A left-leaning management consultant recently asked his left-leaning Twitter followers for their thoughts on the insufficiently left-leaning working class. The replies - from self-declared socialists, Guardian readers, “woke remainers,” and assorted “social justice advocates” - are, shall we say, of a type, but may nonetheless be of interest.
Via Damian Counsell, who adds, “If you want to know why the Conservatives have an 80-seat majority…”
Also, open thread.
One of the more thoughtful replies.
Posted by: David | October 11, 2021 at 07:29
Previously.
One of these.
Posted by: David | October 11, 2021 at 07:40
'The servant who dreamed of being promoted to butler'.
So many leftist characterisations of their opponents these days seem to resort to naive pop-culture-influenced anachronisms. That particular Twitter Wit probably has nothing more sophisticated in mind than a particular episode of Downton Abbey.
Posted by: TimT | October 11, 2021 at 09:19
Well, I suppose if your political persona is in large part driven by social positioning and an assertion of status - as floating above the peasantry, while very much pretending otherwise - then you’re pretty much painted into a corner. It’s a thread you mustn’t pull at, lest comedy ensue.
Posted by: David | October 11, 2021 at 09:52
Well, I suppose if your political persona is in large part driven by social positioning ...
Which is why I always feel a sense of discomfort visiting Washington DC - I sense the vibe of people desperately wanting to be important in the political structure.
And since it is an open thread, I believe I see the next Theranos in the making: https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/10/prince-harrys-mental-health-start-up.html
For $249 a month (not annually), Prince Harry and Mark Zuckerberg will cure what ails ye.
Posted by: Stephanie Richer | October 11, 2021 at 10:10
[ Rummages in archives. ]
Ah, there we go.
Posted by: David | October 11, 2021 at 10:20
Ah, there we go.
That expresses the attitude of such people very pithily.
It's also interesting to note that the very same people will go on to say, to the rest of the world, "Come and live here. It's fabulous!"
And they're supposed to be the intelligent ones.
Posted by: Horace Dunn | October 11, 2021 at 10:42
Brendan O'Neill in fine form.
Posted by: Lancastrian Oik | October 11, 2021 at 10:49
the very same people will go on to say, to the rest of the world, “Come and live here. It’s fabulous!”
There is, I think, an asymmetry of incoherence and insincerity. Sincere opinions can be wrong, of course, but the incidence of pretension and bad faith isn’t, I think, evenly distributed across the political map. If certain views, or professed views – say, regarding immigration, lawful and otherwise - are deemed high-status, one may be inclined to mouth them, loudly and repeatedly, and with ever greater convolution, regardless of whether they’re sincere or jar with other clearly expressed preferences.
See, for instance, Simon Schama Syndrome.
Posted by: David | October 11, 2021 at 10:58
Via Damian Counsell, who adds, “If you want to know why the Conservatives have an 80-seat majority…”
I saw this coming a long time ago. Back in 2018, I wrote the following on this blog:
*Not the person above, but someone else making similar sentiments. Post in question can be found in the comments here: https://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2018/02/elsewhere-263.html
The sneering classes have evidently learned nothing since.
Posted by: Captain Nemo | October 11, 2021 at 11:04
[ Rummages in archives. ]
(Offer does not apply to China, Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea)
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | October 11, 2021 at 11:07
I believe I see the next Theranos in the making:
I am confused. Since he has no job, does "paternity leave" from that mean he is actually going to do something, not that "Chief Impact Officer" is a real job either.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | October 11, 2021 at 11:17
Also, open thread.
Well, as seen on a Breitbart comment thread:
Q: "Why do leftists hate Ivermectin?"
A: "It kills parasites"
Posted by: Karl | October 11, 2021 at 11:29
the next Theranos in the making
I'm not sure. Theranos was over-valued on the basis of the useful service it might theoretically provide to its customers. Which customers would be actively harmed by the company's failure to follow through.
Whereas the fund to help your BettersUp is over-valued as a result of its being used to funnel slush money into the pockets of undeserving royals. Its customers would actually benefit from the company's failure to provide the service. But since that service consists of talking to someone on the phone, that seems unlikely.
Posted by: Karl | October 11, 2021 at 12:03
He has They/Them pronoun earrings, you know:
https://twitter.com/jordxnbennett/status/1447164876636438531
Posted by: Captain Nemo | October 11, 2021 at 12:11
See, for instance, Simon Schama Syndrome.
