Please don't think that this is aimedat people who are below the poverty line. It's a terrible state of affairs that so many people do live in poverty. The implication is not that 'it was much better when people were content to work in lower paid jobs' but rather that *there existed a time when* much of the UK workforce were in lower paid jobs which we'd generally regard as rather uninteresting and quite hard work these days. It's true that some of the UK workforce still do work in such jobs. Heck, a lot people *in the world* are still in this situation (go here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty for actual stats and stuff).
The point is that it'd be nice if people who weren't in this situation (i.e. who are relatively well off, and I count myself in this bracket) would realise how fortunate they are and not to piss and moan about how expensive their iPhone was and how they could only afford to go skiing /once/ this year. I imagine that a little bit of humility would be welcomed by the people who actually are in poverty and whose lives the current economic climate (the cuts etc.) is making really miserable.
And please don't think I'm saying that everyone should just put up and shut up. We really need to do something about all this! The very last sentence is a call to action for people who are not truly happy with their situation to try and do something about it (and I know that this is not always possible and that you can't necessarily change the circumstances you are a victim of) instead of just proselytizing through your facebook status and either trying to guilt others into doing the same (you know the whole tear-jerking 'I know only 1% of you will repost this but...') or thinking that somehow the government (or whomever) is suddenly going to log on and go: 'Wow look at all the people updating their Facebook statuses - they must be really upset about something so we'd better change it.' I guess my point is that moaning about something definitely_isn't_going_to_change_it so why not at least /attempt/ to do something vaguely constructive instead.
I'm not going to provide an exegesis of the whole thing because it is just a load of ephemeral bullshit I posted as my facebook status. It's a parody, and not a particularly good one as it's an example of exactly the kind of crap it purports to be ridiculing.
(,
Fri 24 Jun 2011, 16:09,
archived)
The point is that it'd be nice if people who weren't in this situation (i.e. who are relatively well off, and I count myself in this bracket) would realise how fortunate they are and not to piss and moan about how expensive their iPhone was and how they could only afford to go skiing /once/ this year. I imagine that a little bit of humility would be welcomed by the people who actually are in poverty and whose lives the current economic climate (the cuts etc.) is making really miserable.
And please don't think I'm saying that everyone should just put up and shut up. We really need to do something about all this! The very last sentence is a call to action for people who are not truly happy with their situation to try and do something about it (and I know that this is not always possible and that you can't necessarily change the circumstances you are a victim of) instead of just proselytizing through your facebook status and either trying to guilt others into doing the same (you know the whole tear-jerking 'I know only 1% of you will repost this but...') or thinking that somehow the government (or whomever) is suddenly going to log on and go: 'Wow look at all the people updating their Facebook statuses - they must be really upset about something so we'd better change it.' I guess my point is that moaning about something definitely_isn't_going_to_change_it so why not at least /attempt/ to do something vaguely constructive instead.
I'm not going to provide an exegesis of the whole thing because it is just a load of ephemeral bullshit I posted as my facebook status. It's a parody, and not a particularly good one as it's an example of exactly the kind of crap it purports to be ridiculing.