Brain Drain
Aug. 22nd, 2009 09:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
millionreasons1. I came up with the concept of London Currency when speaking to a friend about a mutual acquaintance who said to the friend: "I'm surprised you got on that guestlist!" Out in the (spit) suburbs or (erk) provinces, your car and your flat screen telly and your new conservatory are your currency, but here in London, such material plebian pleasures are frowned upon (and we have no room for any of that stuff anyway). Instead, it's how many household-name people you know, how many private views you're invited to, how many guestlists you get on, what cool places you hang out in.
2. I do wonder if the things that I assume are political are actually deep-rooted psychological feelings - for instance I hate going shopping (anti the idea that things will make you happy (see above), that we are all consumers and not citizens, that women in particular are told they need to have the right clothes, the right make-up etc), but also consider that as a child I hated a) going shopping for clothes for my mum which involved an awful lot of boredom when I could have been at home watching The Flumps and b) going shopping for clothes for me which led to many C&A vs Chelsea Girl arguments and the feeling that my mum would have rather been at home watching Pebble Mill rather than having to constantly buy garments for her ever-growing children.
Ditto car journeys. Is it my revilement of Big Oil, the emphasis on private vehicles rather than public transport, the people who drive to the gym rather than walking or cycling in their everyday life, the arrogance of automobiles? Or simply because I spent my formative years in the cramped back seat of a Peugeot visiting various people I had no interest in?
3. When Obama won the election, it was all Hope and Change (TM) and it seemed to non-Americans that the change in leadership would lead to change in the world, a less aggressive, more diplomatic approach to foreign policy, whilst at the same time feeling that Obama couldn't live up to the hype, would be compromised, would let us down and disappoint. Oddly, it has been the American people who haven't lived up to the hype, going ultra-ultra crazy about healthcare reform. I can see that there might be some people left over from the '50s who still fear the socialist threat, but surely universal access to healthcare is something that everyone except the CEOs of Insurance companies want. Do insured Americans see that as middle America currency, something to lord over uninsured people, something they want to deny other people? I can also see that they might not want taxes raised to pay for it, but they seem to object to the very principle of healthcare for all. Anyone asking their brother if they could spare a dime now would probably be kicked to death.
Of course, much of it is whipped up by the right-wing media who, as Mr latte-drinking, loft-living liberal Stewart points out have become the new left:
4. I'm not doing the Personality Type quiz thing because my answers are always: it depends, i.e. I'm a planner who loves spontaneity, I'm a practical person who spends a lot of time daydreaming, I sometimes hang around the kitchen at parties and I'm sometimes in the thrum, I'm cold but tender-hearted,I'm broke but I'm happy, I'm poor but I'm kind, I'm short but I'm healthy I'm sane but I'm overwhelmed I'm lost but I'm hopeful.
2. I do wonder if the things that I assume are political are actually deep-rooted psychological feelings - for instance I hate going shopping (anti the idea that things will make you happy (see above), that we are all consumers and not citizens, that women in particular are told they need to have the right clothes, the right make-up etc), but also consider that as a child I hated a) going shopping for clothes for my mum which involved an awful lot of boredom when I could have been at home watching The Flumps and b) going shopping for clothes for me which led to many C&A vs Chelsea Girl arguments and the feeling that my mum would have rather been at home watching Pebble Mill rather than having to constantly buy garments for her ever-growing children.
Ditto car journeys. Is it my revilement of Big Oil, the emphasis on private vehicles rather than public transport, the people who drive to the gym rather than walking or cycling in their everyday life, the arrogance of automobiles? Or simply because I spent my formative years in the cramped back seat of a Peugeot visiting various people I had no interest in?
3. When Obama won the election, it was all Hope and Change (TM) and it seemed to non-Americans that the change in leadership would lead to change in the world, a less aggressive, more diplomatic approach to foreign policy, whilst at the same time feeling that Obama couldn't live up to the hype, would be compromised, would let us down and disappoint. Oddly, it has been the American people who haven't lived up to the hype, going ultra-ultra crazy about healthcare reform. I can see that there might be some people left over from the '50s who still fear the socialist threat, but surely universal access to healthcare is something that everyone except the CEOs of Insurance companies want. Do insured Americans see that as middle America currency, something to lord over uninsured people, something they want to deny other people? I can also see that they might not want taxes raised to pay for it, but they seem to object to the very principle of healthcare for all. Anyone asking their brother if they could spare a dime now would probably be kicked to death.
Of course, much of it is whipped up by the right-wing media who, as Mr latte-drinking, loft-living liberal Stewart points out have become the new left:
4. I'm not doing the Personality Type quiz thing because my answers are always: it depends, i.e. I'm a planner who loves spontaneity, I'm a practical person who spends a lot of time daydreaming, I sometimes hang around the kitchen at parties and I'm sometimes in the thrum, I'm cold but tender-hearted,
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-08-22 11:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-23 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-23 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-23 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-23 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-23 12:24 pm (UTC)Jumble sales and Astral moisturiser; more than anyone will ever need.
xx
no subject
Date: 2009-08-23 01:40 pm (UTC)