Ambrose Ambles

 Twelve Caesars.

Book four..

Part two...: Discourses on the 12 “Stations” of Christopher Corridini.

My fuckin’ oath ; “NOW”..for never has a more useless mob of bastards held sway over a more indolent mob of servile masses..Christ!...how many times have I railed against these criminals on social media blog-sites to only get slandered and reviled by the great unwashed of wannabe middle-class, negative geared, franking-credited wankers!...Their comments on my pieces tell the story of their low wit and even lower intelligence…so many not even knowing the status of what constituted a “middle-class” let alone if they belonged to it!

 

Here read an example and then the commentary..

Third Station; Jesus falls for the first time.

How an incompetent middle-class and their hangers-on screw us over.

 The Long Days Dying.

When a ruling class, used to total dominance of governance, economics and military command has reached the end of its capacity and capability to perform those requirements listed above because of either complete corruption, debased ideology, or incompetent leadership … then one of two things can happen: The class in question steps aside and relinquishes control of civil governance to the next capable social class with the enthusiasm and drive necessary for the job, or it collapses further into its own debased corruption and fights and claws its way to the inevitable bitter and bloody end via a series of political/social pogroms against its own people until it is brought down in a violent civil war. This is the example of history.

In the case of huge shifts in such class changes, like the end of the Patriarchal Roman Republic, a massive civil war ended the careers and lives of many aristocratic families. Likewise with the European collapse of the aristocratic rule of many nations there over many epochs of history. The ruling elites of aristocracy became so corrupt and entrenched in their behaviour of prestige, confected worship and exaggerated affluence and pomposity, they failed to stay connected with the “working coal-face” of their societies and a rising middle-class ended up becoming their “estate pawnbrokers” until they were beholden to the very class they scorned as aspiring upstarts with little knowledge of the affairs of the aristocratic state and less knowledge of table etiquette!

But it wasn’t long once that middle-class gained knowledge and command of the “wheels of finance” that they then started to call the shots on governance of industry … THEIR (the middle-class) interests being once less for pomp and circumstance than crude wealth. Soon, a bargain suitable to both parties was “signed” where the aristocrats would parade around in their sartorial splendour and suck on their afternoon teas while the middle-classes would now “manage” the affairs of state.

We here in Australia witnessed a variety of this “cosy little arrangement” with the colluding of Fraser’s Liberal National Party coalition seeking out and conspiring with The British Crown representative in their foppish Governor General; John Kerr fomenting a coup against the democratically elected Labor government of the day.

This cosy little agreement did not just come about over tea and scones in a conservatory atmosphere, first there were many civil conflicts that cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and the destruction of whole cities in the vain attempt of the aristocracy to show the world that they “still had it” when it came to battle and glory … except they didn’t … their corruption had reached even into their own delusions that ribbons, medals, and a flourish of golden epaulette would be enough to rout the enemy.

The fools died, as all fools die in their own vanity … in shame and disgrace … and so ended the era of aristocratic rule and the new era of middle-class governance and commerce began.

We peoples of the western, English language nations, have now lived under this rule of the middle-classes for more than two hundred years … in some cases; more than that number. But like the once mighty, unassailable aristocratic rulers, they too are now corrupted so completely in mind and body-corporate, that it has become time for that class to relinquish control of what they can no longer manage to the next class-in-line with both the enthusiasm and drive to take the nation to the next level of Social Concorde and fair governance … the educated working/producing classes.

Of course, the self-deluded egos of the middle-classes, serenaded to such giddy heights on its own aggrandisement of its intellect through select school education, select corporate management and select positions of political favour, cannot see past its own long nose to the pustulance of corruption on the tip. It’s inflated “born to rule” hubris now mimicking the most extreme egregious examples of Aristocratic pomp and buffoonery with such ostentatious displays of gross wealth and opulence best described in the classic literature of “Trimalchio’s Feast” on those riches literally snatched from the arms and tireless efforts of the working class men, women and children of the world. Their greed, like the actual bodies of many of those gluttons of desire, knows neither restraint nor corpulent limits.

Now, having reached the limits of political, corporate and personal decadence, the middle-classes have run out of time and exhausted the patience of those they wish to rule … the Western democracies are hungering for good, reliable social governance, a situation now impossible under a class that has made its collective ambition to control as much wealth of both fiscal and commodity as possible under its embracing of the stupid and gullible temptation of a “Neo-liberal” monetary philosophy … developed by its own sons and daughters, enlarged by its own financial houses and put in place by its own politicians to the detriment and destitution of those very people they totally rely upon for the riches they both aspire to and adore!

