Hating the middle/upper classes

[Ryoko]

I was brought up on a council estate, my dad worked full time, we got some benefits.

Work is hard to find (1 in 3 people in London is unemployed) the unskilled can't even get a job flipping burgers because the Uni educated are clogging up the jobs market.

Is it wrong for me to hate the upper/middle classes?

I live in a private rented accommodation now with my other half, we both work full time
and we will need state help to pay for the baby to go to nursery or to support me to stay at home.

All I hear from the middle/upper class is insults aimed at those on benefits or in council housing or just plain working class, calling us all scroungers, work shy, underclass etc, they seem convinced that living on benefits is great the poor are poor because they are lazy and are sponging off of them and that the poor should not be allowed to have kids if they need help from the tax payer to bring them up.

while moaning about how there tax money is given to the underclass they don't bat an eyelid at running multiple cars, jetting off on holidays, think that owning a home is a right not a privilege and spend obscene amounts of money on fashion, gadgets and the like.

Am I wrong to hate them as much as they hate us?

Do the middle / upper class no longer see the working class as the salt of the earth people because political correctness has stopped them blaming societies ills on other groups so the poor working class is the last easy target for them?.

You are so right! I had a very bad encounter with some apricot stilton once! ough!

In what why am I generalising, I've already stated that my family includes those from the middle and upper classes, I am merely trying to make a thread about the fact the working class seem to be being attacked from all sides now days, being called Chavs and the Underclass and the like.

with the very vocal people living there rich lives insulting the poor and moaning about them being funded by the tax they pay on many forums .

Serious debates about social issues/responsibilities appear to be impossible here, I'm fed up with being insulted and people focusing on making stupid jokes about sky diving and horses like a pack of school kids.

Screw this, I've had enough of you people

I want to know what counts as the silly things the middle class spend their money on?

I have three degrees and never got a horse. I am going to enquire tomorrow - do you think I will be able to get three? Or possibly I ruined my chances of getting the horse because I never went sky diving?

I'm allergic to horses - perhaps I could have a few goats instead - I don't want to feel that I've missed out

If you want a serious debate, how about you start it with a serious post, unlike the nonsensical ramblings in your OP?

Don't let the door hit you in the arse on your way out, flounceypants.

How very dare we pay all of that money in taxes AND then spend the rest of it on educating ourselves, diamond knickers and sneering lessons.

Good one! Can MN go back to normal now please?

I think you're eating in the wrong places gorionne

I agree with speedy. (the sensible post before the tenderizing horse meat one )
But I am going to play devil's advocate slightly and say, yes, I'd agree with OP that there is a bit of a nasty tendency amongst people I know to laugh at 'chavs', perhaps because no-one I know identifies as being one. But maybe that's cos I'm middle-class, and so I guess are most of my friends. Having said that, I live on benefits at the moment, because I choose to prioritise raising my child, and my partner is a student. Yes, it will be difficult to exit the benefit trap, and to re-enter the jobs market, but I don't think I'm going to start blaming anyone else for that! I have made the choices I've made myself. I came from a poor background financially, but rich in education. I went to uni, but now have large debts. What class does that make me? If the labels still have any meaning at all (and I do wonder), I guess i'm middle class, and I don't mind saying that at all. Never had a horse though! i think the lesson here is, basically, it's tempting, but dangerous, to generalise. And it's daft to waste energy hating other people.

at everyone.

I think a massive amount of silly generalisations are going on here from the OP. I havent read all the posts, so sorry if I'm just repeating myself. I work in a 'middle class' profession and most of my friends would probably class themselves as 'middle class'. I don't know any who have horses or three cars! I know a lot who are struggling to support ther families, have to have both people working to keep a roof over their heads and don't go on holiday even once a year! If we are going to generalise, we struggle to pay our bills while our next door neighbours live in an identical house to us on benefits and can afford private gym membership! ( They are very nice, but we would never be able to afford the particularly swanky gym near us, and it's not because we spend all our money on designer clothes either)

Don't go! Seriously, if you want to debate start by answering my questions.

People on here starting laughing and drifting because your OP was such a generalising rant. If you want to discuss the issue like a big girl, come back and we'll have a sensible discussion about your woes!

Please not that by 'big girl' I meant adult female. I was not suggesting that because you are WC you must be obese!

In response to By Ryoko Wed 31-Mar-10 18:01:45

To avoid people thinking you are generalising, you might want to temper you view with "some" rich people/upper/middle class people (whatever you wish to call them) rather than just saying rich ones are making fun of poor ones in such a cut out way.

Between you and me having a degree does not guarantee a life of luxury. DH has one and we live in a rented accomodation. Most graduate live in the real world , have to work, can loose their job... like anyone else. If I had to desctibe us as a family we are very much working class but I have very rarely felt put down by people who had a bigger fortune than me and never ever have I felt underclass!

1)If you are struggling that much why are you having a baby? Another mouth to feed and yes, another person for others to support.

I'm not struggling at all, I'm complaining about those who are rich who complain about the poor being helped, I have a nice flat thats large enough for three and we both have jobs that pay well enough.

2. Why do you not move out of London where your rent may be cheaper?

I'd love to move out of london but then we would both have to find jobs outside of london first, I never complained about the rent anyway.

3. Why not either you or your partner look into some form of training?

I have training that was no help at all in getting me a job and what has training to do with anything anyway.

4)You are aware aren't you that plenty of people on here actually grew up in real poverty (myself included) yet I made the decision that I could either carry on in the same mould or take it upon myself to break the cycle.

And you are aware are you not that I was trying to start a serious debate about the way the poor especially those on benefits are treated like scum and that greed and selfishness has become the norm with people moaning about where the tax they pay is spent.

You seem to assume just because I started off saying I'm from a council estate and used burger flippers as an example of a low paid job that I am in that position.

Well I'm not I'm just used to being insulted as I was born on a council estate and was unemployed for much of my life before I finally got a job and I did a lot of training during those years from MCSE to car mechanic.

I am a games tester and my other half is a jeweler.

I don't know why anyone has to hate anyone else!

You must mix with complete twats, as I see you live in London which for some is the centre of the Universe....I have come across very few people that do not understand the poverty trap for some very low income families.

You know, there's very little difference between degrees and other kinds of training, some of which you have undertaken. It's all education, one way or the other.

And you may know or have come across some idiots who treat 'the poor' like scum, but idiocy is not the preserve solely of the middle/upper classes, sadly.

You cannot have a 'serious debate' with such sweeping generalisations as you have made as your basis.