You couldn't make it up.
Posted by: Mike D | October 11, 2021 at 12:20
You couldn’t make it up.
I believe the term is revealed preference.
Posted by: David | October 11, 2021 at 12:27
You couldn’t make it up.
Incidentally, when championing rapid and massive immigration and its alleged social benefits, Mr Schama often uses the word parochial, generally to disparage those who disagree. And yet his own caricature of dissenters itself suggests a certain narrowness and lack of familiarity – not least with the lives and neighbourhoods on which his virtue would be inflicted, albeit from a safe distance.
Posted by: David | October 11, 2021 at 12:54
“So many leftist characterisations of their opponents these days seem to resort to naive pop-culture-influenced anachronisms.”
See also the utterly predictable screenshot of that unfunny That Was the Week That Was sketch.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the only people you ever hear talking about “class“ are those who claim to hate the very idea. My grandfather used to laugh himself hoarse at the recollection of a childhood friend telling him he was one of “the boss class” because he'd worked his way up from nothing to factory manager.
Posted by: Sam Duncan | October 11, 2021 at 13:07
And now I come to think of it, that's what comes to mind when I see someone calling himself a “working-class Tory”.
Posted by: Sam Duncan | October 11, 2021 at 13:08
For $249 a month (not annually), Prince Harry and Mark Zuckerberg will cure what ails ye.
Harry is already quiet wealthy (about $50 million, according to a fast internet search) so this grift cannot be excused as a desire to cease being poor.
From Wikipedia: "In June 2019, the Duke was present at the launch of Made by Sport, a charity coalition set to raise money to boost sport in disadvantaged communities. In his statement, he lent his support to the charity by arguing that its role in bringing sport into the life of disadvantaged people would save 'hundreds of millions of pounds' towards treating the issues among young people."
That sounds suspiciously like the Midnight Basketball scam that was/is so popular in America.
Posted by: pst314 | October 11, 2021 at 13:20
Restaurants and coffee: How common is it for restaurants to serve decaf to patrons requesting regular, or regular to patrons requesting decaf? Presumably because the staff cannot be bothered to keep too pots going?
Posted by: pst314 | October 11, 2021 at 13:24
Also from Damian.
Posted by: David | October 11, 2021 at 13:31
"set to raise money to boost sport in disadvantaged communities"
Skools, not so much. But hey, an NBA figure is a far, far better goal than say, a productive human being...
Posted by: anon a mouse | October 11, 2021 at 14:06
From They/them pronoun earrings
Sure, but when certain religious groups say that ...Posted by: WTP | October 11, 2021 at 14:15
Restaurants and coffee: How common is it for restaurants to serve decaf to patrons requesting regular, or regular to patrons requesting decaf? Presumably because the staff cannot be bothered to keep too pots going?
Having been a waitress in American dining establishments, I'll take a stab at answering. In the morning, when the coffee demand is high, there are multiple pots going. They may all be regular, and the rare decaf order will be instant coffee, but usually there is a sorry lone small pot dedicated to decaf. Towards evening, the demand for decaf is higher, and if the staff is not going to do both, it's going to be all decaf, to be on the safe side. I've run out of regular at times, and served decaf someone who wanted regular, but never the other way round.
Posted by: ComputerLabRat | October 11, 2021 at 14:38
ComputerLabRat: Thank you. I haven't worked in a restaurant since my teens, and that was a fast food joint. I have occasionally wondered about this, which is one of the reasons that I try to bring bottled coffee on long road trips where alertness may be important. The question was brought back to mind by a discussion elsewhere of difficulties encountered by people with food allergies etc.
Posted by: pst314 | October 11, 2021 at 14:44
pst314: I should caveat my response with where I worked - mostly fine-dining establishments, and in FL, so the very elderly were the chief customers. For most of them, getting an unexpected jolt of caffeine too late in the day was far worse than not getting any at all (along the lines of your food allergy discussion). The savvy ones who had asked for regular would insist that it be regular, and in those cases, if I was out, I would tell them a fresh pot was brewing and it would be a little. Usually they didn't mind waiting to get their fix.