The middle-classes are a spent force ethically, morally, socially and politically.

But rest assured, they will not go quietly … for even here in Australia, a country once proudly living under a secure “separation of powers” system that isolated certain essential authorities from the potentially corrupting influence of political lobbying, we now see this current Liberal / National Party, existing under what can only politely be called “governance” of the nation, going about systematically corrupting and planting persons of favour in all those vulnerable institutions for what can be considered no other reason than to enact both policy and institute laws that will brace that corrupt coalition against oversight and judgement of the people. The only way they are going to relinquish power could well be through civil disorder. Managed through those now corrupted institutions and given credible authority for those actions by both the planted operatives in the authorities inside government and then … most importantly AND most effectively … given absolution from guilt for such despicable actions by the blathering, educated to imbecility confederacy of more private-schooled middle-class aspirants and fellow travellers in the wider community.

No … my fellow workers and producers … these leeches on the backs of the producers and workers of western democracy will not go quietly … in many cases, like the tick firmly clamped to a dog’s ear and growing fat on the extracted blood it sucks from its living host, they will have to be extracted one at a time from governance, authority, corporation and utility … extracted and made redundant with what can be said, using their own sculptured language.

“WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE”!

 

38 comments

 

1. Corridini; March 31, 2019 at 6:00 pm

It has to be acknowledged, if not accepted, that with one of the highest ranking religious officials that served as moral mentor to so many, incarcerated for moral impropriety, many of the highest “respected” financial houses CEO’s NEEDING a bit of “stir-time” for their ethical fraud, the so many corporate identities physically abusing both the environment and sections of the populace for their own enrichment and the major political representative of the above culprits having little to NO control over its own political party or direction, allowing plutocrats of any nationality to come in and take control of the nation’s economic direction and ideology…Corporations running amok and gouging of or depriving of the public of essential utility services…There would appear little hope of resurrecting the sinking ship of middle-class management of the nation.
If we are going to change the rules, we will need to change the ruling class.

2. K-Lee; March 31, 2019 at 6:00 pm

“The middle-classes are a spent force ethically, morally, socially and politically.”

Jesus Corridini, you really give meaning to the meaningless phrase “class envy”.

The middle class you so despise contains the vast majority of Australians, probably including you. Compared to the world as a whole, we are all affluent.

I couldn’t give a rat’s arse what school someone went to, what their tertiary qualifications are, what suburb they live in, what their income is – all of those things that people use to define that amorphous concept of middle class.

What matters to me is honesty, integrity, respect, empathy, kindness, generosity, a willingness to listen to and be advised by experts – those sort of things. It is spurious to pretend those attributes are class-related. Would you be happy for Pauline’s supporters to take over the reins?

3. Corridini; March 31, 2019 at 6:17 pm

We, as a nation under the example of a spurious middle-class government are now exporting terrorism to our neighbouring states..we exported destruction and death to around a million men, women and children in Iraq on a base of lies and cover-up under John Howard..we have incarcerated thousands of refugees, causing pain and death to many, in the name of “border protection”…all these policies have been formulated under middle-class leadership..A million people marched over Sydney Harbour bridge against the Iraq war and also for support for the indigenous peoples….they have been ignored.

The parliament, judiciary, corporate boards, regulating authorities, policing authorities, energy, communications, health on and on are in a majority under the control of private-schooled leadership…under middle-class leadership…and nearly ALL those named groups have been or shall have to be investigated for corruption and / or fraud.
The religious houses and other government institutions past have nearly ALL been associated with abuse of their wards..where will it end?…..It will end with a complete clean out of the positions of control.

 

4. Alcibiades; March 31, 2019 at 6:26 pm

Wow.

Sorry, cannot take this article seriously. Delusional to believe or expect the comparatively well off citizens of Oz will rally to the call of a workers revolution … with extreme predjudice ?! Nah.

The last six years have been obscene, but, extreme predjudice ?

Turnbull = disappointment

Australians = apathetic

A degree of lustration will be necessary in a civil change of government, however, your descriptors are surely lacking objectivity, and one says this being of passionate belief in Gaol for the corrupt, across the board.

