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Alumbrado -> RE: The way we see 'us' and 'them' - who are we? Who are they? (6/1/2007 3:09:59 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: stella40
I'm regurgitating a posting I made on another website in the UK which specifically addresses a social phenomenon in the UK, but I'm curious about whether what I am writing about is specific to the UK, or are such attitudes found elsewhere in other countries? Is it a similar situation in the USA? In other European countries? And what about those in the UK - do they see something similar?
Here goes...
Read various postings and you will find different people come under attack from others - gays, fat people, benefit claimants, asylum seekers, even Poles and migrant workers from Eastern Europe. But the ones who get the most stick are benefit claimants - it's so socially unacceptable, and you come across often opinions such as:
'I work and pay Income Tax which goes to subsidise these layabouts'.
Yes. Heard it all before. John Gaunt, Mike Mendoza, et al, these 'decent', 'honest' right wing working class heroes and others in the media - the right wing media - sympathising with all these so hard done by working people who have to pay income tax to support the benefit claimants, single mothers, asylum seekers and others who conform to the stereotype of 'them' - people who are socially unacceptable or who don't fit in with mainstream society.
And if that person appears to fit neatly into a socially unacceptable stereotype we don't stop and think and wonder about the reality and circumstances of that person, we just assume. And we assume because we are conditioned by the media to perceive that person as persona non grata or socially unacceptable.
There's a lot of working people who are feeling pretty pi**ed off at the moment and it's understandable. This 'free market' economy has been with us years, there have been many years of promises (and lies), made by Conservatives - Thatcher, Major and then by New Labour - Blair, and the promises either haven't been fulfilled or they've been fulfilled with a hidden price. Who are you going to vote for? Does it matter? Recent election results and the low turn out suggest not. We as a nation were promised so much but it appears that the fruits of these promises have not gone to the people but have been shared by the big companies, the multinationals, the privatised companies, the government and the media - no matter who you are going to vote for, the political mafia and power dynamic remains the same.
How many people got themselves into debt during the Thatcher years or took on a mortgage? How many people are still paying off their debts? How many people have remortgaged? And how many people have lost out?
The British aren't getting it on a plate any more. That gulf between Unemployment Benefit and salaries during the 1980's has narrowed to a very thin dividing line between today's salaries and JSA or Income Support. People who are working have to work harder, longer and be more competitive to stay in the job market, and more people on benefits find themselves in an even bigger benefit trap. Whether employed or not in many cases you are screwed. Most people perceive this and they are not happy bunnies. Someone must be responsible, someone must be to blame.
And you really think the government is going to accept the blame? Or the political mafia? No, of course not. They're smart, they know what's going on. And it's still the same method of government as it always has been on these islands - divide and rule. And who divides and rules? The media.
And the media tells lies. Lies, lies, and more lies, even great big fat stinking porkies. Remember the weapons of mass destruction? Can anyone even remember the direct threat Saddam was to have posed to this country?
And one of the biggest myths is that working people pay income tax to support people on benefits, single mothers, asylum seekers, etc. If this was true this country would have gone bankrupt many years ago. But it hasn't. Your income tax doesn't support anyone but yourself. The fact that you're working just makes you a bit less subsidised than people on benefits and a lot less subsidised that people in prison.
True you pay National Insurance contributions which once supported people on benefits and paid for pensions, but that was many years ago when there was work to be had and nobody spent more than a few months on the dole or off sick. But people spend much longer on benefits and thus benefits are paid out of the vast sums of taxes paid by large multinational corporations, privatised firms and the fatcats (media companies included) which also funds the NHS, prisons, roads, and subsidises your monthly season ticket, Travelcard or Oyster Card. Paying Income Tax isn't the big issue - the big issue is you being employed and spending as much of your income as possible on consumer goods and getting it tied up in credit - this is what keeps the economy going.
This explains the stigma attached to people on benefits and others such as asylum seekers - they have no disposable income, they are not profitable, and therefore in the eyes of the Establishment they have no social value. And you if you are employed only have social value because you are perceived to have a disposable income. The reality might be, and often is different, your income goes on mortgages, rent, bills, credit card bills, you know you have little disposable income, but to maintain this status quo the media has you believing you are doing everyone a great service because you are paying income tax.
Arguably we have a one party dictatorship, a media which spreads propaganda and lies and yet unlike other countries many do not think in terms of 'us' (the people) and 'them' (the Establishment) but more in terms of 'us' (those who earn their own disposable income) and 'them' (those that don't). And this is what allows the Establishment and media to take us - the people - for mugs every time. It is also destroying our society.
Only the 'them' among us is getting bigger, and the 'us' is getting smaller, which is why the Establishment wants cheap labour from Eastern Europe so badly. Only they are not 'them' but 'us' - people just as exploited as you. Maybe it's time to wake up and smell the coffee. Before it's too late.
Good points, and yes the same things exist in the US and elsewhere...perhaps a slightly different flavor, but the same dynamics at work.
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