To think champagne socialists aren't such a bad thing?

[DaisyChaining]

Forgive me if I've got the definition wrong - but if you're a champagne socialist, aren't you just a rich person who thinks poor people should be treated fairly and are happy to pay more tax to ensure this?

I keep seeing it used as an insult on here and I don't get it. What's wrong with that? I feel like we could do with a hell of a lot more 'champagne socialists', to be honest.

It's easy to say how terrible it is for the poor or those affected by fire while sitting I'm a 2 million pound house in Notting hill. It's false and patronising.

me i think theres more of a grounding to be called one... i did come from a middle class family and altho im certainly not middle class now i do have the knowledge that if i were ever on the streets homeless i could probably call them and have a place to stay (even tho i wouldnt really want to as i dont get on with them and they live abroad).... but my husband certainly not, hes really really had to struggle from the get go. People think hes posh because he has a london accent.
People look for weaknesses to discredit you if you say anything left wing sometimes. Like they are actively trying to search for a reason why they dont have to listen to you, something that reinforces their idea that left wing views are unrealistic and anti human nature.
I think its because some people take it as a personal criticism. Like if you say you are a vegetarian some people immediately get defensive because they think you are somehow implying they are bad person with your lifestyle choices!
I certainly dont think all right wing people are selfish and stupid.... i think they are misguided and i dont agree with them but i do know many who genuinely believe their views are actually in the best interests of society as a whole.

There are really some people who just want justification to be selfish and not feel bad about tho.... they want some way in which they can frame the left as being selfish.
All this rhetoric about people voting labour for 'free stuff' makes my blood boil too... ITS NOT FREE YOUR TAXES PAY FOR IT AND ITS AVAILABLE FOR EVERYONES BENEFIT

Also a typical champagne socialist would take offense when what they think is best for a food bank collection is corrected by a volunteer from the bank.

It's just one of those nasty sneers the right are so good at, along with "politics of envy", "virtue signalling" and "do gooding". They absolutely loathe anyone who wants to make the world a better place. There's a lot of it currently on the thread about the protest in London.

I agree with DontBuy & TheHiphop etc.

A champagne socialist is someone who is well off, usually sitting round their warm, state of the art kitchen with a few others 'like them' who talk a good 'But we must help The Poor!' rhetoric & do a good line in virtue signalling whilst doing very little in reality.

They are also display great levels of cognitive dissonance wrt The Poor, and only bother with them if they are the Right Type Of Poor.

Decent, good people who happen to be well off & are genuine are not champagne socialists - they're just good human beings.

I saw a meme on facebook about 'Kids were lured into voting by the promise of free sweeties that they are never actually going to get and everyone is celebrating this?'

That made me a bit sick. And the Suns 'joke' article about how to prevent your kids from voting because they wouldnt use their vote responsibly.

Yes, I don't understand this resentment either.

Rich person cares about poor person, what a cunt.

YABVU
definition:
A champagne socialist is someone who talks about and identifies themselves as being someone on the left wing, for example a socialist or communist, but lives a life of indulgence in extremely trivial and material things.

I have an acquaintance who is a typical champagne socialist. Well off, professional occupation, lives in a nice big house, lots of foreign holidays, kids at private school, all very middle class.

Very vocal about how she is one of the masses, has to speak up for "her people", how awful Theresa May is, how Corbyn is the Messiah etc etc etc. If she were really that bothered about the state of the UK she'd be sticking her hand in her pocket, volunteering or doing something about it. People know it's sniffed at not to be a leftie, so make all the right leftie noises to fit in.

I'm not especially rich but aware that I am comparatively fortunate.

If anyone called me a champagne socialist I'd take it as a compliment. Ditto 'bleeding heart liberal' and 'do gooder'. I mean, would you rather be called 'illiberal' or a 'do-badder'?

I don't like the term but understand the spirit of it. Corbyn for example is a millionaire who was privately educated then went to grammar school and currently earns a six figure salary. However he talks about the " rich" like its a dirty word or insult whilst seldom admitting his own extreme wealth. It makes me uncomfortable to be honest. I don't think it's a champagne socialist, I think it's simply disingenuous, I'm more a fan of honesty myself.

People know it's sniffed at not to be a leftie, so make all the right leftie noises to fit in.

YY.
It's all about the appearance.
No substance.

'lives a life of indulgence in extremely trivial and material things'

Thats life for most people now days lol!!
Smacks a bit of 'people cant really be that poor if they have mobile phones'

I mean sometimes i buy an expensive latte from the boutique hipster coffee shop..... does that mean all my views about politics are null and void?

Its a bit like 'why bother doing anything if you cant do everything?'

