Recently we've been seeing a long lost phrase creeping back into the media - class warfare. Sadly, they're only talking about the opportunistic ranting of Gordon Brown.
What they definitely aren't talking about are the ever-nastier attacks of rich against poor, where the most vulnerable find their safety nets cut, their schools shut down and their public transport turned into a giant monopolistic cash cow while front line public services are quietly gutted for saleable meat. Nor are we talking about the private profit, public risk system which has been foisted on us by the clever, astonishingly ruthless bastards who own well, everything.
Instead, it's back to the old, faintly ridiculous cry of "Red Labour" as Gordon Brown has the audacity to point out that David Cameron's loyalties may in fact lie with his wealthy family and friends rather than with the masses.
Mr Brown has laid himself more than open to the return cries of spitefulness and hypocrisy (most of his cabinet are just as toffy as Cam's crew and their policies are identical). But these media missives themselves reek of such. Where were the cries of "class warfare" when the cuts were announced? Where were those cries when Brown, as with every other political leader, went cap in hand to the CBI recently to demonstrate his obedience to their desires? Where are they today, when employers quietly announced in the business pages that another round of attacks on the remaining shreds of their employee pensions was imminent?
The answer is that the media definition of class war is "anything which makes rich people feel uncomfortable or interferes with them doing whatever they please". Rich people relentlessly screwing over anyone beneath them in the food chain is simply "good business sense".
Minette Marin asks in her comment piece for The Times:
Is there something about being rich, highly educated and well travelled that makes them unfit for office?
No, of course not. Education and knowledge of the world are both good things and some of the best of people can come from wealthy backgrounds. What makes them unfit for office is that they are upholding a centuries long tradition of iron control over every single facet of our daily lives for the benefit of a tiny proportion of the population which would prefer to let their rest of their species live in vicious poverty rather then share the tiniest part of their ill-gotten gains.
That they wear an Eton tie while repeating the same tired old rubbish about us "all being in this together" is merely an aggravating factor.
Comments
Quote: No, of course not.
At the risk of being pedantic; the education they get is not neutral, it's a training within an elitist little Etonian world for a ruling role in class society. And it's the "office" itself that's "unfit", surely - unless you're only intending to making a liberal critique of who occupies the office rather than of class society itself. The above could easily be read as meaning that installing the 'right' people would legitimise the ruling class "office" of state.
And why does this have the 'Class War' tag? Have you joined, or did you intend a non-organisational 'class war' tag?
(I fixed the tags)
(I fixed the tags)
Quote: What they definitely
Thats whats going to happen when the fucking tories get in.
I'm glad though that "class warfare" as a term is back, i'm hoping it will raise class consciousness.
well no outlaw, that's just
well no outlaw, that's just the point, the way it's being used is depicting labour politicians against some of the Eton educated Tory politicians. This is a mystification of what class is actually about.
In terms of your first sentence - this is what has been happening under a labour government. And is also what is proposed by all the major parties after the next election.
It will be worse under a tory
It will be worse under a tory government, read their pledges.
Edit: At least the Labour government are going to tax the rich alot.
And how won't it raise class consciousness among the masses, when it's in the mainstrema media?
"OH DEAR WHAT DOES THIS CLASS WARFARE ME?"
"OH WHAT? THERE IS STILL SUCH A THING AS THE WORKING CLASS?"
"VIVA LA REVOLUCION!"
if it presents class warfare
if it presents class warfare as labour politicians versus Tory politicians, with labour politicians representing the working class then that does not help the "revolucion" at all. Quite the opposite in fact.
The labour government are going to tax the rich a lot are they? Taxes for the rich and the Thatcher were far far higher than they are today under labour. Labour have privatised vast swathes of public services that the Conservatives never dared to - schools and big chunks of the NHS for example.
Regardles of how it's
Regardles of how it's presented, people will still be started to identity with a class, something that hasn't happened in a long time, if you think thats bad then well, why? I think your logic must be flawed.
I'm not a labour supporter, but they're better than the Tories, the 50% tax hike, the tax on bankers bonuses?
The Tories aint going to do that, Gordon Brown is more for the working class than David Cameron.
If the way class war is
If the way class war is portrayed in the media is Labour vs Tories then it's just as bad as when class war was portrayed as the Soviet Union vs The Free World. It's plain wrong, and moreover makes people feel that class war has nothing to do with them and their everyday lives, rather than being a cogent analysis of it.
Alot of working class people
Alot of working class people still connect with Labour, there has also been speculation that "new-labour" is dead. (Nationalisation of banks,rail and greater taxation on the rich).
I don't care how it's portrayed in the media, if people are hearing about class it will make them think more about where they stand in society, it will make them notice the haves and the have nots.
The Outlaw wrote: Alot of
The Outlaw
I don't see the relevance of your first sentence here. As for the second, well that's just your opinion, and there is no evidence whatsoever for it, so I don't see the point in responding to you further.
So if people hear about this
So if people hear about this thing called "Class Warfare" it won't make them think what so ever? What is your view of people, because it seems to be very dim.
And my first sentence was in reply to "oh if class warfare is being portrayed as labour vs tories". Incase you haven't realised, alot of people who are working class still vote labour... Go figure, New Labour was the one that embraced the middle-upper classes, and there is proof that new labour is dead.
The Outlaw wrote: Incase you
The Outlaw
Whereas no working class people at all helped vote Thatcher in.
Three times.
Outlaw most of the point of
Outlaw most of the point of my post was to illustrate how the media talks about class war only in terms which portray it as spiteful and divisive bitching by the jealous against their betters.
I'm all for people talking about class but if it's only in condemnatory terms that's damaging rather than useful. Incidentally, new labour is nowhere near dead, despite the wet dreams of the Trots there's absolutely no chance that John McDonnell is getting in any time soon and even if he was, there's still no way he'd be able to make any significant changes to government policy.
Too late, Rob...the NAZI
Too late, Rob...the NAZI ADMINS have banned THE OUTLAW. His 48 hour reign of terror lit up our lives for such a brief moment.
notch8 wrote: Too late,
notch8
Was that because of him telling Steven. to fuck off? Because that's fair play imo (JK Steven. plz no b&)
~J.
No publicity is bad, even
No publicity is bad, even though it will be portrayed in the media in a certain fucking way it will still have an impact.
New Labours impact on the Labour Government will stay but they have done a few things for the workers. Though it is half-hearted, it's still more than the tories would do for us.
So, after his dozen or so
So, after his dozen or so posted sloganeering rants calling for immediate revolution in the abstract, as soon as there's any test of consistency the 'Outlaw' runs into the arms of Labour whining "please save me from the nasty Tories". You belong in the SWP.
Ret Marut wrote: So, after
Ret Marut
Actually it's entirely consistent with his stated politics. He believes revolution can only take place through the state, and has made this clear before.
It's all in the bin.
~J.