The right hand panel of this blog keeps disappearing - the search field, the "about me" bit, the archive, etc.
It *should* be there.
But it isn't.
Apologies. I'm sure, if you've noticed, it hasn't really bothered you.
I'll try and figure out what has gone wrong when I have a bit of time to focus on it.
Footnote: There was a glitch. It seems ok now.
The most stationary of all stationery items, scissors hate to be hurried. I learned this as a child. You did too, probably. Don't run with scissors. A clear and simple instruction. Pencils, glue, staples... no problem. For them, like us, it's a finite existence. Time is short so don't dilly dally. But don't run with scissors.
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Sunday, 10 June 2012
bigots, banter and middle class banality
It’s not easy
being white, middle class, well educated and English. Or so I gather. I’m some
of those things, not all of them. So I speak (or write) from the vantage point
of the partial outsider. If such a beast exists.
This is a group of
people that have been denied so many of life’s little pleasures – in
particular, public displays of arrogance, superiority and bigotry. These things
simply aren’t cool anymore.
They can’t even
get away with being bigoted toward the less well off or the working class
anymore. It’s frowned upon.
Don’t go thinking
their fetid snobbishness has died off though. It’s the getting found out that’s
frowned upon. Being clumsy enough to give the game away is not cool. And so the
bigot just reinvented itself – well, slightly.
Want to see it in
action? Check out the I hate banter
brigade. On one hand this is a great example of how some people on twitter
really need a few actual problems in their lives in order to gain some
perspective. But on the other, it’s a plain as they come down-the-nose sneer at
the working class.
The kinds of
conversational dynamic that get labeled as banter
are really no different to badinage,
or witty repartee. Except even I know
you’re unlikely to hear “it’s just a bit of badinage” offered as an excuse from
someone who doesn’t have three or four A levels, a 2:1 from a red brick, and
who has a job rather than a career.
When I hear (or
read) “I hate banter” it translates as I
hate people who aren’t like me, who aren’t as clever as me, who don’t share my
sensibilities.
No one’s perfect
though, least of all me. I hate bigots and snobs – I’m only human. I especially
have a problem the ones that are not as funny or as clever as they think, but
do have a superiority complex than tends a little toward clinical narcissism.
I wonder sometimes
if part of the problem is simply that WMCWEEs (that’s white, middle class, well
educated and English) can’t be racist anymore. Unless they’re talking about
Americans, of course. For some reason I haven’t been able to figure out,
despite several years of thinking about it, it’s still OK to tell racist jokes
about Americans – mostly about them being fat or stupid.
I’ve heard middle
class English whities with degrees from hard-to-get-into universities make remarks about
Americans that simply would not be tolerated in public if the word “black” was
used rather than the word “American.” The extent of their denial when their
racism is pointed out to them is the only thing more astounding, in fact.
It’s the same with
the French. Being rude about the French is a commonplace activity. But again,
isn’t it tantamount to racism?
I think what I’m
getting at here is displacement. Those people savvy enough to realise they have
to cloak their bigotry will do just that and will find other targets and use other
weapons.
I don’t have any
answers. This is, really, little more than my using 500+ words to say “I hate
smug middle class wankers.”
Footnote: I dislike anonymous commenters. If you can't be adult enough to put your name to a comment, don't bother. I'll only delete it.
Footnote: I dislike anonymous commenters. If you can't be adult enough to put your name to a comment, don't bother. I'll only delete it.
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