One word of advice … if desirous of avoiding terminal sanction by fellow travelers, try to ensure you’re never in a leadership role, or associated with one who is as a patron, even successful revolutions tend to eat their own, especially in the second & third phases.

Just … wow.

5. corvus boreus; March 31, 2019 at 6:28 pm

Abridged version;
[propaganda poster of men firing guns (+ token female waving flag)]
Attention middle class!!
Step aside or violent civil war will be waged upon you!!
You will be ‘extracted’ and ‘made redundant’,
“WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!”

Is this blog now a forum for advocating class-based purges through violent civil war?

6. Corridini; March 31, 2019 at 6:44 pm

Corvus boreus..The elephant in the room of climate catastrophe may just make the decision for us….I am not the instigator of the change I speak of…I am relating the process that could well take place…sure..I want such change, but I cannot instigate it..but I say history is on my side of the arguement…what do others have on their side besides ; “I wish”?

7. Kronomex; March 31, 2019 at 7:10 pm

Here we go again with your seemingly endless obssesion with class. For some of us it has become rather tiresome, please give it a break. Find something else to bang on about for a while.

            Corridini; March 31, 2019 at 7:23 pm

Now that is curious…I talk about class…The Union Secretary talks about class…as does the Union Boss and many other union people…Dougey Cameron talks about class as does Billy and Tanya and a host of Labor people..there is a general consensus that there is huge class divisions in Aust’ society…but we see on the site there are those who want to seemingly dismiss such a concept from the pages of discussion..!!…..Who..we must ask do these people represent?…is it the Labor movement founded by the working class Unions?..is it the under-class (that word again!) and the vulnerable..or perhaps…just perhaps it is their own perceived vanity that THEY are above such a tawdry discussion..situated as they are in comfort and security..?

Yes..Who are these people?

8. Corridini; March 31, 2019 at 7:57 pm

” The middle class you so despise contains the vast majority of Australians, . . . ”
I read that there were several hundred suicides among the Centerlink debt fiasco..many also in the indigenous community..and so many young as well..not to mention the rising homelessness and impoverished pensioners..so who are these “vast majority”…perhaps they are the “silent majority” that John Howard like to quote.

9. Phil; March 31, 2019 at 9:56 pm

I think Corridini has touched some very sensitive nerves. His writing here is certainly florid but its clear to me that he has hoisted his flag, articulated his position and is prepared to stand by it – good on him, he gets my respect for that.

The concept of class is meaningless to me – a fiction used to bolster or badger but nonetheless a mighty fiction.

Good on you Corridini, I can see where you are looking even though I can’t argue the position with such passion – I’d rather let the system do what systems do – they always collapse. Seneca agrees.

10. Matters Not; March 31, 2019 at 10:25 pm

Re:

The concept of class is meaningless to me

Same with all concepts, because definitions of a concept can (and do) vary widely. Therefore ’tis the duty of any writer to outline an intended meaning – (if they want to be taken seriously).

By way of explanation: Concepts are mental representations … that make up the fundamental building blocks of thoughts and beliefs.

11. Corridini; March 31, 2019 at 10:40 pm

What is “class” and what distinguishes it?….

“Bill’s” story…

I have an older cousin who is a bricklayer named Bill. His name really is Biacchio…but that is how the anglicising of “foreign” names go in Australia…; Biacchio becomes Bill.. Bill was sponsored to Australia by his uncle at the tender age of fourteen, in the early fifties, after the war…He went to school here for a year and then was put to work for his uncle as a brickies labourer…he was a big bloke..a very strong man.

He worked for many years for a property developer named John. I too worked for John, though not as far back as Bill. As a matter of fact, Bill worked for him for so long he had become sort of adopted into the family circle…Bill was divorced, his child grown up so he was on his own and would be available to do little jobs at the John’s family home on the weekends and such, so he was asked to stay for dinner some Sundays and it became a habit…so that every Sunday, for many years, he’d go to Johns’ for Sunday dinner….and he appreciated it…he had worked so long for the family business that it seemed natural…..until one day he stopped going.

I was working for John then and he spoke to me in a concerned way that he confessed he didn’t know why Bill stopped coming…and Bill wouldn’t say…John just couldn’t work it out…and I asked Bill on the job one day ; “‘Why don’t you go to John’s for Sunday dinner any more?”…at first he was reluctant to tell me..but I was persistent. He leant against the wall crowbar in hand and told me.

