A Voice for the Working Class

It shouldn’t surprise us that some people are confused about the “refugee crisis” in Europe. We see people from all over the world leaving their home countries for a variety of reasons, and when the average person describes them as “those immigrants”, the Guardianista jump on them and educate them about how we should distinguish between economic migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

To an extent, it’s fair to ask people to take the time to identify people correctly before making broad statements. For example, someone escaping war in Iceland shouldn’t be lumped together with young, bored and violent Somalis who are willing to risk their lives to reach the Promised Land of the UK. Why? Because the danger they each face must be considered when weighing up how much help we may give them–if any. Also, it’s right that Indians are not called “Pakistanis” if they’re not. It’s about politeness if nothing else.

I imagine one of the Lefties who would be the first to insist on careful labelling of immigrants is the writer and columnist, Owen Jones. He wrote a book about the demonization of the working class, so you’d expect him to get behind them and plead for allowances to be made for those who maybe can’t articulate accurately their concerns about their country.

All the working class are equal, but some…

However, Jones’s own sympathy for the “lower classes” extends only to those who agree with him. Just ask Jones about the anger among the right-wing working class and see how far you get. He’s like every other logically inconsistent, metropolitan luvvie: it’s his way or the highway, and he therefore duly merits his place in my category of the Champagne Socialist. No doubt he’d claim he doesn’t even like champagne. Hard luck. The category’s staying, and he’s in it.

What we should do is try to avoid getting irritated by uneducated comment, and try to see if there’s any substance behind the poor rhetoric. (Often there isn’t!) But to deny people a voice because they haven’t enjoyed a public school upbringing and become the well-spoken finished product shouldn’t mean their voice is ignored. If anything, it’s up to the better educated to crystallize the disjointed expressions into arguments which reflect the heartfelt unease of this Joe Bloggs multitude. This is the job of the politician, surely, but they must avoid Jones’s prejudice and be prepared to represent views even if they find them hard to stomach.