"Just because I'm from working-class backgrounds doesn't mean I don't have higher-class ambitions. You know, it's not where I'm from, it's where I'm going that matters." Lizzie Magee, Young Apprentice semi-finallist 2011
This blog post isn't really political as such, but I'm writing it because I had a conversation recently with a couple of friends about whether or not I am middle-class. There is a bit of a backstory behind this. The school I went to until I was nearly nine was a private school, so was plainly and simply extremely middle-class. The school I went to for the next three years was in quite a working class part of Bristol, so by the time I had finished there I had had experiences of both kinds of lifestyle. The secondary school I went to for five years had everything really - people from every background and culture that you could think of. You were never surprised by anyone you met there, and that was why I loved it. And this is really why I do not feel that I am middle-class.
I grew up in a household without a huge amount of money, my mum has been a single parent for most of my life, she is a professional person but the only reason we have more money than some people is because we take in lodgers. The college I am at at the moment actually is in a more middle-class part of Bristol. I know why people think that I am middle-class, it's because on the surface I appear to be everything that middle-class people stand for. I want to show people that just because I have a nice accent, a passion for good theatre and an olive fetish, does not make me middle-class, it just makes me George Millman. I suppose because of my upbringing I've learned to not think about different social classes at all when I talk to people. In fact, the time that I have thought about it the most in my life is on the coach trip when this conversation arose, and then I just couldn't get it out of my head.
What is more, I don't think that upper-class really exists any more, in the UK at least. Middle-class has become a very broad term to make upper-class sound more acceptable. If upper-class did exist I would probably be more likely to call myself middle-class, but the term 'middle-class' has so much stigma attached to it that I simply do not feel right calling myself by it. I would not say that I was working-class by any means, but I don't feel that I am at all part of society's hierarchies. Class is not just about money and profession, it is about values and frame of mind - and my values are about everyone being equal in society, and not being part of a caste system. We need to wake up and realise that we're not in India, or in the 1950s - we should show the rest of the world that these systems are not necessary for everyone to live together and be happy with one another.
One more reason that I don't think I'm middle-class... I don't want to make a sweeping generalisation, but I don't think middle-class people challenge the status quo very much. The way things are seems all right for them, so they are happy to live with it. I'm not like that. If I think something is unfair, I challenge it. That is what this blog is for in the first place, and I think that everyone should have an equal place in society.
My nomination for someone to love and admire in this blog is Lizzie Magee, who made the statement I've quoted at the top of the page. I admire Lizzie because she comes from what some would call a working-class background, but from the statement she doesn't see herself as being working-class. I think that is wonderful, because so many people are pushed into this box their whole lives, and they accept that and never come out and open their minds to new experiences and new ways of life. I felt an affinity with Lizzie earlier this week when someone told me I was middle-class - my situation was the other way around to hers, but the principle is the same. I was being told that I was someone who I didn't feel I was, and I felt that needed to be addressed. So I've done that here on this post, which I am proud of.
So anyway... feel free to leave any comments if you'd like to agree on any points, or to vent your frustration about anything I've said... always happy to listen!
Take care, rabid readers
George
Update: Someone pointed out that Lizzie didn't actually say she doesn't see herself as working class, she said that just because she comes from a certain background doesn't mean she should be a confined to a certain lifestyle, and that she may well identify herself as working class. That is a really good point - which is why I am writing it down - but the overall meaning is the same as what I was saying. The whole point of social classes is to confine people to a certain lifestyle, and I'm trying to break away from that. Apologies to Lizzie if she reads it and doesn't agree with what I've said about her statement. I think you're great, honest!
Wednesday 14 March 2012
Monday 12 March 2012
They will never take my freedom from me
Hello!
I've been meaning to write another blog for a while, but I haven't really got around to it... and then today I saw that I last blogged over a month ago, and that was about something fairly minor, so I thought I really should do it now.
Richard O'Dwyer still hasn't been extradited, and I'm beginning to wonder whether it will actually happen. At the moment, my hopes are pinned on the theory that everyone has more important things to worry about than some guy who made a website, and this case will just fizzle out. This would obviously be a victory in many ways - it would be far better if our Government actually showed some backbone and said no, but as far as Richard is concerned, if he isn't extradited it will be far better for everyone, regardless of the way that it happens. After all, Gary McKinnon happened back in 2008, and he hasn't been extradited yet. I may be proved wrong, but I very much doubt it will happen in practice.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said for 65-year-old businessman Christopher Tappin, who has already been extradited on charges of providing arms to the Iraqis. Apparently the arms he was providing to Iran were actually batteries that supposedly could possibly be used in missile systems. He also did not export them to Iran, but to the Netherlands, from where they could possibly have been re-exported to Iran. (I confess that I actually obtained this information from something that somebody said on a Facebook comment so it may not be completely accurate - but I think that it is likely to be, as in my experience Facebook comments are often a lot more accurate than widely sourced media sources.) Anyway, he's being held in some American jail somewhere, and our Government are doing jack all for him. I think he should just have refused to go. If I was in his position, I would chain myself to the railings outside my house, and when they came for me I would stand calmly and say, 'I have made my decision, and my decision is no. I will not be coming with you today.' (That is actually a cool line from a 2006 episode of Doctor Who, but it sums up what I would want to say.) Some people would gasp at this and be like, 'But the international Governments require you to go! Whether you agree with them or not you have to go along with them!' Yes, that's all very well and good, but if you stop and think about it - I am a human, and the Governments are comprised of humans, and the only power that they have over me has been given to them by other humans. Therefore, they actually are not any better than me, and they have no power that they have not just given themselves. I firmly believe that everyone else in the world is my equal, and that is why, as I have said in my title, no one can take away my freedom.
