Some of you might remember my semi-frivolous "no more old white guys" rant...

[BlueCross]

I dunno... it actually wasn't all that frivolous, I guess.  I just ain't voting for that segment of society anymore.

Case in point, a recent BBC article about US Senate Republicans blocking the lastest "Payness Fairness Act".

Everything about this typifies the stereotype I have about these guys: Weak excuses (if not downright lies or distortions), the hubris, the picture of them in their "somber" pose...  just irritates the hell out of me.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-26964278

Bah!


Oh... (disclaimer)  why yes, I AM an old white guy.  Luckily I won't be running for any office so I won't find myself in the embarrassing position of having to vote for my opponent.

[Desolo]

All I can really add is that I think the whole kit-an-kaboodle is broken...... I don't think that's going to change until politicians are no longer running things.

 Which will be never, in all likely hood.   

[TK]

They're the same here, elitist Etonians who wouldn't countenance contemplating how the other 90% actually live. They exist in this bubble where they just don't give a fuck, election promises are largely just attractive lies so the electorate continues to allow them to earn money for them and their big business mates.

On a side note I'm all for equality of the sexes but it's gone horribly wrong somewhere. We have a system where women feel they need to work later and later in to life for less money than their male counterparts while that family they wanted slips further and further away. If they do decide to have a family they fall between two stools and don't really get either. If, like us, a woman wants to dedicate herself to the very real and difficult work of raising a family at home society sees her as some kind of social leech. Then the other side of this is that cost of living and wages mean that it's so much harder to follow a family model with the man as sole breadwinner. Why is it that my wife works harder bringing up loved well adjusted children who will be a credit to society than she did in a highly demanding career only to have this sneered at by 'working mothers' who are allowing other people who may not share their values to bring up their children? This while receiving no actual pay or recognition for doing the most vital job there is: bring up and educating children.

The system is broken, it's been hijacked by these elitist pricks who saw a great way to keep us all down while pretending we were striving towards a social and gender equality that would improve society for all.

I've been mulling this over for a while, it's not expressed as well as I'd like because I've been up all night with a girl who won't sleep and a tiny iphone screen.

[Desolo]

I think you did a good job expressing your view.
Its unfortunate how many problems seem to result from "progress" just for the sake of it.
No thought of consequences at all, just "progress" because "progress" demands it. To bad it is almost always going to to messup something else somewhere, and someone can alway seem to profit from it.

Figured I should add:
*progress* in this case means whatever the people "at the top/politicians/goverments/etc" choose to push as their cause. So of course one sides "progress" is anothers *regress*

[KMD]

Not to sound like a sexist asshole, since I don't necessarily support the gender pay gap, but If I could have been born a man or a woman I'm glad I was born the one who gets payed more. Closing the gap, while the right thing to do, is still a threat to that gender advantage. I can understand why not everyone would be reluctant to change.

As far as being a politician goes, it requires a certain degree of manipulation, charisma, leadership and composure that not everyone has. I like to think, theres a reason those people are doing it and not me. So I don't question their motives and mock them as much as many people.

[TK]

That's another part of the issue though: there's a relatively trivial difference in wages across class and gender groups that keeps us all focused on hating those above us or disdaining those below us while we worry constantly about falling below the line that will see us destitute. Step above or below that line and your outlook and prospects change dramatically, the working and middle class man has never been so tightly squeezed and women are being used as this unwitting patsy and source of righteous indignation while they're being denied the right to exercise their birthright in bringing up children because thier men are no longer able to support them fully or to the socially acceptable mean. The upper and political classes earn amounts that buy them a better life than their fellow man that is grossly disproportionate to their contribution. We call it poverty tourism in the uk and it's a lot like watching a dog fight, the right push here and there and they can watch us tear each other apart over the most trivial thing while they visit the grime and the dirt with their benevolent disapproval.

I sound like some kind of hard line socialist but I honestly believe in a compassionate meritocracy with enough social concience to take care of the less able in society. In my ideal world those who need to inflate their position with lies and inequity should find their way in life through the merit rather than guile. Social standing should rest on who you actually are and not what you do or how much buying power you have.

[BlueCross]

Closing the gap, while the right thing to do, is still a threat to that gender advantage.

I'm pretty sure I don't understand this statement.

[Desolo]

I think KmD is simply stating a simple truth: no one likes losing the advantage.
Its a pefectly human reaction.

Although honestly I think most of the "advantages" most of us seem to have (or not have for that matter) are mercurial at best and non existent at worst.

I remember reading a poll somewhere that 2/3-3/4 of Americants think they are "middle class"!
And that's utter lunacy. But it makes a great political weapon when you can say "HEY! So and so is going to take away something that helps YOU!" EVEN WHEN IT IS MEANINGLESS.
All you have to do is convince people to divide themselves into meaningless groups and then point fingers. Class warfare anyone?