This insecurity repeats itself in miniature with people who went to Princeton or Yale, who will always explain that they didn't go to Harvard because Princeton and Yale offer better undergraduate experiences. The fact that this is true doesn't lessen the sting of envy. Harvard and MIT grads generally seem to think that went to the best college in the universe, as do people who went to undistinguished schools with great football teams or those sex and skiing camps in Maine and Vermont.

EDIT - I once did a summer language course with a undergrad from Brown who spent the entire time deriding the Princeton students for being "immature"; evidently she was preparing her shoulder-chip for a long life of hard use.

Last edited by Gilgamesh2003 (2012-05-21 06:44:05)

Interesting. In my world being public school, let alone having been to Oxford or Cambridge, is a strike against you to be overcome by demonstrating talent. Is there also an American version of this? Are there jobs you'll get turned down for because you've been to an Ivy and people just assume that you're going to be difficult to fit into their team?

Although I've primarily always worked in Finance, it's usually been in the more creative industries - TV, Advertising, Marketing, Publishing.

I've always found it regarded as a a turn off & it invited a load of prejudice.

I won 'em over...

But I'm not the typical product they churn out.

But the same can be said for coming from the 'barren' North West, as Formby, JG and my goodself hail from. A lot of Southerners seem to think everyone is impoverished up there and stealing cars whilst smoking super skunk hero on the dole. It's not actually true of course, but they seem to think there is no middle class and everyone is desperate and stupid.

And of course, because property was up until recently much cheaper than the South East, the middle class had much more disposable income then their cockney equivalents.

Jimbo
Here
Public school=Publically funded state school
Private school=Publically subsidized fee charging private school.

4F Hepcat wrote:

Jimbo wrote:

I've always found it regarded as a a turn off & it invited a load of prejudice.

I won 'em over...

But I'm not the typical product they churn out.

It does invite a lot of ridicule as being a chinless inbred wonder, the kind who populate politics of all persuasions and certain upper echelons of the Armed forces by birth right. Cameron fits into that model pretty well.

The last Tory PM (before this one) who had been educated at a public school was Douglas-Home, which was nearly 50 years ago. Labourites and those on the enlightened left conveniently forget that Blair was a public schoolboy when bashing Cameron.

We do need to move beyond this though. I find the class war shit boring.

formby wrote:

Reckless Reggie wrote:

The members of the current UK government are perfect examples of why socialists should try harder. What makes me despise Cameron et al. so much is their faux blokishness - Algernon Farquharson-Keiths parading as Gary Smiths - for the votes of course. You can your bottom dollare that they batten down the hatches in private and play charades for real at the weekend.

...but again what does it say about our country when they have to do this?

Well, exactly.Eden was jaded and all at sea when it came to the crunch; Douglas-Home was quite amusing in his pride in doing nothing at all. Macmillan, despite the dosh and the education and the old toff image, came from recent crofter stock - nothing wrong with that - they had fire in their bellies to get on the inside track. People don't want to be seen to be fighting their way up anymore by self-improvement as they're afraid of being branded social climbers etc. Politicians seem to feel obliged to follow populist leads instead of using foresight and judgement to lead the way. They are all too afraid to do what needs to be done because they're afraid of unpopularity and losing votes so they even go to the extent of becoming Gary Smiths. Even Blair was at it with his glottal stops and eshtuawy Lon'on accent - even the young princes are 'blokes' and unable to get through a simple sentence without umming and ahhing 'know what I mean?'.

Maybe, there is also a sense that the old toff classes made a right mess of WWI and failing to arm before WWII, lost the Empire in a mire of blood (Partition of India), demonstrated their incompetence in the humiliation of the Suez Crisis and so lost street-cred along the way. Hence it is the Day of Gary Smiff. It's 'is turn nah. He doesn't seem to be any better at leadership and policy formulation though, does he? And he looks and sounds as though he has been dragged through a hedge backwards.

Sammy Ambrose wrote:

formby wrote:

Reckless Reggie wrote:

... What makes me despise Cameron et al. so much is their faux blokishness - Algernon Farquharson-Keiths parading as Gary Smiths - for the votes of course. You can bet your bottom dollar that they batten down the hatches in private and play charades for real at the weekend.

...but again what does it say about our country when they have to do this?

I think it says that they know exactly what's required not to get voted off the particular reality show they are on.

I almost said: 'the biggest reality show of all they are on'.

But theirs is as ephemeral as any other now. They know it and their  viewers know it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzjcQEYDHho

formby wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18205999

Will Self is a sanctimonious little shit, isn't he?