‘You remember that job we did for Cathy ?…yes, well, you remember that big cedar tree out the back she was going to get a contractor to remove?..yes, well…..a couple of months ago, we’re all there at the table having dinner..a roast..and there’s me and John next to me and over the table is Agneta (Johns’ wife) and Cathy….and Agneta stops in the middle of her eating and asks Cathy ; “Did you get the contractor to remove that tree, Cathy?”…to which Cathy replied ; “Oh, no!…they were much too expensive…they wanted a thousand dollars!”….there was a moments silence while they returned to their eating, then Agneta stops again looks at Cathy..with her fork with a bit of potato on it pointing at me and she says ; “Why don’t you get Bill to do the job…he’s cheap!”…

[ now this is the important point…listen closely…after relating this sad little episode to me and he felt it, believe me..he was saddened ..he leant toward me and spoke in a lowered tone like he was telling a confidant]..:

“You see..you are never their friend…never!…you’re always just the worker…you’re never a friend to them, just the worker.”

He didn’t say anything to them, he didn’t let them see he was hurt…he finished his meal and then pleaded weariness and went home…But at that moment, this man with almost no schooling, no outward knowledge of the structural strata of social classes or even any nous of the perception of those with such excellent education qualifications, this man learnt and interpreted in an instant the Marxian ethos ; the positioning of himself, his fellows in trade, and all those in employment who do labour for a boss…in those words ; “…you are never THEIR friend…” their friend….them. He did not just mean John and his family, he was referring to that whole class of people…a class he never before gave more than a seconds’ thought to in regards HIS position in their society. He was one of the most honest workers I have met…he would scorn shirking on the job as one would spit a bad taste out of one’s mouth!

Yet while Bill understood the situation, John and his wife didn’t !…They didn’t because they had been tutored ( both at expensive private schools) in a different but parallel system…THEY were not required to sympathise with Bill “the worker”…they behaved toward Bill as they would toward their other possessions. They couldn’t see any problem with their behaviour because THEY had been educated into their social position and expected someone like Bill to seek to admire and aspire UPWARD to their level of society. But Bill had NO INTEREST in becoming as one with that strata of society..he was confident and content in his own person..in his own skilled trade..as are most of us. So while Bill mixed with them out of a sense of camaraderie and friendship, they saw themselves as doing him a favour……extraordinary, as in reality, it was Bill who, by his skilled labour, helped create the income and therefore their status and lifestyle they got through their speculative building.

There..is the distinguishing feature of “class”…and it is also there in that minor, sad tale where you will find both an example of the betrayal of trust and the corruption of opportunity to exploit.

12. Steve Davison; April 1, 2019 at 11:07 am

I’m with Corridini on the matter of class.

There is a class war going on but only one side is fighting it.

Liberalism was the economic doctrine of the rising middle-class, the economics of individualism, which is why the right-wing pundit Thomas Friedman correctly referred to himself a few years back as a liberal only to have progressives in the US scratching their heads in utter confusion.

They were confused because liberalism has nothing to do with progressive ideals.

Neo-liberalism is the extreme version of liberalism; it is simply more focused on the individual at the expense of society. The original liberals, and conservatives for that matter, had a regard for the health of society as a whole that is now completely missing from right-wing economics and politics.

So liberalism and neo-liberalism are doctrines of the INFLUENTIAL middle class, not the masses in Australia who think of themselves as middle class simply because they do not live in poverty.

13. Corridini; April 1, 2019 at 11:21 am

“. . . not the masses in Australia who think of themselves as middle class simply because they do not live in poverty.”…

Dead right, Steve..I know of many gormless tradies who think they are “middle-class” because they are contractors..ergo..: “Small business”…even though they work alone and are on piece-rates…f#ckin’ wankers buy a tinnie or a cheap shack over to buggery and they think they are part of the higher echelon of Forbes Magazine “Most Rich List”…

14. Keith Grandvilla; April 1, 2019 at 12:11 pm

come the revolution the first to go are the revolutionaries – and then it starts again as those who sought to fight for and represent the workers become the very thing they fought to overthrow.

it will ever be thus, unless we live as ants or bees – for the colony.

