Radium Girls & the Failure of Unregulated Capitalism

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  • Опубликовано: 16 янв 2025

Комментарии • 168

  • @Meromorphic
    @Meromorphic  Год назад +46

    Hope you guys enjoy this one! Very different from my normal stuff. I'll be going back to Unpacking videos and other such after this! One small correction: Mae Keane was an employee of Waterbury Clock Co. in Connecticut, not Radium Dial. (Of course only realized the error after uploading 😢)

    • @Oig-ln7ep
      @Oig-ln7ep Год назад +4

      It is downright criminal that this video doesn’t have more views. This is absolutely incredible.

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад +1

      @@Oig-ln7ep thank you friend!

  • @thequeenofcringe1585
    @thequeenofcringe1585 11 месяцев назад +34

    The fact that lip pointing was a practice is insane to me. You don’t put paint in your mouth no matter what’s in it. Just get a brush better suited for the job. A thin brush with short bristles is much more effective for painting small things.

    • @carborundorum
      @carborundorum 10 месяцев назад +2

      Lip pointing was outlawed in Europe. Instead of brushes, glass applicators were used. USRC switched to glass but the painters couldn't work as fast or as precisely, so they switched back to brushes because they were paid by the piece.

  • @mOOOp42
    @mOOOp42 Год назад +239

    Wow just wow. As a guy who works and complains about too much regulation in the USA this video was a nice refresher as to why these policies exist in the first place. Thank you, I needed this and I'm always amazed that our world just barely holds on to society with small checks and balances like this.

    • @thewandering01
      @thewandering01 Год назад +44

      Every regulation is written in blood. None of them is adopted just for fun. It's because things were so bad (and went on so long), that the regulations were made despite the will of the wealthy and corporations.

    • @weylinwebber4180
      @weylinwebber4180 Год назад +9

      Bro I had a guy put rat poison in the air quality tester while I was working at Tesla in a week later and the technician told me all the results were stellar.
      That is when your soul gets litmus test and unfortunately many seem to fail while telling themselves they're doing the best they can.
      They are all evil and they are all complicit unfortunately.

    • @Sandvichman.
      @Sandvichman. 11 месяцев назад +10

      i take it you're a completely average, working class person? how do you come to any of these conclusions, especially as someone who BENEFITS from regulation? do you know what the early 1900s looked like? i just dont get it

    • @weylinwebber4180
      @weylinwebber4180 11 месяцев назад +6

      @@Sandvichman. Sir coming from the standpoint of a child who grew up in a conservative military family and then spent three years at the hell hole called Tesla Fremont stamping,.
      The simple answer is that it's cultural. You have guys who complain but then they act like being put underneath these conditions also makes them tough.
      The same guy is that constantly bitch and moan about not making enough money will still stop you from causing too much trouble because they feel their job is at risk.
      Dude I just confronted my supervisor for my time there telling him about sexual assault and drug dealing and the fucker told me he already knew about it but couldn't do anything.
      Which of course he already knew about it I told him in 2017 but I don't think he gave enough of a shit to even remember that.
      Put all that together and you get some terrified hardworking people because they literally believe their lives depend on it.
      And from that perspective it does.
      Please let me know if you have any questions.

    • @Sandvichman.
      @Sandvichman. 11 месяцев назад +3

      @@weylinwebber4180
      i think you described it perfectly

  • @feathersfororphans
    @feathersfororphans Год назад +115

    Christ. Can the algorithm show this man some love already?

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад +9

      Appreciate it my friend. It'll happen. I believe. Lol

  • @rogelioestrada4530
    @rogelioestrada4530 Год назад +45

    I was in a play about this story and it was really eye-opening to read about the messed up stuff these companies were doing to these girls. I really love how you covered this topic and the empathy you showed to the victims of these companies

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад +4

      Hey thank you so much! I'd definitely like to see this play!

