Before, the left was a grassroots movement by and for the working class. Now there are almost no workers left in the political ranks of the left. In their place, the parties have been filled with party chicks, upper-class ladies, civil servants and soft academics who are united mostly in their contempt for ordinary people. There are currently many in the chatterbox who try to explain away why the working class is leaving the Labor Party in favor of more conservative parties. The same arguments were used to explain away that ordinary working people and minorities in the United States preferred conservative Donald Trump twice over yet another liberal career woman. No one points out the obvious: The working class votes conservative because they are conservative. They have conservative values, want a more conservative society and believe that their interests are best served by conservative politics. There are good reasons for that. Class blindness I myself have a working-class background, an immigrant background and have long worked within the healthcare system with society’s most marginalized. I have been exposed to violence at work, helped to provide forced mental health care and have read growing up stories from our country that are so cruel that one simply cannot imagine them. What most of all unites those who fall outside is that they come from underprivileged backgrounds, both economically, socially and culturally. They did not have resourceful grandparents, were not read to at bedtime, have been beaten, ostracized, neglected and marginalized. So they often belong to the ignored and quiet working class who freeze when electricity prices rise, and have to buy poorer food when food prices rise. In contrast to the many hard fates I have met and ordinary people in the working class, stand the well-groomed and self-glorifying aristocrats in the chattering class. When I attended Arendalsuka, I saw, for example, a shameless lobby festival, where everyone fought for their interests. For the good of society, of course. The working class was not invited. The same has struck me at university, when I read the newspaper, watch political debates, at various social events and other places frequented by the privileged. The talking class are sickeningly class-blind and ignorant of their own privileges. The Vices of the Working Class To be working class is to struggle to make ends meet. It is having poor finances, little education, poor health, little political power and little profit. Unskilled work wears on the body and psyche in a way that is not reflected in the payslip. Political influence comes at the bottom of the priority list. Being working class is a collection of thousands of small and large things. In a small way, it means eating unhealthy, because you have neither the money, knowledge nor energy to cook good and healthy food. Being working class means having few good role models. It means growing up in broken families that are so weighed down by bills and illness that parents have no money left over for their children. It means growing up in a neighborhood where hardly any parents have higher education, know the laws or read Morgenbladet. It means growing up in troubled classrooms, inheriting bad habits and growing up without a father. It’s hard to maintain a marriage when everyone is exhausted, the bills are piling up and the kids are struggling. As a parent, being working class means having to wait to buy a cheap winter jacket for your kids. That means being afraid that they will be subjected to violence by local petty thugs, become criminals themselves, sick, unemployed or teenage pregnant with one or another bastard. Being working class means toil without a way out and resorting to drugs, drugs and distractions to calm the nerves. This means dependence on alcohol, screens, pornography, gambling and psychotropic drugs to function in everyday life. Therefore, it also means making mistakes, being angry and disappointed, fighting over small things, getting into debt, getting drunk, failing at school and letting each other down, because one simply has no more surplus to give. Privileges of the talking class The working class therefore need clear values if they are to be able to do well. They want tough punishments for dealers, teachers with clear authority, clear family values, and a culture that does not seduce them into sexualized hedonism and digital addiction. The working class wants vibrant local communities, patriotism, clear roles, morality, less competition from abroad on the labor market and relentless destruction of the cancerous tumor gang crime is. So less immigration, strict justice, economic protectionism and conservative values. The talking class lives in a world of garden parties, stable families, good habits, expensive inherited homes in the city’s best areas and resourceful relationships. You will find them at exhibition openings, panel discussions, Dagsnytt 18 and Litteraturhuset, where they debate with the greatest of naturalness how society should be. Completely without thinking about those who are not part of the conversation. They eat freshly baked bread from Baker Hansen with freshly pressed olive oil from Tuscany, complimented with some pecorino cheese from Meny and Aftenposten’s latest wine recommendation. Several are on a first name basis with people on TV, have Klassekampen on the living room table and play off a phrase in Latin while sipping wine over their inherited teak living room table. Together they know leading journalists, academics, Barcode consultants, doctors, grantees, case managers and lawyers, all of whom have art in their living room, a cabin in the mountains, money for a Tesla and jobs and places of residence that are absolutely not threatened by either immigration or crime. Given their privileges and resources, they can handle experimentation with both drugs, sexuality, self-realization and technology, without sacrificing any worldly things. They can have liberal views on justice without becoming victims of crime themselves. They can brag about how kind and progressive they are, without suffering the consequences of policies that do not affect them themselves. Their real commitment is revealed in women’s struggle for elite ladies, harassment with working-class men, patronizing climate change and month-long pride celebrations. So while the working class only gets poorer, sicker, more isolated, addicted to drugs and marginalized, the urban elite sit and talk about how great it is that men can now wear dresses. Is it any wonder that the working class are leaving the Labor Party? When all they do is fight for the interests of the chattering class. Send us your opinion Want to write? Feel free to contact us at news Ytring with your post. The guidelines can be found here. Published 08.12.2024, at 22.21
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