15. Corridini; April 1, 2019 at 12:16 pm

You could say that, Keith..and indeed there is reason to say that..hence Chairman Mao developed a theory of “continuous revolution” to re-start and re-fresh new thinking…not a bad idea…perhaps not developed enough yet..perhaps the Chinese “One belt – One road” system is their way of opening up a new system of trading between nations that will “revolutionise” the Asia – Pacific…I reckon Aust’ better get on board or it could be left floating like an isolated grogan in the South Pacific Ocean.

16. New England Cocky; April 1, 2019 at 3:11 pm

Uhm Corridini … The deposing of Gough Whitlam in 1975 was a conspiracy between the US State Department through CIA General Black (Green?) with the Palace knowing the details and strategy before the event and doing nothing to inform the elected Australian government. It happened because US President Nixon took a dislike to any national government perceived by the Yanks as being “socialist” rather than purely “capitalist”. Think Allende in Chile, Whitlam in Oz, etc.

Then Whitlam had done the dirty on the Vietnam imperialist war of the USA (United States of Apartheid) by withdrawing Australian troops in December 1972 immediately after winning the election.

There is considerable documentary evidence including the book “The Falcon and the Snowman” plus the extensive work by a leading Australia history professor, Jenny Brockie (at ANU?). The Palace refuses to release the correspondence between GG John Curr and the Queen from this period, over 40 years after the event, possibly to protect the Queen from her sins.

17. Phil ;April 1, 2019 at 4:02 pm

For mine the best explanation of the dismissal of Gough was in Pilgers ” A Secret Country ” In short it was all about American bases on Australian soil. ‘ Gough wanted to know what the fcuck was going on? ‘

But further up the page. Anyone thinking there is no class in Australia must live under a mushroom in the garden with the elves and the fairies. Class = The government has no class in fact they’re in a class of their own. I think the class this government is in is still being adjudicated by the Smithsonian Institute. The only institute in America with any class at all.

Barnaby, well he’s a class act on par with Pooline Hanson. It’s called the ‘ Shit Class’ John Howard now there’s a class act, he’s in that class of what best can be described as the ‘ Paragon of Dork Class ‘ Umm who else? Jewellery Bishop. Jewellery well she’s best described as ‘ Upper Class ‘ . In fact she’s probably into the Stratosphere Class. We common as dog class call that class ‘ The mile high club class ‘ Most of us common dog class may get lucky once or twice in our lives and get a class blow job whilst in company of Jewellery’s class in the mile high club class. . Then there is Morrison he’s in that class that’s real high in the class list of class. He’s in that class that lets them speak in tongue’s and speak to that invisible man in the sky. Now that’s class.

On a serious note no class in Australia..Bwaaahahahahahahahah. Yea right. Hey I come from a place that invented class. You had no doubt what class you were in the second you dropped out on that cheap linen sheet on your mothers bed with a Midwife standing by to make sure you or mum didn’t croak it . Brother did I know my class. The best example of the sheep class was getting caned at school for not participating in ‘ God save the Queen ‘ Still being working class had its advantages in later life. I learnt how to fight this came in handy in telling upper class twats that looked down on me for not participating in the old flag wrap around, to go and make love to themselves. What’s for tea mum? Well tonight we are going to have some exotic margarine sandwiches with a nice cup of tea. Of course there are no people still living like this is there? Bwahahahahamwahahaha.

No Class….That’d be a fine thing.

18. Old Codger; April 1, 2019 at 5:28 pm

Go Phil.

I once taught in a rather elite private school and was looked down upon by some of the students for a number of reasons: where I lived and what I wore. One new teacher coming from another state was concerned about having the right post code and went hugely into debt to get that post code. Class was everything and promised a bright future. That I came from the state education system was reason enough for some of my colleagues to wonder about me. And when one of my students, after a lecture from the police stated that people from the western suburbs should not be allowed to have guns…well that was class for you.

Saw on a TV documentary one of the American captains of industry expressing concerned that the ‘others’ might climb the stairwell with guns to kill them. Extreme prejudice.

To suggest that Australia has a classless society is just straight bullshit. And yes, my father was a steelworker which made me working class. Education has ‘lifted’ me out of that state. And I am firmly fed up with those who profess to have ‘common sense’ where those educated do not, priding in their ignorance. Going back to my beer.

19. Corridini; April 1, 2019 at 5:45 pm

For my own preference..and I have stated many times such…I would like to see a takeover of the higher echelons of governance and all its authorities by the educated working class..of which there now are enough with tertiary education to have the vision for long term policy and yet still close enough to their roots to know sensible social policy…Shouldn’t be too hard.