    • @wowimsatan2802
      @wowimsatan2802 Год назад +1

      I was also in this play!! Who were you? I was Roeder (super emotionally intense)

    • @rogelioestrada4530
      @rogelioestrada4530 Год назад

      @wowimsatan2802 It was years ago but I was one of the board ppl and also the factory manager telling the girls off about the rags

    • @wowimsatan2802
      @wowimsatan2802 Год назад

      @@rogelioestrada4530 thats fun!!! its such an emotionally heavy production and its so hard to put yourself into the role of the people who knew they were causing such evil

    • @OctoAmbush-nc4xt
      @OctoAmbush-nc4xt Месяц назад

      damn i literally clicked on this video cause my friends were in this play

  • @theodorixjohnson4336
    @theodorixjohnson4336 Год назад +68

    This is one of the first horror stories we are taught as occupational health and safety engineers this triangle shirtwaist, Chernobyl and Bhopal and my god I hope I never allow something this horrific to ever happen

    • @Tiger74147
      @Tiger74147 Год назад +1

      I haven't heard of Bhopal. I should look that up. ...then again, maybe I've had enough gloomy reading for a lifetime haha.

    • @fisher123fisher
      @fisher123fisher Год назад

      @@Tiger74147 there was a phosphene? gas leak in the union carbide factory. It killed hundreds around the town

    • @paulahurley
      @paulahurley 6 месяцев назад +2

      Add DuPont to that list…it’s terrifying how many workers are sacrificed in the pursuit of power and wealth.

    • @christinawalker6356
      @christinawalker6356 Месяц назад

      ​@Tiger74147 i had never heard of bhopal either until a few months ago... it was the first thing we learned about in my environmental public health lecture ... its so devastating, idk why more people don't know about it

  • @inz1
    @inz1 Год назад +30

    This is quite literally the best content you’ve ever put out.
    Bravo. Encore.

    • @kathymueller639
      @kathymueller639 Год назад +1

      It is really incredible!

    • @kathymueller639
      @kathymueller639 Год назад +1

      BRILLIANT History is so incredibly important! I have learned so much today, and thank you for your dedication to gathering FACTS😊

  • @fisher123fisher
    @fisher123fisher Год назад +140

    Unregulated capitalism = worker exploitation

    • @MosquitoValentineNH
      @MosquitoValentineNH 4 месяца назад +2

      As opposed to state-owned collective farms and factories.. worker’s paradise! 🙄👌‼️

    • @gregoryallen0001
      @gregoryallen0001 3 месяца назад +1

      see the thing is we donNt HAVE unregulated capitalism, nor do we have FREE MARKET capitalism; those are, imo, why workers are exploited

    • @fisher123fisher
      @fisher123fisher 3 месяца назад +1

      @@gregoryallen0001 what do we have then? 🤔

    • @asherfeinstein6942
      @asherfeinstein6942 2 месяца назад

      And now that’s about to skyrocket!

    • @missJolie85
      @missJolie85 Месяц назад

      @@MosquitoValentineNH No dummy, as opposed to regulated capitalism.

  • @ArsenicArtist
    @ArsenicArtist Год назад +16

    I'm currently in my final year of high school, and I've chosen to have my English summative be about this video essay. It is truly the most detailed video I've seen on the subject, you did an amazing job!

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад +4

      Aww this is so freaking cool!! I actually teach HS Math and Physics for my day job. Hit me up at the email in my profile or on insta if you have any questions, and good luck!

    • @ArsenicArtist
      @ArsenicArtist Год назад +1

      @@Meromorphic Thank you, I'll be sure to email you with any questions I may have! Have a wonderful day/night

    • @ArsenicArtist
      @ArsenicArtist 4 месяца назад +2

      ​@Meromorphic a very late update: my English summative got an A+! I held a class discussion about this topic and about this video essay. Again, you did a wonderful job on it 👏 probably the best researched video I've ever seen on the topic

  • @七百七十七
    @七百七十七 Год назад +56

    Woah Mero, you can't just show up with that luscious mane all of a sudden

  • @mirnacudiczgela1963
    @mirnacudiczgela1963 5 месяцев назад +13

    Valuing the dollar over human life is evil enough for me. Period.

