[Magdalen] Boston Strong (was Aristocracy)

[sally.davies at gmail.com]

Perhaps I missed something in this email exchange I've renamed - but I
didn't see any cause for offence in any of the contributions I've read so
far - and much to muse upon.

It's probably easier for me not to feel emotional about this as we have so
many problems with ethnicity in South Africa (and very much stand in need
of prayer in this respect for the appalling violence which has once again
broken out against "foreigners").

Before we got into a discussion of how people in Boston or elsewhere in the
USA might understand social class or pedigree - I was thinking that perhaps
in the US case, and not just there, the right term is "plutocracy". It's
not about family or "breeding" anymore but about who controls the money.
"Oligarchy" is another term that might fit.

In a highly corrupt, non-democratic environment (Russia for instance) the
operation of an oligarchy is so much more obvious; in a mature democracy it
is 'behind the scenes' but nonetheless, very influential if not directly
powerful. Were the Kennedys part of that? I'm not sure although presumably
the War had something to do with their changing fortunes...? Is Lynn right,
has there been a "sea change" at some point where the centre of economic
gravity moved from a relatively large middle class to a small group of
ultra-rich, the so called One Percent...?

Without condoning social snobbery or prejudice, I also think that there is
a factual basis for some of these ethnic generalisations, though they are
as unreliable as any generalisation in an individual case. Immigrant
communities were after all, forced to band together evolving survival
strategies in the face of prejudice and discrimination.

These same strategies - uniting against a common enemy, unthinkingly
supporting your own "brothers" regardless of right or wrong, keeping
business opportunities "in the family" so to speak - are also found in
otherwise diverse immigrant communities and at a certain stage of history
they are a means of uplifting the whole group. We've had that here in South
Africa with just about every ethnic group you can think of at some stage or
other, depending on the web of power relations at the time.

When the group itself, however, rise to become the ones with access to
power these strategies readily turn to corruption and nepotism.

As to "aristocratic" snobbery, how much of an issue is it really, today? I
took M's comment (clarified by but not originating with Allan) as a wry
comment on the warped perceptions of a certain class of New Englanders who
still feel themselves to be superior by reason of birth - probably to
everyone and not just the Irish. Is that right, M? If so, it's interesting
to me because we have a very similar dynamic here in Port Elizabeth which
experienced an influx of settlers from Britain the "1820 Settlers", whose
family names still command respect and prominence here. It's part of the
local knowledge here just as it seems to be in Boston.

Many of the older people continue to uphold values of "good breeding", some
of which are good (like honour and courtesy and public service) and others
are bad (like writing people off based on where they come from or who their
parents are).

It's a fading world, the world of class division based on biological
descent, but one that seems to evoke a range of feelings from anger to
amusement to a sort of bittersweet nostalgia. It's still amazing to me that
in so called "classless" America, the TV show Downton Abbey which partakes
of this nostalgia to the nth degree, is so popular!!

Speaking of Boston, I heard an amazing woman on our local radio this
morning. Juli Windsor, who has dwarfism and is 3 foot 9, was set to be the
first person with her disability to finish the Marathon in 2013, and was a
mile away from the finish when the bombs went off. The story of how she
came back - and the entire city with her - to complete the 2014 marathon is
told in the documentary "Little Person: Boston Strong" which is currently
on Discovery Life channel. I'm going to look out for it!




Sally D
On Fri, 17 Apr 2015 at 4:24 PM Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Deleted
>
> Some messages  should be deleted unsent.
>
> Marion, a pilgrim, who is exhausted beyond words but still can smile at
> Allan's political
> /historical expression of attitudinal/regional truth
>
> On 4/17/2015 8:17 AM, Grace Cangialosi wrote:
> > Allen, that is a huge shock to me! No, I'm serious. I'm always
> surprised--and disappointed--at the many ways in which ethnic biases of all
> kinds survive and surface. When I think of the Kennedys, Irish isn't the
> first thing I think of.
> >
> >> On Apr 17, 2015, at 2:24 AM, Allan Carr <allanc25 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> They're not Yankees, they're  Irish.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> On Thursday, April 16, 2015, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> On Apr 16, 2015, at 9:01 AM, ME Michaud <michaudme at gmail.com
> >>> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> PS: anyone who thinks the Kennedys are aristocrats ain't from Boston
> >>> LOL!  Why is that, Margaret?
> >>
> >> --
> >> Allan Carr
>
>