20. Guest; April 1, 2019 at 6:13 pm

Corridini, you are a student of ancient history. You are familiar with the story of the Gracchi brothers who had a mixed heritage in their family – plebeian and patrician. But with Greek education in oratory, political skills and military pursuits they set about trying to take land from the patricians in order to give to soldiers returning from wars. They were let down by depending too much on the support of the plebs. Ultimately their actions led to their deaths. And, some say, to the downfall of the Republic and the establishing of Dictatorship.

“With extreme prejudice”, be careful what you wish for.

21. Corridini; April 1, 2019 at 6:42 pm

Actually, if memory serves me well, the Gracchi bros and their old confederate Fulvius Flaccus were killed by a conspiracy of the patricians USING THE PLEBS as back-up claiming that the Gracchi’s wanted to take EVERYBODY’s land…when in fact it was only the government owned land that the Patricians had taken over and were using as their own that the Gracchi’s wanted to redistribute…An age old trick used by the “born to rule” class…we see the same tactics used these days by the big corps “Axe the tax”…and the Franking credits “stealing from the impoverished widows etc”

Yes, I even wrote a little limerick on an essay I submitted on the above subject…If memory serves me well..:

“Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus,
And his ol’ mate; Fulvius Flaccus,
Tried to distribute the land,
But the capitalist band
Cried; “MY GOD!…
They’re trying to dak-us!!”

didn’t enhance my marking score but…

“With extreme prejudice”, be careful what you wish for.”…….You have to take the chance with some of these things..or stay “wallowing in the shallows for eternity”.

22. K-Lee; April 1, 2019 at 7:07 pm

I have reread the comments to see if I had missed something. No-one suggested there weren’t different classes in Australian society.

The proposition put forward by Corridini in this, and many other articles, is that “The middle-classes are a spent force ethically, morally, socially and politically.”

If middle class is an economic description, are they really the people to blame for all of society’s woes? Are the teachers and nurses and police and firemen really such villains? Are the middle class really the ones in power?

There is an interesting article on the subject in the SMH – Rising inequality is hollowing out the Australian middle class

“The top 10 and particularly the top 1 per cent keep increasing their share and diminishing or rolling back the Australian middle class. The share of the 40 per cent below the top 10 is getting smaller and smaller.

23. Corridini; April 1, 2019 at 7:20 pm

K-Lee…: ” Are the teachers and nurses and police and firemen really such villains?”…..I don’t know how these skilled workers, all presumably on a PAYE wage, could be considered “middle-class” …except that some may have made lucrative investments that have elevated them above their need to work for a living in an employed state…and even then, they could hardly be considered more than the “petty bourgeoisie”…lower middle-class..and then most likely only in their own estimation!….It is the controlling “Upper Middle-class” that is the bone of contention.
But what’s the problem?…I am not trying to prove a class distinction, only drawing attention to where a problem lies and what may be a way to resolve it..and even YOU would have to admit that with Brexit being one MAJOR middle-class balls-up, Trump and his coterie being another and the LNP here being icing on the cake of gormless incompetence…topped with the cherry of the highest order of the Catholic Church in Aust’ being dragged into disrepute..and THAT institution being the giver of holy orders to the highest echelon of upper middle-class society…there something rotting in that shall remain nameless Nordic State.

24. Phil.; April 1, 2019 at 7:22 pm

Old Codger
April 1, 2019 at 5:28 pm.

Yea Ditto with the class analysis. That it doesn’t exist is, not only bullshit it is an insult to my failing intelligence.

When I was a kid I was in the Navy cadets in a Navy town called Portsmouth in the UK as an aside it’s where Cristopher Hitchens was born, unfortunately I didn’t get his brains. I was in the Navy cadets and sung in the in Navy choir. The priest that used to run it and old salt himself, would take us poor kids on trips around the back blocks of Hampshire. We that’s about a dozen of us, were sought of paraded around as some type of amusement to please the owners of the stately homes we visited. It was akin to Oliver Twist in a small way.

I up until I was about 11, never saw a refrigerator before, I never ever saw a white bath with chrome taps. Our tin bath like many of our neighbours hanged on the door along side my grandfathers gutted rabbits. I remember it well the rabbits would be allowed to get full of maggots it was called ” Jugged Hare ” We btw compared to some of the kids I knew could well be described as middle class. We had margarine some of them had dripping.