  • @Tom-bs3zh
    @Tom-bs3zh Год назад +34

    Still, after all this, hardly anybody got the hint, as Eben Byers' doctor prescribed him Radithor (radium water) for a broken arm in 1927. He died jawless in 1932.

    • @maxwellbarnhart1375
      @maxwellbarnhart1375 3 дня назад

      Byers drank A LOT of radithor. Every day. It wasn't just a bottle. Just to be clear

  • @chrispylee1019
    @chrispylee1019 Год назад +12

    So, thanks to this video, I found out my grandma grew up in the same town all of this happened. Crazy.

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад +4

      Oh damn! You should ask her about it!

  • @neplvr
    @neplvr Год назад +12

    Woaahhh RUclips recommendations are really good

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад +3

      Oh hell yeah! Good to hear it's being recommended!

  • @coloronmyarm
    @coloronmyarm Год назад +9

    Good job man. I know you worked on this one for a while. Keep up the good content

  • @enerioffutt1881
    @enerioffutt1881 3 месяца назад +4

    A fascinating book on this, seen from the girls and women's perspective is The Radium Girl: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore. Not only does it talk about the Radium Girls, and later their lawsuits, it also talks about how the company never did much to help the girls, or even clean up what they had done.

  • @beannathrach2417
    @beannathrach2417 Год назад +11

    A further obscenity is the liability of an offender can depend on their knowledge. If you can show you didn't know about the danger, you might be able to evade. So businesses don't want to know about dangers they create because they can't be sued for dangers they don't know about.

  • @YasugoLiehu
    @YasugoLiehu 11 месяцев назад +4

    25:46 Could you imagine his reaction?
    “Heh heh! Alright, alright, let's see how _high_ my levels are. He heh ha haaaah … … … oh… o-oh…”

  • @lemonlordminecraft
    @lemonlordminecraft Год назад +8

    Damn, this is a crazy piece of history and I'm glad you jumped out of your usual stuff to pen it. I clicked on this after watching another one of your videos and was initially going to click off of it because, quite frankly, I was in the mood for more cartoon unpacking but I am so glad I stayed. Bravo, my good sir, bravo. Wish this had gotten the attention it deserved 💔 all the other videos covering this are not nearly as in-depth

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад +1

      Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. Hopefully one day the algorithm will deign to shine it's light on it. Lol

  • @kathymueller639
    @kathymueller639 Год назад +4

    Thanks! BRILLIANT

  • @Abrahamwaffle
    @Abrahamwaffle 10 месяцев назад +4

    I cannot tell you how shocked i was when i saw the view count after finishing the video, holy shit this deserves so much more

  • @Mari-pq4zy
    @Mari-pq4zy 3 месяца назад +2

    I was so jazzed to see the radium girls of Ottawa mentioned. I live there, a few blocks away from a statue that memorializes the women and their story.

  • @MeghanBean
    @MeghanBean 3 месяца назад +4

    It’s so scary we’re the same species… barbarians in business suits

  • @youtubeuniversity3638
    @youtubeuniversity3638 5 месяцев назад +3

    0:30 Personally my take's "'Broken As Intended' Is Not Self-Contradictory".

  • @wowimsatan2802
    @wowimsatan2802 Год назад +2

    I had the privilege to play Arthur Roeder in my high school's production of Radium Girls a few years back and it was one of the most emotionally intense roles I had ever done, especially learning the history of the true events. I can't even begin to imagine how horrific it would be to live through these events.

  • @amyjones2501
    @amyjones2501 5 месяцев назад +5

    And then, the Supreme Court repeals the Chevron Act...

  • @lorasmith9380
    @lorasmith9380 3 месяца назад +1

    This is one of the best and most informative videos I have ever watched. I loved the presentation! Well done, thank you!

  • @honey-bagder3451
    @honey-bagder3451 Год назад +7

    Thus far in, this documentary is way better than the movie.

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад +2

      Thanks. I meant to say in there somewhere that I do not recommend the movie. It's pretty bad. But honestly, I just forgot. 😅

  • @abbygarrett154
    @abbygarrett154 Год назад +3

    Insane story and sick edit!!! Thanks for sharing.

