Britons have become so mean that many of us think poor people don’t deserve leisure time
Britons have become so mean that many of us think poor people don’t deserve leisure time
This is the Victorian workhouse mentality repackaged for the iPhone era, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
"Have become"? They were always this mean. The article doesn't seem to have a comparison between this survey and an earlier one showing that Britons have become this way, and I rather suspect this meanness has always been the way.
I think it is hard for a British news outlet to give their readers a reality check and bash them all in one go without some offramp. The amount of people who would thank for a wake uo call like that is much smaller than the group of conservatives snowflakes who can not deal with criticism and would be enraged.
It also frames it as something that you can easily change. If it was "always have been" people would be more likely to shrug and say "whelp, seems we will never change". Kind of reminds me of how they frame climate change stuff now.
I don’t think you can generalise that broadly. Yes we’re a country of crabs in a bucket, nosy curtain-twitchers, and insufferable village scolds but we’re also a country that gives generously to charity, still fundamentally believes in democracy and the rule of law despite everything that’s happened, and apparently we poll among the least racist and homophobic countries in Europe which is nice.
No nationality is a hive mind, we’re not inherently good people or bad people we’re just people. I think we should be looking to tackle our crab bucket mentality but we can’t do that if we think that mentality is something intrinsically part of us rather than something we can choose to reject.
A full quarter of our society thinking that the people out of work shouldn't be able to afford food or heating is a grim fucking indictment on what we've become. What kind of utter ghoul do you have to be to believe, "If you're unable to work thanks to a disability and don't have someone that can care for you, you should just freeze or starve, whichever gets you first"?
A full quarter of our society thinking that the people out of work shouldn't be able to afford food or heating
For these people perhaps we should present a modest proposal.
A decade of anti-benefits rhetoric and squeezes on living standards has fostered the belief that people on social security and low wages deserve a life of penury and boredom.
And death. Benefit sanctions have killed people by finishing off those with serious medical issues through sheer stress or driving others to suicide.
This is the same meanness in the population that gave us Brexit.
The faster you get rid of the Tories, the faster that feeling will go away.
Getting them out will help (on every front) but we are still subjected to propaganda from the Tory press that promotes the agendas that suit billionaires, not ordinary people. They can't rule us until they first divide us.
They won't be gotten rid of because the Tories know how to make working class feel middle class, thus they vote against their own interests every time. It's amazing what monthly payments for a BMW or whatever else makes a person feel accomplished.
We are watching our high trust society crumble around us.
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As I said elsewhere, it reminded me of Lula's speech about how the poor deserve to live a nice life, too.
'They think that the poor don’t have rights. … The right to barbecue with family on the weekend, to buy a little picanha, to that piece of picanha with the fat dipped in flour, and to a glass of cold beer.'
EDIT: Re-added the quote. Markup ate it before.
Picanha = rump steak, one of the finer meats for a barbecue. I do think the flour in case was farofa, which isn't quite flour, but a mix that's ready to eat.
Oddly, I've never been able to find the original Portuguese quotation, but I assume he did say farofa!
This is always going to be an issue as everyone feels poorer. If you're walking full time and can't afford to put your hand in the the pocket for a night out, seeing Dave down the road on the never never going to the pub regularly will rub you the wrong way. It's not right, but it's Human nature.
The article was about poverty wages as well as those who cannot work. Setting poor people at each other's throats is missing the point (and doing free PR for the rich people who have taken all the money).
I'm not trying to absolve them or undermine the issue, just offering an observation on why people are so easy to turn against each other.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Just 39% thought everyone – the wealthiest, average earners, those on the minimum wage, and benefits claimants – should be able to pursue a non-active hobby, with only 27% believing those on any income should have the chance to go out socialising.
The cost of living crisis has seen disposable income inequality in Britain rise, with the poorest fifth of the population enduring the biggest fall as they’re forced to spend more to cover the basics.
A decade of anti-benefits rhetoric and squeezes on living standards has fostered the belief that people on social security and low wages deserve a life of penury and boredom.
It creates a demand for ever more absurd conditions in order for critics to acknowledge hardship; until a mum with multiple sclerosis has to spend her evenings staring at a blank wall eating porridge to deserve disability benefits.
In a country where it’s now normalised for a home, access to basic utilities and regular meals to be out of reach for many, it’s easy to become convinced that hobbies and entertainment are unreasonable requests.
In The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell wrote of the working class: “Would it not be better if they spent more money on wholesome things like oranges and … saved on fuel and ate their carrots raw?
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