Origins of “at either end of the social spectrum there lies a leisure class”

July 20, 2022 by Jerry Roberts, posted in UNCATEGORIZED

Bruce Morris Social climberBelmont, California

2006
Just got this email from a very much alive Eric Beck this morning (May 4th) with the answer to the question in this thread about the origin of his quip. So Veblen does play a part in its genesis:”

Hi Bruce;
Very nice to hear from you. Here’s the story. It is raining and many of us are sitting around Yosemite Lodge. Roper is reading Thorstein Veblen, THEORY OF THE LEISURE CLASS. In my usual smart ass manner, I happen to remark that there is a leisure class at both ends of the social spectrum. That’s it, apparently this caught on with climbers.

We have been in Bishop for 8 years. We go to Tuolumne often in the summer. Some of our favorites remain your old routes, Great Circle and Crying Time.

Eric and Lori Beck”

One thought on “Origins of “at either end of the social spectrum there lies a leisure class””

Edgar Boyles says:

July 20, 2022 at 2:15 pm

I always thought the Original Original was attributed to George Bernard Shaw. But I would not want to smear the great vision and story of Roper reading from Thorsten and Beck pursing his lips and uttering the Great Line… Roper told me that Eric uttered it while lounging in his hammock in Camp 4, his red flannel PJ’s covered in down from his leaking mummy bag…. Eric, when asked how his solo ascent of Half Dome (first solo ascent) was, he paused and said, “very lonely”.

On Wed, Jul 20, 2022 at 06:59 The Rōbert [Cholo] Report (pron: Rō’bear

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