But back to the stately homes. I had never seen oak tables before that wouldn’t fit in our small garden much less in our front lounge room. Stained glass in widows, that wouldn’t look out of place in a country church. And seeing a TV with an attached record player was something out of Star Trek. I made a joke out of someone on here calling his position ” Sheer Luxury ” like the old Python skit. Yes the wealth of these people compared to us low life’s from the two up two down houses was obscene.

Oh yes class exists and it has done so since the mists of time. Ricketts a disease associated with the poor is believe it or not, making a comeback in the UK. Yes the mighty UK that not only starved to death people in the third world whilst they stole their recourses with rape, pillage and plunder, now have carried on the fine tradition with their own people.

Here’s a thing, I have a cousin who came from the same back ground as me, his mother my dad’s sister a Socialist who wrote letters to the Iranian embassy to save a persecuted religion ‘ The Bahia’s ‘ in Iran scrubbed hospital floors and shop doorways, to put him through Manchester university and Oxford. He has a PhD in physics. He doesn’t programme computers he designs them. He is a Tory. He is retired now, he had companies in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and PNG. I am now convinced that a taste of the ‘ Silver Spoon ‘ is akin to getting hit in the head with a wall brick.

Class and all it’s nastiness has been in Australia since they dropped anchor in Botany Bay. That btw is not an opinion to be debated, it is a fact.

25. K-Lee; April 1, 2019 at 7:36 pm

“even YOU would have to admit that with Brexit being one MAJOR middle-class balls-up”

No I don’t agree with that at all. I think the upper class thought they would get approval for the status quo but the working class voted for something they didn’t even understand. I think the middle class are the ones campaigning in the streets for another referendum.

“some may have made lucrative investments that have elevated them above their need to work for a living in an employed state…and even then, they could hardly be considered more than the “petty bourgeoisie”

I am completely confused as to what you consider middle class if teachers et al are not part of it. Are you saying any PAYE worker is not middle class? Do you think middle class people don’t have to work for a living?

26. Corridini; April 1, 2019 at 7:47 pm

” I am completely confused as to what you consider middle class . . . ” …… Here’s why you and I are miles apart…we shouldn’t be..we both push the same barrow on social sympathies etc….but I can see that whereas I have a concrete view on what I will back and what I believe in..moulded over many years of working experience and social gatherings..I can feel…feel..mind..that I couldn’t trust you when or if I needed someone like you for back-up if the chips were down.
There is an air of doubt in your social convictions ..you “debate the issue” too much..and then there is doubt created in what really is the truth or deception in a conviction…
Like Phil related about his cousin above…you can never know when one who is more keen on social status than they are on their class affiliations will let you down….I have had similar experience as Phil has had with a family member..so my understanding of class is a solid consideration…yours ?

27. Alcibiades; April 1, 2019 at 7:50 pm

KL
Quite. The Vampyres & their minions, the 1% & 10% ain’t no ‘middle class’, not by a longshot.

Oxfam 21Jan19

Our economy is broken. Hundreds of millions of people living in extreme poverty while huge rewards go to those at the very top. There are more billionaires than ever before, and their fortunes have grown to record levels. Meanwhile, the world’s poorest got even poorer…

And then there is the 67 multi-millionaires in Oz who in financial year 2016-2017 paid NO tax, not even a cent. Not even the MediCare levy, since they spent ~$2M each to manage their affairs to create the legal fiction of having no taxable income. In 2015-2016 it was 62 of ’em. In 2014-2015 it was 50 of ’em.

The ‘middle class’ ?

Our rent-seeking foreign owned tax-avoiding/evading multinational corporations selling our nations oil & gas resources for their profit to be transferred overseas, have accumulated in the last financial year tax credits of ~$324 Billion. This means they will essentially avoid tax liabilities for the next decade. The farce of these manufactured fictional tax credits accumulate from year to year. And next year the accumulated credits will be ?

2017-18 receipts totaling more than $29.7 billion … only $1.16 billion was paid in Petroleum Resources Rent Tax (PRRT). 2016-17 receipts totaling more than $22.7 billion … just $970 million in PRRT was paid. Over the next decade Qatar will earn taxes of ~$26 billion for the equivalent volume of what these corporations will extract & profit from Oz. Our expected revenue return over the coming decade ? Zero. Whilst Natural Gas prices soar & soar with no domestic reservation policy and remaining industry in Oz is up against the wall. In fact we will re-import our exported LNG into a newly built facility in Victoria. FFS!