Lately I have been taking long road trips, and I frequent truck stops almost exclusively on those journeys, for fuel, food, and coffee. I would guess the coffee there is caffeinated if it says it is, truckers and travelers being their chief customers, in need of the buzz, and who would complain if they didn't get it. The coffee is actually pretty good at those big truck stops (in the south anyways).
Posted by: ComputerLabRat | October 11, 2021 at 15:13
I had to laugh at the "nonbinary" person who had to pick a line to stand in "men" or "women". How dare the world not be 100% psychic!! And what does nonbinary even mean? They can't make up their minds? How can anyone guess about that? I think "it" would be more appropriate.
Posted by: ccscientist | October 11, 2021 at 15:17
He has They/Them pronoun earrings, you know
I think we’ll give that one a post of its own. Comments that-a-way.
Posted by: David | October 11, 2021 at 15:24
I had to laugh at the "nonbinary" person who had to pick a line to stand in "men" or "women".
In the comments on that thread, some would point out that there are two human sexes, and that the the entrance lines were being frisked by bouncers, so females may not want to be frisked by, or to frisk, males. Then the very next comment would be "there are more than two genders!".
Whatever happened to Follow Teh Science(tm)! Believe in Science! Gender may be a social construct, but sex is biological. Good grief there completely different internal organs and different gametes produced by each sex. There is far more difference inside and out between males and females than there are between the races, and yet you can't be trans-race no matter how hard you believe. Nor, apparently, can you be trans-weight - anorexics have body dysphoria as real as any of the transgender crowd, but no one is rushing to give them diet pills or perform bariatric surgery on them.
Posted by: ComputerLabRat | October 11, 2021 at 15:35
Lately I have been taking long road trips, and I frequent truck stops almost exclusively on those journeys, for fuel, food, and coffee...
I think you are right: They pay careful attention to what their customers want and need.
Posted by: pst314 | October 11, 2021 at 15:58
The left-leaning are fond of telling you what you can and cannot be, think, believe. My neighbour--an "of-a-type" limousine leftie--told me you can't be fiscally conservative and socially liberal. So I told her you can't be a Real Socialist™ if your husband is the CFO of Pepsi Canada and you're a part time hospital worker.
Needless to say we had very few interactions after that.
Posted by: Steve E | October 11, 2021 at 17:01
My neighbour--an "of-a-type" limousine leftie--told me you can't be fiscally conservative and socially liberal. So I told her you can't be a Real Socialist™ if your husband is the CFO of Pepsi Canada and you're a part time hospital worker.
Ha! Good one!
Seriously - CFO of Big Corporation just screams Evil Capitalist. How can she sleep at night? Or maybe she believes in what's-it-called - was linked at this here fine establishment not too long ago - Full Luxury Communism or some such. That still doesn't square the circle though. How can she (and others like her) have so much when others have so little?
Posted by: ComputerLabRat | October 11, 2021 at 21:49
How can she (and others like her) have so much when others have so little?
Their brains are an irony free zone.
Posted by: Steve E | October 11, 2021 at 22:08
pst314: old "Born Loser" daily strip:
Brutus: "I'll have a turkey sandwich."
Waitress: "We're outta turkey."
Brutus: [sigh] "All right, then I'll have a chicken sandwich."
Waitress: "Sheez, if we had chicken would I of toldja we're outta turkey?"
Posted by: Baceseras | October 11, 2021 at 22:45
open thread / open question
Where does the deliberate misspelling of the ("teh") come from? What does it mean?
O.k., two questions.
Posted by: Baceseras | October 11, 2021 at 23:21
Where does the deliberate misspelling of the ("teh") come from? What does it mean?
It originated as a typo, and somehow became popular. Decades ago. Shrug.
Posted by: pst314 | October 12, 2021 at 00:14
...somehow became popular...
As 1337 speak but co-opted by normal people usually to imply snark as in "ZOMG! Teh Patriarchy!"
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | October 12, 2021 at 00:29
Chief Impact Officer
How many impact tools do they have that they need an officer in charge of them?
Posted by: Squires | October 12, 2021 at 00:51
Officer to receive impacts? Sort of like a flak catcher?
