Privilege Comes From Wealth

Back in the mid-nineteenth century, Karl Marx wrote…

“The history of all hitherto exisiting society is the the history of class struggles.”

Let me just state that I am not a Marxist in my politics. However, I have studied History at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and have some regard for individual Marxist historians and sympathy for certain types of Marxist methodology. I definitely think that many elements of Western society in 2019 conform to Marx’s theories.

In my previous post, I criticised the two dominant ideologies of our times – neoliberalism and identity politics. The former has dominated both left-wing and right-wing parties for so long that it almost seems impossible to challenge. Some leftists – or pseudo-leftists – appear to have abandoned economics entirely in favour of championing the supposed interests of ever-smaller minority groups. Indeed, if one wished to be conspiracy-minded, it could be argued that identity politics is designed to create conflict and therefore to avoid working people uniting to fight for their economic interests. Too tinfoil hat? Perhaps. But it is undoubted that those who are the most obsessive about identity are doing very nicely from the current economic system.

There is a type of ‘woke,’ ‘progressive’ pseudo-leftist person – especially amongst actors, musicians and other ‘celebrities’ – where you know exactly what they think about certain issues. If they work in Hollywood or appear on the BBC, you can just about guarantee that they will be anti-Trump, anti-Brexit, pro-EU, pro-LGBT+ and pro-Islam, without any embarrassment about the doublethink required to hold the last two positions. It seems some folks support all kinds of diversity except diversity of opinion.

The current fawning over Harry Windsor and Meghan Markle is a case in point. Anyone with even vaguely left-wing politics has tended to be opposed to the privileges accorded to the dysfunctional Mountbatten-Windsor clan. But since Harry Windsor has been involved with Markle, some ostensibly left-wing and republican people have been swooning over this pair of overprivileged simpletons. I was completely unaware of Markle before she started going out with Harry and was mystified by their complaints of racism against the British press; I assumed they were moaning about anti-Americanism because the first time I saw a picture of Markle I did not realise that she was mixed race.

That some media commentators believe that this couple have some insight into the lives lived by ordinary people is a sick joke. Harry has lived a life of immense privilege since the day he was born. Markle grew up in Hollywood, attended private schools and was part of the Los Angelos privilege bubble before upgrading to the even more rarified atmosphere of the British Royal Family. Anyone who sees these people as any kind of role model must be mentally subnormal.

Take Harry’s attendance at the recent Google summit about climate change held in Sicily. Attended by the usual suspects, this gathering cost more than $20million, saw the arrival of 114 private jets and had a carbon footprint in excess of 800 tonnes. These people do not do irony.

Don’t get me wrong, climate change is a serious issue and I am extremely frustrated that it has been hijacked by idiot ‘celebrities’ and upper-class weekend hippies. “Never trust a hippie,” opined that great British philosopher Johnny Rotten/Lyndon. And never trust a rich, thick-as-proverbial ‘celebrity’ with a new film, record or tv series to sell.

The current vogue for this ‘woke’ posturing amongst the ultra-rich is just that, posturing. Every green measure appears to be some sort of tax that falls most heavily on the poorest and affects carbon-polluting, jetset ‘celebrities’ not at all. Look at the protests against President TinTin in France. They were originally sparked by tax hikes on petrol designed to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets. Unfortunately, outside the big cities, public transport and other amenities are rather scarce in France and people have to use their cars. When I was in France in 2017, I asked a passing lady in my best and most polite French, if there was a grocery store in the town where I had stopped. She snorted derisively and walked off. I don’t think this was because of my less-than-stellar language skills but because so many places in rural France are entirely bereft of services. There are similar problems in the UK and here in Australia; it is far easier to be green and use public transport in cities than in more rural areas.

Nothing I have written in the previous paragraph is in opposition to green policies nor is it anti-environmentalism in general. I am certainly not endorsing the mad National Party here in Australia whose only policy is ‘give money to farmers.’ What I am actually saying is we need much more investment in public services, particularly transport, outside major cities. ‘Celebrities’ who posture about being green whilst having a personal carbon footprint larger than Luxembourg are bound to annoy people who are on a tight budget and who have to use their cars because no public transport is available. Being lectured to about climate change by the likes of Harry Windsor is like being given marital advice by his ancestor Henry VIII.

‘Woke’ celebrities and rich identity obsessives are both doing very nicely out of the current neoliberal economic system. In order to ease their guilt, some of them are adopting a holier-than-thou attitude to everything from climate change to LGBT+ rights. Perhaps some of them are sincere. Perhaps. But in classic Marxist terms, all I can see is that the current cult of (non) diversity is nothing more than a gloss designed to make elitist systems seem fresh and new.