Middle Class Self Loathing

josef k.

Dangerous Mystagogue
...but the battle for a better world must be refought everyday by every human being with the darkness of their souls.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I think things will change as the lower middle classes - who surely far outnumber the stockbrokers, lawyers etc. - gradually realize that they're getting screwed over, too. Or at least, realize why they're getting screwed over, and by whom.
 

firefinga

Well-known member
I think things will change as the lower middle classes - who surely far outnumber the stockbrokers, lawyers etc. - gradually realize that they're getting screwed over, too. Or at least, realize why they're getting screwed over, and by whom.

The populists are already hammering it to them: it's those on welfare, the jobless, the immigrants. Unfortunately, they seem to believe it in high numbers.
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
a class is not a class proper but an economic/sociological factor if it isn't organised its just a collection of atomised individuals in the dog eat dog world of buying n selling commodities (labour power included.)
 
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thirdform

pass the sick bucket
you have to realise the historical continuity of our struggle, maybe the longest and most painful struggle in history ever. there is a thread. follow it.
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
a class is not a class proper but an economic and sociological factor if it isn't organised its just a collection of atomised individuals in the dog eat dog world of buying n selling commodities (labour power included.)

hence why you'll get bare people will say they don't belong to a class because commodity relations naturalise this atomisation.
 
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martin

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so-called middle class self loathing is a bad habit and anticommunist.

Self-loathing is pointless. If people really feel they have unearned, unfair privilege, they can use it to effect change. Or go to Tokyo on holiday and have a good laugh. Nobody needs to hear about it.

But for some, it's easier to project racism and sexism onto working class people and to vocalise this guilt as an in-group "trust me, I'm not one of the bad ones!" mating call.

This self-loathing whining makes me suspicious 'cos I think it's one of those 'and/or' situations where the reverse is true - like how people who insist that 'charity begins at home' are often skinflints with their families, or those who think mourning dead pets is an insult to human tragedy tend to lack genuine compassion for either.

Likewise, I get the impression that plenty of those who spend most of the day ranting about gammons and white trash on Twitter (mostly from a position of academic privilege themselves) are just a cunt hair away from letting the mask slip and exploding in some volatile rant about feckless, ungrateful 'ethnics'.
 

martin

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For a really effective revolution, I think you need 70% proles, 28% middle class and 2% upper class.

The upper class components are usually romantics who want to turn the world upside down (anarchist princes, countesses gone off the rails, etc) and can be very useful in funding weaponry and providing safe houses.

Middle class people ARE incredibly useful in an admin capacity - and let's face it, none of us plebs are sending rockets to Uranus in a hurry. Invariably, one of the middle class collaborators completely sells out the movement and becomes eternally loathed in story and legend. On a more positive note, one of them gets sainted Tony Benn status for his/her progressive enlightenment.

Invariably, it all gets crushed by the cops in the end and everyone gets fat and lazy and gives up, but the next generation doesn't have to crawl up a chimney on Saturday morning.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
For a really effective revolution, I think you need 70% proles, 28% middle class and 2% upper class.

The upper class components are usually romantics who want to turn the world upside down (anarchist princes, countesses gone off the rails, etc) and can be very useful in funding weaponry and providing safe houses.

Middle class people ARE incredibly useful in an admin capacity - and let's face it, none of us plebs are sending rockets to Uranus in a hurry. Invariably, one of the middle class collaborators completely sells out the movement and becomes eternally loathed in story and legend. On a more positive note, one of them gets sainted Tony Benn status for his/her progressive enlightenment.

Invariably, it all gets crushed by the cops in the end and everyone gets fat and lazy and gives up, but the next generation doesn't have to crawl up a chimney on Saturday morning.

I love how much thought you've put into this, right down to the exact percentages.

Although Viscount Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn wasn't middle-class, he was a legit toff (even if he renounced the title).
 
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