It would be interesting to conduct a similar vox pop here. Various relatives of mine report meeting environmental activists in a social context - the children or grandchildren of family friends - who are comfortably cushioned by family circumstances (ie their grandparents’ hard-earned cash or gains in the housing market), enabling them to have ‘play’ jobs or freelance in the creative arts with plenty of time off for sitting on motorways.
The recent inexplicably benevolent attitude of some of the the judiciary/barristers towards protesters leads me to wonder whether some of them, too, have offspring who are following the same path.
Most of the "activists" I know are ladies (and I use the word advisedly!) in late middle age who have inherited or married wealth. This allows them to do artistic and community stuff, some of which is ecological/political. It's all pretty mild, and I think of them as having lives that are a bit green around the edges.
I've only ever known one hard-core Extinction Rebellion person. He used to picket a small oil-well hidden away in the South Downs about five miles from here. He claimed to be a renewable energy consultant advising on home heating, but I never found anything like a business website or advertising linked to him.
There's a theory I've mentioned before, called Cliodynamics, in which societies follow a cycle where eventually the Elite produce too many offspring to find Elite jobs and they end up making pointless new Elite jobs/endeavours or conspiring to form a new Elite (in which they secure their own Elite jobs).
You could make a reasonable argument that this Elite overproduction explains much of what is currently noteworthy in the Western World. It also marks the end phase of the old Elite (look at the gerontocracy in the USA) so after a period of chaos a new Elite will come to power.
Macheath - thanks and I'm sure you are right. The influence of offspring on people who may have been neutral could be significant. Especially screechy offspring perhaps.
Sam - thanks, I've never known anyone like a hard-core Extinction Rebellion person. I suppose I'd just avoid someone like that. I know people who claim to believe, but they don't do much about it in real life.
DJ - prosperity also seems to have blurred and expanded the boundaries in the sense that many have become prosperous enough to see themselves as somehow aligned with the elites. A certain football commentator for example.
Slightly off topuc, when the "ladies" of Greenham Common were making the news, and getting arrested for criminal damage or public order offences, they were usually asked, in interview, what their occupation was. Quite a few said they were unemployed. Enquiries with the job centres in the towns they came from often revealed that they were claiming dole money. One of the stipulations for claiming was that they had to be actively looking, and be available, for work, and their place of residence was kept updated. Notification that these claimants had been arrested and were long time protesters at Greenham Common often resulted in their dole money being stopped after letters requiring them to attend an interview were ignored. Of course, this treatment was considered very unfair, as it prevented them from continuing to feed on the taxpayer's teat. Some other protestors threatened the Police, both MoD, and Home Office, with dire threats of what Daddy (High Court judge, minor politician, Chairman of such and such organisation, or multi millionaire) would do to their careers. These "ladies" were the ones who weren't claiming dole, but still seemed to be well dressed and well fed. I suppose they had to do something when the gala and party season was over. They were fun days.I Penseivat
Penseivat - to me it always looked like an uncomfortable way for the "ladies" of Greenham Common to draw attention to themselves. I suppose they gained something from it and it probably was fun even if they didn't expect to achieve anything. Maybe we encourage ineffectual demonstrators as an alternative to the French variety.
6 comments:
Hope you get better soon!
It would be interesting to conduct a similar vox pop here. Various relatives of mine report meeting environmental activists in a social context - the children or grandchildren of family friends - who are comfortably cushioned by family circumstances (ie their grandparents’ hard-earned cash or gains in the housing market), enabling them to have ‘play’ jobs or freelance in the creative arts with plenty of time off for sitting on motorways.
The recent inexplicably benevolent attitude of some of the the judiciary/barristers towards protesters leads me to wonder whether some of them, too, have offspring who are following the same path.
Yes, take it easy and get well soon!
Most of the "activists" I know are ladies (and I use the word advisedly!) in late middle age who have inherited or married wealth. This allows them to do artistic and community stuff, some of which is ecological/political. It's all pretty mild, and I think of them as having lives that are a bit green around the edges.
I've only ever known one hard-core Extinction Rebellion person. He used to picket a small oil-well hidden away in the South Downs about five miles from here. He claimed to be a renewable energy consultant advising on home heating, but I never found anything like a business website or advertising linked to him.
There's a theory I've mentioned before, called Cliodynamics, in which societies follow a cycle where eventually the Elite produce too many offspring to find Elite jobs and they end up making pointless new Elite jobs/endeavours or conspiring to form a new Elite (in which they secure their own Elite jobs).
You could make a reasonable argument that this Elite overproduction explains much of what is currently noteworthy in the Western World. It also marks the end phase of the old Elite (look at the gerontocracy in the USA) so after a period of chaos a new Elite will come to power.
No guarantee we will like it though.
Macheath - thanks and I'm sure you are right. The influence of offspring on people who may have been neutral could be significant. Especially screechy offspring perhaps.
Sam - thanks, I've never known anyone like a hard-core Extinction Rebellion person. I suppose I'd just avoid someone like that. I know people who claim to believe, but they don't do much about it in real life.
DJ - prosperity also seems to have blurred and expanded the boundaries in the sense that many have become prosperous enough to see themselves as somehow aligned with the elites. A certain football commentator for example.
Slightly off topuc, when the "ladies" of Greenham Common were making the news, and getting arrested for criminal damage or public order offences, they were usually asked, in interview, what their occupation was. Quite a few said they were unemployed. Enquiries with the job centres in the towns they came from often revealed that they were claiming dole money. One of the stipulations for claiming was that they had to be actively looking, and be available, for work, and their place of residence was kept updated. Notification that these claimants had been arrested and were long time protesters at Greenham Common often resulted in their dole money being stopped after letters requiring them to attend an interview were ignored. Of course, this treatment was considered very unfair, as it prevented them from continuing to feed on the taxpayer's teat. Some other protestors threatened the Police, both MoD, and Home Office, with dire threats of what Daddy (High Court judge, minor politician, Chairman of such and such organisation, or multi millionaire) would do to their careers. These "ladies" were the ones who weren't claiming dole, but still seemed to be well dressed and well fed. I suppose they had to do something when the gala and party season was over. They were fun days.I
Penseivat
Penseivat - to me it always looked like an uncomfortable way for the "ladies" of Greenham Common to draw attention to themselves. I suppose they gained something from it and it probably was fun even if they didn't expect to achieve anything. Maybe we encourage ineffectual demonstrators as an alternative to the French variety.
Post a Comment