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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be sick of hearing the 'CLASS' card played on mn?

216 replies

mumzyof2 · 09/02/2008 11:56

Is it just me? Or is anyone else sick of hearing the class divide thing mentioned on here?
As soon as someone mentions disciplining children, supermarkets , etc, it turns into a big class debate!

Why?

Why, in this day and age, when there is such a MASSIVE range of people no living in the UK, do we still give a flying toot about peoples class?

OP posts:
Vacua · 10/02/2008 14:46

I do take all those points on board, especially 'don't dish it out if you can't it'! Feel a small bit about feeling victimised or whatever when I could just as well have taken responsibility for my actions, held my hands up to it and so on. Still think there's a bit too much eagerness to judge people based on flimsiest of evidence, not just me but in general. We need to make allowances for the absence of all those non-verbal cues that, face-to-face, make seemingly outrageous comments so much more acceptable.

I think I'm still finding my feet here and getting to know what's taken seriously and what isn't, every discussion board definitely has its own unique atmosphere and etiquette (for want of a better word). There are places where you just can't survive as a participant without letting your inner meanie find its fullest possible expression, and others that call for a great deal of sensitivity and tact. Mumsnet seems to be a place where there's room for a bit of both, I've seen loads of the latter - real, solid support - and at least a sprinkling of the former.

hunkermunker · 10/02/2008 14:48

Oh, God, Xenia, you don't do you? Not for class reasons, but ew, hock burned roasts at Xenia's house!

Judy1234 · 10/02/2008 14:54

I will be putting the chicken on in about an hour. It will taste good.

As for class (I mentioned it on the smacking thread because I said and people found studies to show that the lower your class the more likely you thump your children rather than deal with them properly) just be glad you aren't in India with all those castes or an Indian here and all that fuss about whether you're marrying the right type of other Indian, never mind a rural pakistani limited to your first cousin.

Vacua · 10/02/2008 14:57

I've missed the smacking discussions but thumping is not quite the same as a smack is it?

Smacking as an ultimate sanction, when the child knows that certain behaviours are going to lead to that very consequence is probably in the same league as 'if you don't stop that you'll be going to bed without a story tonight, so I'm going to count to 10 and if I get to 10 I'm going to smack your wrist'.

Vacua · 10/02/2008 14:58

I seem to have got a bit confused there

stuffitall · 10/02/2008 15:41

vacua I didn't mean YOU dishing it out!

actually I couldn't have done because I didn't read what you said on the original thread

I'm definitely confused

hercules1 · 10/02/2008 15:43

Xenia,why are you eating a 1.99 chicken?

Quattrocento · 10/02/2008 15:45

Yes I am a bit puzzled about that. We had a chicken for lunch but it cost £10. Which shocked me actually, but I felt that at least I was standing in solidarity with my fellow MNers.

Xenia you disappoint me ...

Judy1234 · 10/02/2008 16:10

Why not. I'm a divorced single mother of 5 with big debts and the £1.99 chicken tastes fine. If anyone would like to pay off my debts then I might move to a more expensive chicken perhaps but spending more than I need on food seems a very silly thing at the moment.

lalalonglegs · 10/02/2008 16:21

Am I being unreasonable not to care that much about the welfare of chickens?

Quattrocento · 10/02/2008 16:22

Although the plea of poverty sounded kind of good but I seem to recall something about an island?

ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands · 10/02/2008 16:23

Oh God.

So we had a £1.99 chicken too. Anyone want to question me as to why, or is it obvious?!

And some of you wonder why class gets banged on about!

Quattrocento · 10/02/2008 16:27

oops - this is where I disappear - god knows when chicken became a class issue - which it obviously just has done - sorry about teasing Xenia who is probably wealthier than everyone else on the thread put together about eating a £1.99 chicken - I shall go and wash my mouth out - with value brand mouthwash before anyone asks ...

hercules1 · 10/02/2008 16:32

WHat has asking xenia why she eats 1.99 chicken got to do with class? You can be rock bottom poor and still be careful about what you eat you know. I was surprised that's all.

hunkermunker · 10/02/2008 16:33

How is it a class thing to mind about what chicken you eat.

Clearly it isn't if Xenia's munching the £1.99 ones

hercules1 · 10/02/2008 16:34

Due to various life changes we have about 50 a week to feed a family of four but still wouldnt eat 1.99 chicken.

Cam · 10/02/2008 16:35

I've never considered what class Xenia might be/think she is

littlelapin · 10/02/2008 16:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hunkermunker · 10/02/2008 16:52

Yes, good point, LL.

Class, to me, is what I shared with 34 other children when I was five.

ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands · 10/02/2008 16:54

It is not a class thing to mind what chicken you have, but (if you subscribe to the belief that money = class as many Mners obviously do) it is probably a class thing to not be able to afford as good a chicken as you'd like.

It is not a class thing to ask someone why they've bought a particular chicken, but it is probably a class thing to specifically ask Xenia why SHE only spent £1.99 on one, her above all else, who you clearly consider to be rich and/or "classy" (?)

It's not rocket science to see the connections here.. surprised I'm having to explain it to be honest!

ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands · 10/02/2008 16:57

And it's all well and good to spout on about money having little to do with class (I agree with that in the true definition of "class" - as in a worthy/honourable person).. but to deny that a majority connect money to the usual definition of "class" is stupid.. people DO!

Quattrocento · 10/02/2008 17:01

Shiny you are getting all knotted up over nothing.

Money does not equal class
Money does provide an ability to pay £10 rather than £2 for a chicken

Xenia is known to have money therefore I felt able to tease her about her choice of chicken

Nothing whatsover to do with class. You are obsessed

ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands · 10/02/2008 17:05

I am not stressed and I am not obsessed. But I can't prove that Quattro so it's fine if you want to think so.

People equate" "class" to money. Would you like to me to start quoting from my social sciences course books? "Class" is what people make of it, very rarely about what people actual are^ (which is what really matters).

Vacua · 10/02/2008 17:09

also it's totally reasonable to not worry about animal welfare, some people do and will go without meat rather than buy the kind they'd prefer but can't afford, some people don't and will spend £1.99 with or without wishing they could buy free range

and maybe there are people who buy the organic free range stuff just because they can afford it and or think it makes them look 'good'/gives them something to look down on others for but even this is a good thing if it pushes prices down by increasing demand - which is definitely happening, it is much easier to buy this sort of thing now than at any time previously

Cam · 10/02/2008 17:10

Xenia has told us why she bought the £1.99 chicken, she says she has "big debts"

Neauveau riche/neauveau pauvre

Its all neauveau

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