There is one more thing I want to discuss here, and that is the UK's stance on making us more British and giving us a more British identity. What on earth does that even mean? I am British, and I would not be any more British if the Government decided that everyone had to look, dress and talk the same as everyone else. I think that the Government are distracting people from the real issues like the NHS by ironing out problems that are not really there. I'm lucky enough to have been to a really multicultural secondary school which contained students and teachers from every background, and I am so happy to have had that experience. It made me realise that being British can in fact be summed up in a sentence, and that sentence goes as follows: We can be proud to be British because we are open-minded enough to have allowed our culture to integrate itself with lots of different cultures, and we have become a really fair and balanced society because of it. There is one thing that I agree on, and that is that not enough of our immigrants are fluent in the English language, but there are two immediate counter-arguments to that:
a) If that is such a problem (and it is), we should be encouraging courses on English as a second language, not cutting the funding for said courses.
b) Lots of British people who go to live abroad never bother to learn the language, so that is very hypocritical.
My person to love, respect and admire this time is the poet Benjamin Zephaniah. I confess to not actually having read very many of his poems, but I have always thought that from what I know of him he is a really fantastic guy, and I saw him on TV recently saying the things that I have just said about this 'British identity' rubbish, and the way he made his points was one of the main things that aspired me to write this blog.
I have recently thought of a few more things I would like to blog about, so it hopefully won't be too long until the next one.
Cheerio, everybody!
I've been meaning to write another blog for a while, but I haven't really got around to it... and then today I saw that I last blogged over a month ago, and that was about something fairly minor, so I thought I really should do it now.
Richard O'Dwyer still hasn't been extradited, and I'm beginning to wonder whether it will actually happen. At the moment, my hopes are pinned on the theory that everyone has more important things to worry about than some guy who made a website, and this case will just fizzle out. This would obviously be a victory in many ways - it would be far better if our Government actually showed some backbone and said no, but as far as Richard is concerned, if he isn't extradited it will be far better for everyone, regardless of the way that it happens. After all, Gary McKinnon happened back in 2008, and he hasn't been extradited yet. I may be proved wrong, but I very much doubt it will happen in practice.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said for 65-year-old businessman Christopher Tappin, who has already been extradited on charges of providing arms to the Iraqis. Apparently the arms he was providing to Iran were actually batteries that supposedly could possibly be used in missile systems. He also did not export them to Iran, but to the Netherlands, from where they could possibly have been re-exported to Iran. (I confess that I actually obtained this information from something that somebody said on a Facebook comment so it may not be completely accurate - but I think that it is likely to be, as in my experience Facebook comments are often a lot more accurate than widely sourced media sources.) Anyway, he's being held in some American jail somewhere, and our Government are doing jack all for him. I think he should just have refused to go. If I was in his position, I would chain myself to the railings outside my house, and when they came for me I would stand calmly and say, 'I have made my decision, and my decision is no. I will not be coming with you today.' (That is actually a cool line from a 2006 episode of Doctor Who, but it sums up what I would want to say.) Some people would gasp at this and be like, 'But the international Governments require you to go! Whether you agree with them or not you have to go along with them!' Yes, that's all very well and good, but if you stop and think about it - I am a human, and the Governments are comprised of humans, and the only power that they have over me has been given to them by other humans. Therefore, they actually are not any better than me, and they have no power that they have not just given themselves. I firmly believe that everyone else in the world is my equal, and that is why, as I have said in my title, no one can take away my freedom.
There is one more thing I want to discuss here, and that is the UK's stance on making us more British and giving us a more British identity. What on earth does that even mean? I am British, and I would not be any more British if the Government decided that everyone had to look, dress and talk the same as everyone else. I think that the Government are distracting people from the real issues like the NHS by ironing out problems that are not really there. I'm lucky enough to have been to a really multicultural secondary school which contained students and teachers from every background, and I am so happy to have had that experience. It made me realise that being British can in fact be summed up in a sentence, and that sentence goes as follows: We can be proud to be British because we are open-minded enough to have allowed our culture to integrate itself with lots of different cultures, and we have become a really fair and balanced society because of it. There is one thing that I agree on, and that is that not enough of our immigrants are fluent in the English language, but there are two immediate counter-arguments to that:
a) If that is such a problem (and it is), we should be encouraging courses on English as a second language, not cutting the funding for said courses.
b) Lots of British people who go to live abroad never bother to learn the language, so that is very hypocritical.
My person to love, respect and admire this time is the poet Benjamin Zephaniah. I confess to not actually having read very many of his poems, but I have always thought that from what I know of him he is a really fantastic guy, and I saw him on TV recently saying the things that I have just said about this 'British identity' rubbish, and the way he made his points was one of the main things that aspired me to write this blog.
I have recently thought of a few more things I would like to blog about, so it hopefully won't be too long until the next one.
Cheerio, everybody!
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