[lbo-talk] trash talking the lumpenproletariat

[Bill Bartlett]

Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>B:
>
>Yeah, it's kind of weird that Woj, who used to have a
>Johns Hopkins Uni. sig line, is comparing, you, Bill
>
>[WS:] FYI, Johns Hopkins campus is surrounded by a slum, which BTW is a big
>problem for the university, because it makes it difficult to attract
>international students and fellows.  Most of the faculty and staff also live
>outside Baltimore (which is a bone of contention between the city and JHU)
>and those who do not like long commutes simply move to greener pastures.
>Quality of life is an increasingly important consideration in deciding where
>people want to work or study.
>
>I live in the city near the campus since I came to JHU in 1992 mainly
>because I like city living.  As a result of that experience, my attitude
>toward the underclass changed quite substantially.  As they say, familiarity
>breeds contempt, and a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged.  I am
>not a conservative, to be sure, but I have no sympathy toward the lumpen
>either.  I do not hate, judge or condemn them, I just do not want be near
>them.

Goodness, how terribly traumatic it must have been for you and your 
co-workers, being forced to drive your Volvos through a stinking slum 
to get to your ivory towers!  How insensitive of me to remind you of 
it, I feel like a real prick.

Perhaps, no SURELY, there are various tax deductible charities 
devoted to easing the distress of unfortunates like this? With 
psychiatric and counselling sessions, subsidised car washes to get 
the filth out, that sort of thing?

I'll have to try to make amends, pass the hat around. I'm sure all my 
mates will cry buckets of tears when I tell them the sad story. In 
fact, they'll probably even want to have regular donations deducted 
out of their dole money for such a worthy cause.

Of course that won't be much help, so much need, so little money in 
our dole cheques. Oh my stars I feel so inadequate. If only we could 
interest Sting or Geldorf, have a benefit concert, make a record!


>To say it differently, I do not particularly care what life styles people
>choose to pursue or not to pursue and for what reasons as long as these life
>styles do not impinge on mine.  I try not to judge people for how they live
>or what they do unless they harm others or animals, but I am not trying to
>save them either unless somebody asks me for help.  I do not like particular
>life styles - not only those of the lumpen, but of the suburban middle class
>as well - but generally do not rebuke people for pursuing these life styles.
>I just do not want to be a part of it.  However, it gets on my nerves when
>someone implies that I am a bad person because I do not like these life
>styles.

Again, I can only offer my most abject apologies for implying that 
you were a bad person because... well actually I can't even remember 
how I implied that. I thought I was getting hot under the collar 
about some joker who came straight out and said that my sort were 
trash. No doubt your traumatic experience riding the train through 
the slums left you so emotionally scarred that any defense of the 
kind of "trash" that lives there was bound to be interpreted as a 
personal insult.

Yes. I can see that now. God, I should have realised, its entirely my 
fault. I don't know how I'm going to live with myself!


>So it is really that simple - if somebody implies that I or people like me
>are morally suspect because they do not subscribe to a particular cultural
>trope about particular lifestyles, I am perfectly capable of paying back in
>kind.  If I hear someone saying "fuck the yuppies" I feel like saying "fuck
>the lumpen."

Oh that's so brave and plucky! You're bringing tears to my eyes. Go Woj!

Bill Bartlett
Bracknell Tas