Posted by: pst314 | October 12, 2021 at 01:04
and you're a part time hospital worker
I have a number of friends whose wives perform some sort of function at Joe Brant, and every time they try to use said status to lecture the rest of us peons about the Chinese Lung AIDS I amuse myself by reciting the litany of various medical disasters its staff are responsible for, including the time the ER nurses damn near killed me by allowing me to bleed out unattended.
My ex-wife used to nanny for wealthy families like the one you've described, and every single one of them gave her the same instruction: if there's a medical emergency, do not take the children to Joe Brant; drive the extra 15 minutes to St. Joseph's in the next city over.
Posted by: Daniel Ream | October 12, 2021 at 04:19
It originated as a typo, and somehow became popular.
I love this sentence. I'm starting a collection of uses of "somehow" as the pivot point in an explanation, on the formula: Obscurity obscurity obscurity /somehow/ clarity. There must be a hundred.
Decades ago. Shrug.
That sounds right. I feel I've been shrugging about it just that long, and only now got around to asking.
by normal people usually to imply snark
Yes, I guess I sensed the snark implication. But I hoped (and I don't know why I hoped this) that there was something more to it too.
Posted by: Baceseras | October 12, 2021 at 07:20
Several officers, to need a chief one.
Posted by: TomJ | October 12, 2021 at 10:09
A radio comedy I listened to where the comedian was describing various films and his reactions to them used the wonderful elision to get to his description of the scenes he wanted to talk about, "...because of some plot".
Posted by: TomJ | October 12, 2021 at 10:11
misspelling of the>/i>
In my case it is usually a matter of dyslexic fingers.
Ah! maybe a band name?
Posted by: asiaseen | October 12, 2021 at 10:37
I did say my fingers are dyslexic and now I can't escape. I apologise on their behalf and will send them to the correction booth forthwith.
Posted by: asiaseen | October 12, 2021 at 10:45
[heroically attempts to fix the italics.]I'm starting a collection of uses of "somehow" as the pivot point in an explanation
In my case "somehow" was shorthand for "I don't immediately remember, so I'll just offer what I do know and omit the rest."
Posted by: pst314 | October 12, 2021 at 11:00
[heroically attempts to fix the italics.]
[ Slides free straw along bar. ]
Posted by: David | October 12, 2021 at 11:49
[ fondles straw ]
Posted by: pst314 | October 12, 2021 at 13:53
Hail to Thee Straws, wearers of lips.
Good, kind, noble and blessed Straws.
Which came to us from Chaos,
To lighten our hearts and uplift our drinks.
O Straws, which have nourished mankind since the dawn of civilization,
Ultimate cylinders, surrounders of fluid,
Hail, Wondrous, battered Buskins!
We adore Thee.
We worship Thee in the fulness of thy Strawness!
O Archetypal drinkgear!
Supreme notion of Straws.
What would we do without Thee?
Wet our beards, soak our shirts, have our bitters go flat.
Protect us, Thy worshippers, good and blessed Drinkgear!
Posted by: pst314 | October 12, 2021 at 13:55
It originated as a typo, and somehow became popular. ...
...As 1337 speak
I think this was a crossover from computer geek/early Internet culture.
Probably was originally a typo in a post on one of the old message/bulletin boards, got added to the leet-speak lexicon, and propagated from there.
Posted by: ComputerLabRat | October 12, 2021 at 14:37
Is it a properly functional plastic straw or an all too soon unusably sodden paper one?
Posted by: Thomas Joyce | October 12, 2021 at 16:20
Is it a properly functional plastic straw or an all too soon unusably sodden paper one?
Wool.
Posted by: David | October 12, 2021 at 16:24
They were heavily discounted.
Posted by: David | October 12, 2021 at 16:25
They were heavily discounted
Baa baa black sheep
Have you any straws?
Yes Sir, no Sir
Too many of the bloody things
Posted by: asiaseen | October 12, 2021 at 16:57
Wool.
That explains why all the drinks taste of lanolin.
Posted by: pst314 | October 12, 2021 at 17:27
One of the replies: "My ex described himself as Working Class when we met, I found this to be untrue. His parents had been raised working class but he hadn’t as his parents had done v well. He then once called me a “council estate retard” in an argument about housework, and voted Tory. Lovely guy Thumbs up"
Is it uncharitable of me to wonder if she really was a "council estate retard?"
Posted by: Cloudbuster | October 13, 2021 at 02:03