  • @ykMMD
    @ykMMD 5 месяцев назад +1

    Wow, what a video. The content, montage and visuals are incredible. Thank you for this!

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  5 месяцев назад

      Thanks so much! It really means a lot reading comments like these

  • @freden9234
    @freden9234 День назад +1

    Very well done documentary. Very relevant today, sadly.

  • @JDogVids
    @JDogVids 9 месяцев назад

    Wtf bro this video needs way more recognition and you deserve way more subscribers, this is such a high quality video and I can tell you put alot of work into it, im subbed and glad I found this channel!

  • @lavalamp1
    @lavalamp1 Год назад +3

    this is insanity that all this happened right after one another and it still went on this long

  • @LOVEWORMZZ
    @LOVEWORMZZ Год назад +1

    bro, ty for this, I've read SO MUCH about the radium girls and so many video essays on here skip the part where they STEAL THEIR FUCKING BONES thanks for not leaving that CRITICAL detail out, excellent work!

  • @Eainai
    @Eainai 10 месяцев назад +2

    How in the actual ass did a well-written, accurate, beautifully animated, extremely informative documentary get so few likes? I'd give more than one like if I could, but since I cannot, I hope you'll accept my subscription.

  • @three_iii9198
    @three_iii9198 Год назад +5

    What a painful listen, my heart breaks for the girls 😢 you did an amazing job with the video tho! Awesome work, keep ot up 😄👍

  • @JessicaTesch-po7hd
    @JessicaTesch-po7hd 2 месяца назад

    Dude you executed this exquisitely!!! Enjoyed so much!!!!

  • @greekandbulgariangamertv8633
    @greekandbulgariangamertv8633 Год назад +7

    That an interesting topic if you ask me also think some times of how many stuff that we today say are bad for our health back in the day they think it was perfectly healthy or at least not that could cause a health related illness it makes me wonder what staff do we day use today that in the future will find that it is actually bad for us in the end of the day we are not that different with the 20s we are both parts of history that that will one day become the past and in the future people will call as stupid

  • @harrietharlow9929
    @harrietharlow9929 Месяц назад

    This is an excellent overview of the history of the Radium girls and the effects of radium on the body. The callousness of the companies once the danger was known is stunning. And getting doctors to diagnose deaths as caused by syphilis--horrendous. Wow and a sister who didn't even work at the factory dying of radiation sickeness just because she slept next to her suster who was a dial painter?! This just keeps getting worse and worse. It's hard to hear, but thank you for an excellent report.

  • @hope.world.mp3845
    @hope.world.mp3845 2 месяца назад +2

    I always wonder what outlandish things we’re doing right now that are extremely dangerous that’ll be talked about in the future and I think about it ALL the time

    • @itchin4scratches
      @itchin4scratches Месяц назад

      nobody lives over 100 years to care, and the cycle repeats until the next version of us understands, which is usually way too late to comprehend because we are too busy paying attention to things that distract us from basic survival. thats exactly what the empire wants.. their survival insurance not yours. recent vaccines come to mind

    • @ShrimpHands
      @ShrimpHands 16 дней назад

      Oil and gas instead of nuclear power?

    • @freden9234
      @freden9234 День назад

      Private equity owned healthcare. Health insurance denials. Ignoring global warming for profits.

  • @kelsoistired
    @kelsoistired 8 месяцев назад +1

    I own one of the clocks produced by radium dial for westclox and I'm always filled with anger and sadness when I think about its history for too long

  • @HamboogyYT
    @HamboogyYT Год назад +3

    Based Meromorphic

  • @randomartz8417
    @randomartz8417 4 месяца назад

    I love playing video games to your videos. Keep it up!

  • @larshogan1275
    @larshogan1275 Год назад +3

    Momma Mero!!

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад

      Shut up! My name change was supposed to be a secret

  • @alexispartee4086
    @alexispartee4086 6 месяцев назад +1

    The picture of Catherine Donahue is actually Grace Fryer. I just finished reading Radium Girls. This was a great follow-up to the book!