The ‘middle class’, hm ?

Ex Goldman Sachs Malcolm Turnbull with his ~$200Million safely secured beyond the ATOs reach in the Cayman Islands tax haven …

28. K-Lee; April 1, 2019 at 7:53 pm

Why do you always end up denigrating me rather than debating the topic? Your persistence in attacking the character of someone you have never met and know absolutely nothing about does not advance the discussion.

As I just said, no-one has suggested that Australia is a classless society. Not me, not anyone. The point of contention is your blaming of the middle class for everything and my trying to work out what you mean by middle class. We obviously have very different ideas about that.

      29.Corridini; April 1, 2019 at 8:18 pm

” We obviously have very different ideas about that.”…and let us leave it there…go in peace..

      30. Alcibiades; April 1, 2019 at 8:26 pm

      Whooah!

All the ‘middle class’ bullshit & incitement to ‘extreme predjudice’ was bad enough, yet …

Chairman Mao of the Cultural Revolution & little red book fame had the right idea ? Perpetual revolution endlessly re-inventing itself is the answer for Australian society, though the concept is not fully developed ?!

A nutjob or an agent provocateur, or even maybe both ?

31.  Corridini; April 1, 2019 at 8:36 pm

” Chairman Mao of the Cultural Revolution & little red book fame “…sort of slightly patronisingly dismissive of a leader who had the care of over a billion people to consider…how many people seek or rely upon your governing skills, Alcibiades?….10?….five? …one?

32. Alcibiades; April 1, 2019 at 8:50 pm

Always the same, hey m8 ? ‘Twas dismissive of you. You are so full of it. Good luck with trying to sell Mao at the local pub. Along with the quaint little anecdotes. An unreconstructed die hard communist. Jeez thought they were long extinct. Delusional. Keep stroking your pud m8, with extreme predjudice, ya seem to enjoy it.

Bollocks! was all Coridini could play.
Bollocks! he played it night and day.
Bollocks! yes, it was Bollocks!,
It was Bollocks! Bollocks!
You could hear it two hundred miles away.

Out.

33. Corridini; April 1, 2019 at 8:56 pm

” Image result for Alcibiades
Alcibiades (or Alkibiades) was a gifted and flamboyant Athenian statesman and general whose shifting of sides during the Peloponnesian War in the 5th century BCE earned him a reputation for cunning and treachery. Good looking and rich, he was also notorious for his extravagant lifestyle and loose morals.”

You picked your moniker well..

34. Matters Not; April 1, 2019 at 11:22 pm

Perhaps, if we forget the class concept – that particular mental construct – and return to the estate concept – a rather popular way of intellectually dividing society a few hundred years ago in France.

At that time, the social groupings were divided into three groups called **estates**. The first estate was of clergy, the second estate was of nobility and the third estate consisted of others and individuals such as peasants, merchants, lawyers, artisans and industrial workers etc

The estate concept was considered useful because it explained/communicated/represented/modelled the apparent divisions in society at that time. But not now – for most. These days, some (but not all) consider that the class concept is a useful way to represent (and communicate) the apparent divisions within the (concept) of society. But like any concept, it only becomes useful if it’s defined.

For example, in ‘education’, the class concept developed (and employed) tends to select certain criteria that have been shown to both effect and affect students’ outcomes. For example, parents’ educations levels (or lack of same) have been shown to be influential on such outcomes – as has the SES of the peer group, and other measurable variables, such as (concepts like) status, prestige, wealth, access to technology, … and so on.

Enough!

35. Mick Tailer; April 2, 2019 at 9:00 am

I apologise if this post has got out of hand.

Carole and I have been interstate for a few days attending a wedding, and today we’ll be travelling for most of the day.

In the meantime I will be closing comments, and upon my return home the post will be reviewed to see if it – in any part – encourages violence. If so, it will be removed.

The encouragement of violence violates our conditions with Google and repeated violations would see us lose our ads, thus our income, and thus our site.

 

You get the drift..what’s the point putting the simplest discussion up for debate when the majority of these "intellectual left" commentors are so up themselves or so fucking ignorant of even their own social status they can’t even get to the topic!?