Quote Originally Posted by Phil View Post
I fear that you miss the whole point of my post, whether by accident or on purpose. I do understand why none of these "characterizations" rings true, however, as I assume you have been born and brought up in a country where none of them apply. You may aspire to be the President of your country, I have to rely on an accident of birth for that. You may wish to join an elite branch of your armed forces and rise to the top in it. I can only aspire to advancement within the catering corps as the Household Division is a closed shop to officers without a privileged background. I won't go on but I do wish you would not place an "envy of wealth" slant on my comments without a true appreciation of the circumstances that I attempted to describe. Some of the "let them eat cake" responses from the "shooting, fishing, beagling, cub hunting, various other blood sports" camp are entirely predictable, of course because what vested interests do you think they are trying to defend?
I would not purposefully mis-understand you. I apologize for whatever misunderstanding...for whatever reason.

And I concede that I have not grown up in or had much exposure to the kind of culture or social structure you describe...but, surely that works the other way around, as well--if you are speaking to an international audience you can't really expect them to share your unique perspectives, can you?

That said, I think that "class" is probably nearly as well established and in someways just as restrictive in the US as in Britain...it's just more subtle. But there are many people in the US...and in Britain, too, I'm sure...who use their wealth, whether inherited or not, to great benefit for their fellow man. Charities, endowments, trusts, foundations, and the like. To be sure, there's a certain amount of self-interest involved in this but there's a certain amount of generosity, as well.

On the other hand, those at the other end of the spectrum seldom have even enough generosity of spirit to give anyone visibly better off than themselves the benefit of the doubt.

And in this country...as I'm sure must be true in yours...there is at least a percentage of the "lower classes" who would rather wallow in self-pity than work.

There is little to admire in greed and the unrelenting consignment of quality, respect, and tradition to commercial interests--the reduction of all things good to the lowest common denominator for the purpose of selling it more easily (or cheaply).

But there is absolutely no redeeming aspect of poverty...no virtue in starvation and disease.

That "the third class are the most virtuous" strikes me as sloganeering to some extent...add a flat cap and suddenly you have a revolution. It doesn't resonate with me or seem useful in the real world.