Doctor Who [5]

The rich are networked in this country Norc- if you come from a rich background, go to the right schools you get breaks and chance others who might be just or more talented dont get becuase they were poorer- thats where the resentment can come in.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:THe working v lower class thing is stoked up by the upper class to divert from the real crims- so the bankers walk away with all the money and leave the rest of us to pay for it- so the government tell the middle class its the lazy poor who are holding them back wanting minimum wags and tax benefits, and they tell the working class the poor and unemployed and why their wages are so low.
And then everyone shits on the poorest people in our society.
Thats more or less how it works, least when the Tories are in government.

Why buy into that, then?

that's a horrible system.

Norc wrote:that's a horrible system.

Well it's true in all countries to a greater or lesser degree.

Why by into that, then?- ELdo

Why do so many Americans believe the Tea Party? Or Fox News?

Most people dont see they are being set against each other- they just know the government is pushing news stories and lines about how the unemployed are scroungers, and people are just taking advantage of the sytsem, and living in luxury of hard working tax payers - and its a nonsense- a Cabinet Minister will order a bottle of wine for his lunch meeting at the tax payers expense that costs more than an unemployed person gets on Benefits to live on for two weeks.

that's a horrible system.- Norc

I agree Norc. Thats why I am for Independence- I think its possible to build a better fairer country, frankly more along the Scandinavian model.

i still think the class system belongs in the victorian days and not the modern world.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:that's a horrible system.- Norc

I agree Norc. Thats why I am for Independence- I think its possible to build a better fairer country, frankly more along the Scandinavian model.

that is music to my ears. Scotland can be an honour member of scandinavia

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Why do so many Americans believe the Tea Party? Or Fox News?

There's very little (to borrow a Marxist term) class consciousness of any sort in America. The idea that anyone can become rich and pull themselves up by their own bootstraps is fairly widely accepted at all levels of society. On the other hand, there seems to be far more people in Britain who know/believe they are being fucked over by the rich, yet they still divide themselves up into smaller gradations. It reminds me of the part from Life of Brian where all the anti-Roman groups are arguing with each other.

my mom just like "say to that scotmsan "Isn't scotland just a small enlgish province?" just to annoy him"
and my sister was like "NO! don't say that to him, he'll run after you with an ax"

life of brian is such a great movie.

And I do have an axe.

But its really small and is for breaking toffee.

haha lool. i have a real ax. it's for chopping wood.

While I recognize that the US certainly has a class system, I do think that it is perhaps not quite as inflexible as the UK's, if only because it is younger has been through more social change without being as entrenched. I don't really know though.

i think in the us the mentality is quite different. more like you work yourself up and it's not frowned upon, you're responsible for yourself and your faith. it's like.. i dunno if i can explain it that good, but remember what kind of people settled/settles in america. new start and so on.

I think your right Eldo, the difference is probably in mobility between classes.
It leads to the odd position here that when someone who is working class does well but is seen to be acting middle or upper class- they can be ostrisced by their own for 'betraying their class' and putting on 'airs and graces'.

yes, i think that's kinda what i meant. you get like a pat on the back and a "well done" if you work your way up un the us, while in the uk it's.. different. you get all kind of reactions and whatever you do it's wrong.

Yeah and if you come up from the bottom then the middle and upper classes wil probably talk behind your back about common you are.
Sadly it works in all directions.

true, it's a shit system.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:I think your right Eldo, the difference is probably in mobility between classes.
It leads to the odd position here that when someone who is working class does well but is seen to be acting middle or upper class- they can be ostrisced by their own for 'betraying their class' and putting on 'airs and graces'.

Yeah, the dream (and for plenty of people reality) of upward social mobility is a big part of American culture. And while it's not talked about as much for obvious reasons, downward social mobility is acknowledged too (e.g., the shrinking of the middle class). Overall, I don't think class status is as important a component of identity in America as it is in Britain, though I'm not sure. I wonder if it's because race and ethnicity play such a big role in American society instead. You can get shit for adopting the stereotypical characteristics of a different race.

IMO social mobility in the states is just as bad as the uk's

i think one is more aware of class in uk than in us, although i won't say us has "classes" but different.. social things. god, if we did this in norwegian, i'de sound so smart !

CC12 35 wrote:IMO social mobility in the states is just as bad as the uk's

Never having lived in the UK my ability to comment on its society is somewhat restricted. And I recognize that my ability to comment in the US is tinted by my own family history. Both my mom's and dad's families have only approached middle class status in the past generation or two. My dad was the first person in his (rather large) family to graduate college. So the idea of social mobility is something I was exposed to a lot growing up, but I try not to overestimate its impact. Maybe I do anyway. :/