Friday, 4 December 2020
The shadow of Old Nick
I’ve used this Dickens quote before. It is one of my favourites as it so neatly encapsulates an endemic and ineradicable feature of the law –
The one great principle of the English law is, to make business for itself. There is no other principle distinctly, certainly, and consistently maintained through all its narrow turnings. Viewed by this light it becomes a coherent scheme, and not the monstrous maze the laity are apt to think it. Let them but once clearly perceive that its grand principle is to make business for itself at their expense, and surely they will cease to grumble.
Charles Dickens - Bleak House (1852-53)
Even better - the quote may be adapted to generate a number of grand principles simply by substituting something equally applicable in place of the words English law. For example –
The one great principle of the establishment is, to make business for itself. There is no other principle distinctly, certainly, and consistently maintained through all its narrow turnings. Viewed by this light it becomes a coherent scheme, and not the monstrous maze the laity are apt to think it. Let them but once clearly perceive that its grand principle is to make business for itself at their expense, and surely they will cease to grumble.
Another example illustrate how virtue may replace business, take may replace make and still it works –
The one great principle of the establishment is, to take virtue for itself. There is no other principle distinctly, certainly, and consistently maintained through all its narrow turnings. Viewed by this light it becomes a coherent scheme, and not the monstrous maze the laity are apt to think it. Let them but once clearly perceive that its grand principle is to take virtue for itself at their expense, and surely they will cease to grumble.
To my mind Dickens has given us a fascinating insight where, in a range of guises, this is what the establishment always has done at our expense. Almost as if in the basic shape of the thing we see the malign shadow of Old Nick himself.
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4 comments:
I've often argued that any organisation (business, church, charity, government) that exists for more than 70 years or so become subject to 'producer capture' (see Wikipedia) and its original reason for formation becomes secondary to the personal concerns of the people within it.
Now in a democracy the 'leaders' never get to stay too long, but their 'parties' do. The Civil Service, the BBC, the National Health Service, some Unions could all do with a 'reset' or perhaps winding up and relaunching.
"Will no one rid me of this turbulent organisation?"
I think that this applies to any group, guild, college, institution, union, etc.
Once established, they get government to give them a monopoly.
Then the entry qualifications always increase. No more entry at the bottom and working your way up. Teaching, nursing, police, engineering,
Want to change a plug, a bandage, give the knee - you need a degree. And be Chartered. Often does not have to be related to the task. Oh, and you have to pay membership fees, which, if you are employed by the taxpayer, will be paid for you. And there is no limit on the membership fee. After all how many Diversity Officers is too many, and all the rest Equality, Numan Resources, Privilage Awareness Environmental Sensitivity, Carbon Reduction Officers. ?
And always the cry "Something must be done. We need another regulatory authority. It might not help but at least there will be some committee producing a report telling us that "lessons will be learned" and " More funding must be found for more regulatory authority".
Now show me those crosswalks.
@Doonhammer
Quite so. Peter Turchin (Cliodynamics web site and books) reckons that there are historical cycles where 'Elite Overproduction' occurs i.e. too many wannabe elites chasing too few Elite positions in society. And then, as the non-elites get squeezed out of reasonably paid employment it all goes pear-shaped.
So currently there are far too many journalists seeking elite status, far too many politicians struggling to inch up the greasy pole, too many top jobs limited by increasing entry requirements, and too many industries lobbying the EU for exclusionary status.
I always though Tony Blair (spit!) pulled a fast one by setting a 50% target for University education and getting the young unemployed to borrow money for their education rather than claim unemployment benefit. I now wonder if he also wanted to hasten Elite Overproduction leading to collapse of the status quo.
DiscoveredJoys and Doonhamer - I agree, as that is enough time for the organisation's founding ethos to be forgotten along with the people who first laid the foundations. Winding up and relaunching could work in some cases, but too often the new organisation is merely the old one with a new name. Corrupted habits remain.
There certainly are too many university graduates and too many influential but limited people in politics, the media, NGOs, think tanks, charities and numerous other useless outfits.
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