Some people have worked hard for their money and really should be able to indulge in trivial things to some extent and actually still give a shit about people who cant simply by talking about it, voting for people who are going to raise taxes, helping out when they can etc etc

You dont have to live in a field, dressed in a sack in order to be able to give a shit.

People know it's sniffed at not to be a leftie, so make all the right leftie noises to fit in.

And going further, they miss the heavy irony of making the right leftie noises & caring about The Poor And Disadvantaged - whilst they sneer at & look down on those very same people because they don't share their politics.

You are not Worthy Poor if you don't vote/think/act the way they expect you to.

Most of my friends and I are middle class lefties and we joke about being champagne socialists. It's a disparaging term, but we use it in a self-deprecating way of saying we're ambitious but also socialists (ambitious for everyone I suppose you could say).

When Tony Blair was asked why he wasn't a Tory, he said everyone's lives improve in a society where we care about each other.

Corbyn donates a lot of his money to charity and pays all his taxes. He published his tax return on his website which also showed he claimed about £7 worth of expenses (of which he paid back). Have you seen his modest little house. Sure it's in London so probably more expensive but I don't think he is the millionaire I keep hearing people stating he is.

Yes he has a 6figure salary but so do most MPs. He doesn't have an offshore tax haven, like I said he gives a lot away to charity.

I think its just basically used to discredit richer left wingers, as if having money means you can't understand or empathise properly. However, not everyone with money has always had money, not everyone privileged is unaware of that fact, ime.
I think people are entitled to spend their money as they see fit, if their child goes to private school that is OK, as long as they are also paying plenty of taxes to support the state education system. Btw I do understand the arguments regarding state/independent education and ideally private school would no exist but it does so.... besides if I was an MP I'd probably be cautious about where my child went to school, school can be a difficult place if your parent is well known.

I think champagne socialists are hypocrites. People who have very vocally jumped on the Corbyn bandwagon but actually live a life which starkly contrasts with their espoused principles.

E.g. I know someone who is a hedge fund manager. Earns several hundred thousand pounds per year, big bonuses. Has bought a house worth £1.5m to get into the catchment area for an Ofsted outstanding school. Has also just bought a second holiday home.

But simultaneously she talks a totally left wing game and sneers at anyone who occupies a more moderate position. She is incredibly rude about anyone else with money and anyone who doubts Corbyn.

But I've yet to see her do anything which actually helps the poor etc (other than pay v significant taxes).

I happily call her a champagne socialist and mean it pejoratively.

Pictures or it didn't happen, Gertrudebell!

Gertrude your definition is right, I've just checked:

champagne socialist
nounBRITISHderogatory
a person who espouses socialist ideals while enjoying a wealthy and luxurious lifestyle.

Not sure of the point you're trying to make Bertrand.

You think I made her up? Why, because you think that it is impossible that someone like that exists?

Yep, I'm a champagne socialist and a bleeding heart liberal and proud of it. I live in a nice house in an expensive part of the UK, earn an excellent salary and my DS goes to a great state school (which was a factor in my house purchase). I am ONLY here because I benefited from a brilliant state funded education all the way from comprehensive to post graduate level which gave me the incredible opportunity for social mobility out of a very poor early life. I refuse to pull the ladder up behind me so my voting decisions are based on commitment to education because, in my opinion, it underpins everything else (i.e. Economy, nhs, welfare, defence, housing. etc are all based on the availability of high value talented people either working directly in them or generating sufficient income to pay taxes to support them).

So yes, a glass of bubbly and universal education? Sounds bloody marvellous!

i think it's the easy put down generalisation that many love. You can see the same generalisation about Conservatives e.g. "evil Tory scum" (favourite phrase of a poster on here who has not been around lately), to defame those many Conservatives who pay their whack of taxes, volunteer in the community, give money (quietly and anonymously) to charity and are not into killing babies, but just happen to think differently about politics/economics.

It's just sloppy cliches from people who are hard of thinking.

I think YANBU if you think that's what a Champagne socialist is but just by reading this thread it seems that peoples perception of what it means is different. Like other PPs I always thought it meant the hypocrisy of 'socialists' that talk the talk but don't walk the walk? People like Maxine Peake for instance, vocally supporting Corbyn and yet really not wanting to actually pay for his policies and so using the services of 'Tax efficient' accountants so she can pay corporation tax on her few hundred thousands instead of income tax (which is approx double isn't it?) like the rest of us have to. Or the Blairs, the ultimate Champagne socialists, multi million pound property empire that includes buying up blocks of flats in Manchester for instance (doubt he's going to donate them to the 'people'!). That's what I thought a Champagne socialist was?