    • @LlamaLlamaMamaJamaac
      @LlamaLlamaMamaJamaac 5 месяцев назад

      I’m not far into the video, but around 2:37 the “tooth and jaw necrosis results in needing repeated extractions” picture, pretty sure that’s Catherine Donahue…. that was taken at the moment when she learned her prognosis in the courtroom

    • @alexispartee4086
      @alexispartee4086 5 месяцев назад

      @@LlamaLlamaMamaJamaac yeah that is definitely Catherine Donahue. The part of the book that covers her slow death is so heartbreaking. Her husband was a real one-of-a-kind guy. The picture I was referring to is the one at 41:12 which I only know because that one is in the book as well.

  • @MeghanBean
    @MeghanBean 3 месяца назад +5

    I have to believe in a hell

  • @1234567890sunshine
    @1234567890sunshine Год назад +2

    How were the people who wore the watches affected? Did everyone wearing the watches also get poisoned?

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад +1

      Great question. I didn't come across any data on the subject, but if anything, they probably had burns on their skin and were at a higher risk for cancer. However, they weren't constantly injesting material. They had a single, trace amount of radium on their person. Alpha and beta decay would have been negated by the bottom of the watch and skin. So they'd still be getting a higher than background radiation pretty constantly, but probably not enough to be life threatening outside strange cases.

    • @MarcUK
      @MarcUK Год назад +2

      Wearing the watches was perfectly safe. The danger would come later on for anyone that had to open them up to do repairs/maintenance and not know the coatings were radioactive. Worst case is that the majority of those watches made are probably in landfill now.

    • @ArsenicArtist
      @ArsenicArtist Год назад

      I don't belive so! My grandfather owned one when I was a child, and he lived to 93 with no complications. The watches were safe unless you opened them to conduct repairs and came into direct contact with the paint

  • @nintendbro3275
    @nintendbro3275 6 месяцев назад +1

    This seems really appropriate with the whole chevron case rn 😳😂

  • @asherfeinstein6942
    @asherfeinstein6942 2 месяца назад +1

    This could not be more relevant than right now! (Except maybe in the future).

  • @xardiesn.o.o.b4971
    @xardiesn.o.o.b4971 Год назад +4

    Oh new video to spam watch at work thanks

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад +2

      Of course. Happy to help 🤣

    • @xardiesn.o.o.b4971
      @xardiesn.o.o.b4971 Год назад +2

      @@Meromorphic I've watched the moral oral videos more times than I'd like to admit look forward to any video you upload

  • @RowieSundog
    @RowieSundog Год назад

    I can't believe you have so few subscribers n views your videos are so well made!!

  • @lucasbroto7928
    @lucasbroto7928 11 месяцев назад +1

    I am in complete disbelief with the girls situation

  • @MaasdfgcQwerty
    @MaasdfgcQwerty Месяц назад

    Bhopal comes to mind. A famous Bhopal photo isn't of a toy doll; it is of a real and very human infant.

  • @martin90000
    @martin90000 Год назад +1

    Awesome documentary, I really like your approach and angle. A bit long, but worth it :-) RUclips needs more content creators like this, fewer like SSSniperWolf lol!

  • @Gnomageddon
    @Gnomageddon Год назад +2

    I grew up in Waterbury CT, they NEVER TOLD US about this messed up thing.....man.....i'm shocked.

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад +1

      Honestly not surprising. I grew up in one of the last towns in America to desegregate. They hung an effigy of a black schoolchild from the High School. Never heard a peep about it until I left the town for college and started looking into it. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield_school_desegregation_incident

  • @galileo_the_star_lion
    @galileo_the_star_lion Месяц назад +1

    11:02 all the 'roommates' 😐
    but on a serious note, regulations are written in blood. people have died horrible deaths for us now to have safer working environments.

