[Gllug] VACANCY: Junior Systems Support

[Vidar Hokstad]

Stephen Nelson-Smith wrote:
> I'm not entirely sure why 'Victrorian' is being used as a pejorative
> term.  I don't think I share the economic or social view of
> Christopher or Hari but I think a person who lives sustainably should
> be admired, not pilloried. 
I don't think "living sustainably" is what people have a problem with, 
but his attitudes in other messages and the assumption that what they 
have is somehow attainable for most people if only they worked harder, 
and the implicit assumption that people who run into problems in their 
life just have themselves to blame.  That is at least what was hard to 
swallow for me.

It _is_ an attitude that most people left behind in Victorian times, and 
that shows a massive lack of respect for the people providing a vast 
proportion of the services society needs to function, yet who make 
little enough that they'd easily find themselves in trouble if society 
did not provide a security net. The comparison to Victorian times is apt 
since it saw the UK at the centre of the rise of social conscience, both 
through writers like Dickens, and socialist thinkers (Christopher 
probably would prefer not to think about the fact that Marx lived, and 
is buried, in London...).

Sure, if you make as much as Christopher or me, you could probably live 
better by moving somewhere where nobody cares about ordinary people and 
taxes are accordingly lower. Personally I wouldn't want to. I'm happy to 
know that people around me will be taken reasonable care of if they need 
help, and I don't feel the least bit sorry for people at our salary 
level who complain about the levels of tax in the UK.

Vidar
-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at gllug.org.uk
http://lists.gllug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gllug