohr

The art of prophecy is very difficult — especially with respect to the future.
— Mark Twain, (1835-1910) but with no citation

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
–Albert Einstein, (1879-1955)

In science it often happens that scientists say, “You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,” and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
–Carl Sagan, (1934-1996)

Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.
–Amschel Mayer Rothschild, (1743-1812)

The great tragedy of science–the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.
–Thomas Huxley, (1825-1895)

There is no greater mistake than the hasty conclusion that opinions are worthless because they are badly argued.
–Thomas Huxley, biologist and writer (1825-1895)

“I sincerely believe . . . that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1816

The difference between genius and stupidity is; genius has its limits.
–Albert Einstein

If the rich could hire someone else to die for them, the poor would make a wonderful living.
Old Jewish proverb

More than any other time in history, mankind now faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
–Woody Allen

4.    Gravatar of ssumnerssumner
15. April 2012 at 09:13 

Everyone, Thanks for those quotations.