Tuesday 13 October 2015

Steven Poole Discusses Memes….

…and hilarity ensues:
So there I was, bashing out a hot take on my MacBook Air on a sunny terrace, when I took a sip of my takeaway coffee and my heart sank. The barista had put milk in it. That ruined my whole morning. What a terrible world. But I know, right? First world problem!
Wow! Finally, some self awareness in a ‘Guardian’ columnist…
But why do we speak of “first world problems”, exactly, and what might we unintentionally mean when we do?
Oh. I spoke too soon. The Royal We is being sprinkled around again:
For a start, the phrase is an anachronism, since we no longer talk about the “third world” .
‘We’ don’t? I can assure you we do. You might mean ‘we’ as the Guardianista watercooler crowd, but that’s not the whole world, thank heavens.
That implies there might be something smug in the modern usage, as well as a hint of enjoyable transgression in using language that is not “politically correct” .
I’m not sure that correcting someone attempting to control the language is ‘enjoyable’, so much as necessary
Some may wish to retort that worrying about the political implications of the phrase “first world problem” when used by rich people is itself a first world problem. But repetition of language that implies an unspoken attitude to others will often help that attitude to harden within us. And that’s everyone’s problem.
Nope! It’s still your problem. Yours, and all the other SJWs.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

What on earth is he babbling about?

Is he trying to say that if we don't use the term 'third world' there won't be one??

Jay

Ted Treen said...

No Jay, it's the journalistic equivalent of 'The Emperor's New Clothes'.

Justify a highly-paid position as a columnist by spending up to 5 minutes bashing out a] load of meaningless twaddle, then if anyone queries it, just raise one eyebrow (a la Roger Moore) and you can then continue receiving oodles of cash for doing very little.

Nice work if you can get it.

Unknown said...

The Guardian is like this. The Independent, while leftist, does seem a little more adult imho

wiggiatlarge said...

As a commentator said...............

This article is a Guardian problem.

Greencoat said...

My problem is that corrupt trash like the Guardian still pours its poison into gullible ears and that wandering wankers from the the Gardens of Versaille like Viscount Steven Poole are breathing our precious oxygen.

Andy said...

The Third World is very much in my thoughts and on my lips. I wonder how long it will take for us to join that club. Rich folk, isolated from the need to worry, find something silly to irk them. They are Not of this World.

JuliaM said...

"...it's the journalistic equivalent of 'The Emperor's New Clothes'."

These people should be toiling in salt mines. And would be, if I ever come to power!

"The Independent, while leftist, does seem a little more adult imho"

It has a lot fewer nutters in its comment section - maybe because it has fewer readers?

"Rich folk, isolated from the need to worry, find something silly to irk them. "

Can't they just become Scientologists instead? ;)