The Shining Ones
- Thread starter luka
- Start date
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
I suppose the "more than human" thing is what the machine is selling as an ideal. Whether or not its true doesn't matter.
Apologies if I've been cloth-eared.
I have been thinking about this stuff in the last few weeks as I've just moved to an area of London where the juxtaposition of middle-class comfort and working-class ... can't think of a good word for this... I don't want to say squalor, but it's something like that. Anyway, those two states of life are right up against each other.
This will sound appropriately pathetic, but I went into an Asda the other day (which I'd normally be too snobby to go in) and it all seemed nice, but then I picked up some cookies that were reduced but turned out to be completely stale, and the contactless machine took ages to work (I am ashamed to be typing this) - and it was just a little indication of "oh, when you have this much less to spend your life is just less likely to run as smoothly as I'm used to".
For the last four/five years I've been living in an area of London which is pretty much all middle-class families, very green, insulated in large part against poverty. And I can see that my attitude to politics has been effected by this.
There's also a fascinating repulsion I feel towards poverty - fascinating in that I can see why people erect mental barriers against believing it can really be that bad, or that its worth thinking about that, because its viscerally different to being comfortable, it's not somewhere you want to be.
Apologies if I've been cloth-eared.
I have been thinking about this stuff in the last few weeks as I've just moved to an area of London where the juxtaposition of middle-class comfort and working-class ... can't think of a good word for this... I don't want to say squalor, but it's something like that. Anyway, those two states of life are right up against each other.
This will sound appropriately pathetic, but I went into an Asda the other day (which I'd normally be too snobby to go in) and it all seemed nice, but then I picked up some cookies that were reduced but turned out to be completely stale, and the contactless machine took ages to work (I am ashamed to be typing this) - and it was just a little indication of "oh, when you have this much less to spend your life is just less likely to run as smoothly as I'm used to".
For the last four/five years I've been living in an area of London which is pretty much all middle-class families, very green, insulated in large part against poverty. And I can see that my attitude to politics has been effected by this.
There's also a fascinating repulsion I feel towards poverty - fascinating in that I can see why people erect mental barriers against believing it can really be that bad, or that its worth thinking about that, because its viscerally different to being comfortable, it's not somewhere you want to be.
luka
Well-known member
Sometimes you'll find, maybe what Danny l calls your character armour has a chink in it that day, maybe you accidentally took some drugs, whatever the reason, you'll actually really notice how fucked the people around you are. How bad poverty has got in this country, how austerity has ravaged it. Not that it wasn't always there, but things are very very bad now. The worst I can remember seeing it. You can really get shaken if you accidentally open yourself up to it.
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
Of course there's a cloistered airless quality to rich places which I find tedious/repellant - I lived in Bath for a brief period and that was arid. I moved back to Bristol afterwards, living in St. Pauls, which used to be a lot more dangerous but is still not upmarket, and I felt happier there.
I hope it's clear that I'm not judging these places by the PEOPLE in them. I'm talking more about the obvious signs of poverty - litter, vandalism, stuff falling apart, etc.
I hope it's clear that I'm not judging these places by the PEOPLE in them. I'm talking more about the obvious signs of poverty - litter, vandalism, stuff falling apart, etc.
luka
Well-known member
Didn't you just say poor people are scum, and what's worse, poverty might be contagious and you're afraid proximity will lead to you getting infected?
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
That's what my heart tells me, yes.
luka
Well-known member
The gated compound with its own private security services
Private health care
Private education
Perhaps helicopters and private jets so not even the public roads have to be used except when strictly necessary
The street is the foundation of democracy. The shared fabric is what it's all about
Private health care
Private education
Perhaps helicopters and private jets so not even the public roads have to be used except when strictly necessary
The street is the foundation of democracy. The shared fabric is what it's all about