to hate how reverse snobbery seems acceptable to many on this board and RL?

[mayorquimby]

maybe i'm just having a bad day/week/month/year but for some reason i seem to be seeing more and more of it on here and in RL i've noticed people seem to think it's completely acceptable.i think it was another thread somewhere that set me off but i don't want to quote it as it's seem like i'm having a go at one person when in reality you see it everywhere.
this isn't a troll or a wind up, it's a genuine question, with the amount of threads on here at the moment about how the economy has gone to shit and the politicians have been useless (which i largely agree with) it seems to be acceptable to have a go at them because of their background. how many times do you see "public schoolboy" used as a negative comment? and bcause of my accent/where i grew up people i barely know in RL seem to think it perfectly acceptable to comment on my poshness/background as a seemingly legitimate basis to invalidate my arguments/opinions?

this isn't a class warfare saying that you can't knock posh people who are twats, just knock them for being twats rather than their background. i know the amount of abuse i'd get if i used the term "working class" about someone as a negative connotation on here and rightly so, because it's ignorant and lazy/. so why is it acceptable in reverse?

rant over

What are your views on John Prescott, Morningpaper?

Surely you'd only vote Labour if you wanted everyone either to (a0 live on benefits (b)in poverty or (c) work in public service?

Morning. I think most politiacl parties, including Labour are completely out of touch with reality.

I think I've made my views on John Prescott and post-coital pies known in the past...

It's true, many Labour MPs are hardly less elitist than anyone else. Look at Shaun Woodward... isn't he worth gazillions? This isn't really about politics. It's about treating everyone equally (as long as you treat some people more equally than others).

The labour gvt has vastly increased the number of public sector 'non-job'workers because they then have a self-interested client group of voters who will keep them in power in perpetuity - they think. Anyone starting a business now has a whole load of hoops to jumpt thru, policed by jumped up nobodies from the local council who haven't the slightest inkling of how to create wealth. Inevitably anyone wirh a scrap on enterprise will leave the country.
Dh has a business employing 40 people, but the gvt seem to think he is IBM by the amount of red-tape they insist on. So he is selling up to a foreign competitor, and the likely outcome is those jobs will move overseas, thus reducing the tax base here. That is very sad, after 20 years, but he has had enough - and I doube he will be the last

I am working class. Parents are police officers and a council office employee. I also work in the public sector.

I think that there is inverted snobbery on mumsnet, more so than in real life.

Mumsnet (in general) seems to respect only those that have really struggled for what they have (remember all the envious threads about "I only earn X amount but ....."). I dont see why people cant just relax a bit about it.

I do not mind that a lot of people are "better off" (materially) than me. Thats life. If I had wanted to be "better off", I would have worked harder and gone off to the city and done a shitty broker type job .... abd been miserable. At the same time though I think I am quite lucky and comfortable, so maybe I would be more resentful if I was unhappy?

My dad was given away (informally) when he was about 1. He spent years in and out of childrens homes, and even homeless for a short while. It hasn't stopped them from making good lives for themseves, and they don't spend their days resenting what they could have had (like I think some people on here do).

I appreciate that there are wider issues than money or job, but they are the ones that I personally notice on here.

There is just general sneering at each other on mumsnet, as there is in real life.

Reverse snobbery is a nonsense anyway. Those at the top of society are in the position of power and privellege so tough, take the rough with the smooth.

Like white people saying they are discriminated against (in this society). Utter clap trap.

But what about men? I feel quite sorry for men in contemporary British society. I am female).

I feel sorry for everyone.

It certainly irritates me when people are assumed to be higher or lower "class" than someone else because they are better off.

My mum would say we're middle class - she's from a MC background, but my dad's from a poor farming family. So I never thought I was either.

I think in our society today the lines are so much more blurred than they used to be, and anyone can be successful or rich, not relating to how posh they are. But for me, a measure of class is how somebody behaves, and treats people.

You are allowed to think what you like of course, but it's how you treat people that's important.

My in-laws had seven children and were very poor. They worked their arses off on their farm, went to church and are the kindest, most non-judgmental and therefore "classiest" people I know.
At the opposite end in a coffee shop yesterday a very well spoken man and clearly well off man saw me standing up from our table and asked if we were off so he could move his family on to our larger table. I smiled and said yes, we're just waiting for the bill, I'll let you know - he just came over, plonked his coffee in front of me and continued conversing loudly with his family from his spot next to me, trying to edge me backwards away from my chair so he could sit down! I'm 6 months PG and only half had my coat on, son still in highchair etc, no bill as yet, I was gobsmacked!!
Sounds like I'm re-inforcing the posh twat thing there actually, but again I know some of the most humble and kind people who you would never know had a big bank account.

So I think people should think less about the labels they think they have and more about what they are projecting. Back to my ideal world to play my harp now

I suppose I mean that I am "proud" of being working class and yet if I were middle class (if that still exists?) I would be embarassed.

I actually feel better about myself in working class terms (despite good Uni, comfortable job, living in nice area etc).

To me, this indicative (only IMO) that working class is awarded more value nowadays

The middle class people I know (well those who consider themselves m/class ) just seem to drink more wine at lunch, is that the definition?

Class isn't really about income though is it? It is about education and responsibilities you hold in your career, there's a pyramid type thing which explains the class system. Rich city bankers can drive around in sports cars and so can drug dealers!! I do belive intellect makes us richer and is certainly what I would want for my children, I definately get 'snobby' when I see the likes of Katie Price advocating her career choice and 'look at all my stuff...' attitude whilst declaring "and Im thick!" Surely most would want our daughters to have the intelligence an education provides, than the cash flashing your bits provides!!

and what about the underclass? I have utter repect for the working class, my dad was a quarryman and worked over 50 hours week so yes I feel outraged at the numbers of people on benefits through choice? A group of people highly skilled at swinging the lead and encouraging others to get on the housing list, claim for more kids, alchol dependency etc, we all know people like this who live in decent houses, have nice tv's x boxes etc but can not work for whatever reason, thus undermining people that truly need benefits! yes I am snobby about them and they deserve it!

No not in real life. I study social policy so I write about it but not talk about it, its almost a bit too sensitive?

I sort of do because I want to change the language. I seem want to talk about the people in the middle strata, who pay their taxes, don't get involved in crime, go to work and pay their bills. We always pay through our teeth for everything and can't opt out because of lack of big bucks.

Snobbery is wrong, regardless of who has that attitude.

I admit that I'm a working class snob - there are things that I find disdainful from all
strata of society