Ah, Guardian, I love you, but...
Oct. 26th, 2009 08:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
f4f3Was mopping up my Red Fort Delicacy (pretty damn good, actually) with some red wine and this article from last weekend's Guardian when I almost choked. It's a pretty good piece, all in all, on a subject which interests me on more than the abstract level, growing up with an alcoholic parent by someone called Isabel Ashdown.
I was more or less nodding myself through the piece when I came to this:
"It's estimated that today in the UK, nearly a million children are growing up with one or more alcoholic parent. *f4f3 nods* Most of them will rise up quietly, fudging attempts at being ordinary, avoiding situations that might expose the thing no one ever talks about. *more of the nodding thing* It's convenient to think of these families as hailing from the "Asbo classes", but that's just a convenient myth. So often, these families look just like us. *WTF??? Red Fort Delicacy ALL OVER the Moroccan table runner*"
Well fuck off, Ms Ashdown. Fuck off, firstly, for saying so plainly that Guardian readers break down neatly into "Us", the nice people, and "Them", the Asbo classes". And fuck off, principally, for putting me in the category of "Us". Your club, lady, I'd never want to join.
It reminds me of the time a friend, well intentioned and reasonably aware, railled against her privileged fellows and spat out that "they should all be made to work in call centres for six months."
I can't remember if I took the time to explain how many of the kids from my school would have KILLED for a job in a call centre, or if I just moved on, reminded that there was an Us and there was a Them...
I was more or less nodding myself through the piece when I came to this:
"It's estimated that today in the UK, nearly a million children are growing up with one or more alcoholic parent. *f4f3 nods* Most of them will rise up quietly, fudging attempts at being ordinary, avoiding situations that might expose the thing no one ever talks about. *more of the nodding thing* It's convenient to think of these families as hailing from the "Asbo classes", but that's just a convenient myth. So often, these families look just like us. *WTF??? Red Fort Delicacy ALL OVER the Moroccan table runner*"
Well fuck off, Ms Ashdown. Fuck off, firstly, for saying so plainly that Guardian readers break down neatly into "Us", the nice people, and "Them", the Asbo classes". And fuck off, principally, for putting me in the category of "Us". Your club, lady, I'd never want to join.
It reminds me of the time a friend, well intentioned and reasonably aware, railled against her privileged fellows and spat out that "they should all be made to work in call centres for six months."
I can't remember if I took the time to explain how many of the kids from my school would have KILLED for a job in a call centre, or if I just moved on, reminded that there was an Us and there was a Them...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-10-26 11:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-27 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-27 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-27 11:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-27 11:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-27 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-27 11:21 pm (UTC)