  • @riki4644
    @riki4644 Год назад +1

    underrated

  • @weylinwebber4180
    @weylinwebber4180 Год назад +2

    Hey morphic, really really well done quality video about how those are the top are always protected against the cataclysm that they've create and it brought into an uncomfortable realization that while working at Tesla they were basically doing the exact same thing and yeah about every month a guy would lose a leg or lose a hands lucky if they didn't get electrocuted or had something just straight up to crush them.
    Biggest problem was getting respirators for the aluminum dust and we had one guy who just decided nah I don't need it and would sit with his face at part lay level and then come back up looking like he was huffing spray paint.
    I expect a lot of my compatriates at that factory now have shortened lifespans.
    And actually my dad ended up dying as results of the harassment that he faced at the Sparks Reno factory at the age of 47 so I guess that's my data point right there.
    Anyways good job man let me know if you want to work on something about Tesla together.

  • @IchorousLIVE
    @IchorousLIVE Год назад +9

    The vibes i get from this video oddly resemble a potato. I don’t know what or why or anything, it just gives me potato vibes.
    So yes, communism = 🥔 in my book.

    • @IchorousLIVE
      @IchorousLIVE Год назад +1

      shoot i ment capitalism not communism

  • @conniethomas4753
    @conniethomas4753 7 месяцев назад +1

    Blimey those poor girls.

  • @joeport1570
    @joeport1570 Год назад

    Recently saw a play about Radium Girls, was fantastic and extremely brutal.

  • @Skokapus
    @Skokapus 7 месяцев назад

    oh cool i did this play a couple months ago

  • @luizferrarezzi
    @luizferrarezzi 5 месяцев назад +4

    no one wants to hear it but the people in power are treating climate change and covid with the same care

  • @trollhunter3969
    @trollhunter3969 21 день назад

    I read the book… several times. I support regulations that protect human health and the environment.

  • @hexoskeleton
    @hexoskeleton Год назад +2

    A bit late to this one but Oof, ouch hate to hear it.

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад

      Lmao. Only 100 or so years, but can't fault ya

  • @Phreias
    @Phreias 4 месяца назад +2

    everday the hammer and sickle looks more tempting to pick up

  • @1212matt
    @1212matt Месяц назад

    Great presentation the bleeps are very very annoying

  • @Cheng-jq6fc
    @Cheng-jq6fc Год назад

    #RADITHOR was also
    terrifying case..

  • @danstevens6515
    @danstevens6515 Год назад +3

    We have plenty of jobs now that are legal and ruin people’s lives, too

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад +1

      Yup. Unfortunately why this story is still relevant.

  • @genx7417
    @genx7417 9 месяцев назад

    Calling US Radium evil is not simplistic it's 100% accurate 😑

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  9 месяцев назад +1

      Except that isn't what I said. I said attributing their actions to pure evil is simplistic. The doesn't mean it *wasn't* evil, it just misses the point entirely.

  • @Ornitholestes1
    @Ornitholestes1 Месяц назад

    in a time when endless griping about supposedly excessive rules and regulations has become ubiquitous, I think it is important we remember why such rules and regulations exist.

  • @Lexxxxiii
    @Lexxxxiii 7 месяцев назад

    Hi. i love this video, and am saddened to see it is not being reccomended more.
    Comment, comment, i am commenting to boost engagement

  • @youtubeuniversity3638
    @youtubeuniversity3638 Год назад

    Subscriptioned did.

  • @zuppkaa
    @zuppkaa 3 месяца назад

    good video but on thing that pissed me off that you didn't say full name of Maria Skłodowska-Curie. Her maiden name was very important to her so excluding it is disrespectful

  • @bksellers64
    @bksellers64 7 месяцев назад +4

    The similarities between this and the mRNA vaccines is uncanny.

  • @동동동-x9b
    @동동동-x9b Год назад +4

    I think it mainly just means we didn't know about how dagerous radium was, I don't think a communist utopia would have known about the dangers of radium before... knowing about dangers of radium.

    • @Meromorphic
      @Meromorphic  Год назад +10

      Except, ya know, they DID know, as was proven in court. They knew, and yet did nothing. Less than nothing, even. **Tell me you didn't watch the video without telling me you didn't watch the video.**

  • @Vextonomy
    @Vextonomy Год назад

    O