Tuesday 3 November 2020

Smug gits

It seems to be taken as read nowadays that anyone visibly privileged or successful or advantaged or fortunate is therefore smug/ self-righteous/ condescending/ gloating and generally looks down on the less fortunate. I seem to have fallen into that category, which is weird to say the least.

This is a very simplistic view of other people. Yes, a lot of privileged people do indeed look down on the less fortunate and blame them for their own setbacks. They do indeed sneer and scoff from their ivory towers.

But there are plenty more who are well aware that their privilege is very much a matter of good luck and personal circumstances and that those who're struggling in life simply haven't been as lucky and are coping as best they can in distressing and daunting situations.

I think for example of those celebs who have called for better mental health services, an end to food poverty, an end to homelessness, an end to domestic violence and all sorts of other social advances - as well as donating large sums to charity.

Lots of famous figures have stressed that they grew up in abusive and impoverished households, and it was only through a lot of luck and unexpected opportunities that their adult life has been more favourable.

It's easy to get the wrong impression from all those self-satisfied individuals - MPs, business owners and the like - who regularly appear in the media flaunting their wealth and power and clearly quite ignorant of the hand-to-mouth existence that typifies so many ordinary lives in this brutal political era.

Yes, I'm more privileged than most, but that doesn't mean I'm indifferent to all the poverty, misery and dashed hopes hidden behind other people's front doors.

You'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to see it and be upset by it.

Pic: Multi-millionaire Old Etonian MP Jacob Rees-Mogg

33 comments:

  1. I am not privileged, successful or advantaged in any way but, am very fortunate compared to many others of my vintage. Perhaps this is why, I may not be considered as a smug so and so. More likely, if I am, then I am not aware of it.

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    1. Ramana: That's the thing, you know how fortunate you are so you don't look down on those less fortunate.

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  2. *Gags at the sight of Mogg*
    Do you mind, I've just had my lunch.
    Sx

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    1. Ms Scarlet: The sight of him sprawled on the Commons benches just said it all about his upper-class arrogance.

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  3. I am far from privileged in the standard sense but am, I suppose. I don't have the terrible worries of those around me of paying my bills. So I view that as privilege. My cupboards are full, my freezer is full. Daughter and Grandgirl and Niece and Nephew make sure I am OK and drop off countless wee gifties along with food.

    Of the 6 of us siblings. 3 are multi-millionaires with many homes and properties and 3 are on the very much lower money scale. And interestingly, us 3 poorer are by far the happier and take nothing for granted but celebrate the small things that lighten our hearts.

    I think the secret in not being seen as smug is to write more of the journey which got one to a good place. The challenges and pain. And appreciation of the littles in life.

    XO
    WWW

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    1. www: My family is varied as well. Jenny's brother is very well off while her sister just about keeps her head above water. I think you're right, the more you know about someone's journey through life, the less smug they appear.

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  4. I’ve noticed the subtle change from it being about people who have money to people who are college educated, well traveled, and ‘woke’ looking down on those who are not.

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    1. Bijoux: Not sure what that makes me! I dropped out of my university course and I'm pretty scathing about the "wokerati". I'm well travelled though. Perhaps I should be looking down on the wokesters?

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  5. I have been poor and I have been rich. It is impossible for me to forget having been poor and doing what I can to help those still struggling. So, yes I am now privileged but not, I think, smug.

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    1. Linda: That's the crucial thing, you've been poor so you understand what it's like. Unlike the mega-rich who've never known a day's poverty in their life.

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  6. We are not privileged, but not poor either. Both of us came from lots of work and saving money for college or new shoes. Sometimes the celebrities lecture my generation about politics and equality from one of their mansions.

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    1. Susan: Indeed, there's so much hypocritical "concern" from those who've never had to wonder where the next meal's coming from.

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    2. Saving money for college or new shoes makes the assumption there is something to save and when people with a college education say they are not privileged all I can do is laugh

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    3. Kylie: Amen to that. A college education and likewise a professional qualification.

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  7. I think of myself as privileged. It's not that we have that much, but we had the chance to get a good education and create a lifestyle that is meaningful to us. We've always lived below our means because we were both fairly poor when we grew up and also prefer a simple life. We were incredibly lucky to have been born at the right time, and I don't take that for granted. I count my blessings.

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    1. Jean: Yes, you know how privileged you are because you were once poor. You don't assume people are poor because of "bad budgeting" or because they "fritter away their money".

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  8. Nick, I don't think it's smugness that's the problem, it's outright lack of awareness. Smug people at least know they are better off in some way but its the privileged who declare themselves not privileged who are distasteful. It's just like saying "I'm not racist, I have black friends"

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    1. Kylie: Absolutely, a lack of awareness. They've never lived in a mould-ridden bedsit with the bailiff knocking on the door. They think being poor is a "lifestyle choice".

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  9. I think smugness is a big problem, but as Kylie above says, smugness is based on lack of awareness. and also lack of compassion. these people have ALWAYS been around, throughout history.

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    1. Jenny: Indeed, lack of awareness and compassion. Some people simply screen out what they don't want to know about, and hope it will go away.

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  10. that saying... "there but for the grace of God go I."
    perhaps it is condescending even though meaning not to be. just give me a flushing toilet... clean water... simple food... and a chance for quiet rest when I need it.
    comparison robs one of joy.
    and my own ego wants to say Mister Jacob Rees-Mogg doesn't look very joyful. but perhaps he is.
    I wouldn't know. I don't like his hat though.

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    1. Tammy: Agreed, comparison robs one of joy. If you're enjoying your life, there's no need for comparison. And yes, Mr Rees Mogg doesn't look as if he's enjoying his life. He looks as if he's just seen something very distasteful.

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    2. Tammy: Doesn't he look like someone out of Dickens?

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  11. The way society is now, the person who despises those living on the street could be there themselves given just a little bad luck...

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    1. Fly: Absolutely. A rising number of once well-off middle class families are now resorting to food banks.

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  12. LOL! yes. very Dickensian. or maybe a rich man's Groucho Marks! (the eyebrows you know.)

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    1. Tammy: No, not quite Groucho. He had a moustache and always looked happy.

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  13. I don’t think the premise stated in your first sentence is what everybody thinks though no doubt some do. Unfortunate if you’ve encountered some who may have made false assumptions about you. That’s their misfortune.

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    1. Joared: I think quite a lot of people think like that. Resentment and envy against those who are "sitting pretty" seems to be growing. And yes, it's very much a false assumption in my case.

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  14. People like Mr Rees-Mogg encourage that assumption.

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    1. Liz: They do indeed. He's so conspicuously arrogant and self-satisfied.

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  15. I'm supremely aware of my privilege. I'm white, for one thing. I'm educated. I have a good job and a safe home. Those things make me luckier than most n the world and it's one of the reasons I'm so committed to working with less advantaged people.

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    1. Agent: Indeed, we're both very privileged and extremely lucky not to be struggling for survival day in and day out.

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