Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/02/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 21:15 25/02/1997 -0500, Robert Brummett wrote: <snip> >I'm sure the topic of "guns" inserted into this group will earn me some big >wet noodles, but I thought the analogy was appropriate. Go ahead! I can >take it! I'm sure our European friends particularly would like to take a >few licks. > <snip> > Take it easy...I am not very upset about "political correctness". And I have nothing against guns (as long as they are not in the hands of fascists and mentally disturbed persons). They are part of human history. I am coming from a family of hunters BTW and I was an officer in the army reserve (yes, please...went to a military school before the university). My personal arm was a Luger 9 mm, seized from the nazi occupants when they capitulated. The Luger has a Leica feel and look, and is a fascinating gun, even with its dirty history, that we should never forget! In Lebanon I tried the Kalashnikov, also fascinating. At my parents home in Norway I have an nice Browning o/u shotgun and a Mauser 7.62, for reindeer hunting. I like simple, well made things that last. Unfortunately the capitalistic industry gives us less and less of such products. Most modern things are "weared out" already when you buy them. The maximal profit concept obliges... buy again, and again, and again. The Leica is one of the exceptions, even if Leica AG is subject to the common economic environment. There are irrational aspects of mankind that makes history very complex and contradictory. Why do they continue producing Leica M's like that? Because they earn money of course, but also because there still are some sort of love and respect for the original product. The weight of history keeps them away from savage rationalization and modernization. Until now. Who knows what will happen next year, or later? The Leica M concept is basic and simple, even if it is complex enough inside. Only basic functions and no more, with this "something extra" which all odd products have. I got my first M4 in 1970, and had to skip the summer holidays to afford it. I was fascinated by the Leica M for years, but I have chosen to cut short and get rid of it. It has become a ridiculous expensive luxury, and I don't like luxury. It was always luxury perhaps, but a little less before. I have an old Citroen 2CV which is also an odd product with this "something extra". It is not really a luxury car, even if some people compares it to the Rolls Royce... Like the M, the 2CV concept is basic simplicity. If you take proper care of an old M, or an old 2CV, (or a Mauser rifle), you can keep them for the rest of your life. You subscribe to a more human and humble approach to economic activity. You refuse the use-and-throw-away impulsion from multinationals, the "World Companies". Building your own camera, makes you almost independent. That is a new freedom, another dimension. A real pleasure! Oddmund Chinon, France