They can’t imagine, for example, that the person serving them drinks at 1am on a Saturday night isn’t there for fun, but because rent is due on Monday morning and late-night bar work is the only way to afford it. Or that the girl bringing them brunch the morning after had to beg for the privilege of spending her Sunday waiting on hungover frat boys, because her bank account’s in negative figures and work has cut her hours back. They don’t work weekends when they don’t want to because they can afford to make that choice, and for whatever reason the idea that someone might be in a radically different situation just doesn’t sink in like it should. Nonetheless they speak with absolute confidence that they are absolutely correct, because it’s easy to be confident when your every trivial success is taken as proof of your inherent brilliance and met with extravagant acclamation, and when your every obstacle can be magicked away with money granted you by the fortuitous circumstances of your birth. That self-assurance is founded on air, but it can be compelling; they believe in their own innate superiority so completely, they can convince others of its truth through sheer chutzpah. Sometimes, if enough people indulge them in their delusions and don’t ask too many questions, these young men (and, less frequently in this government at least, women) go very far, ending up in positions of power and importance not because of any great talent or vision, but because immense privilege does not require much effort to turn into success, so long as you’re just good enough to hide your mediocrity. They were born a centimetre from the finish line, and the greatest achievement of their lives is that they managed to roll over it. Hence how a private-school boy wakes up one day, and finds he is Prime Minister. Read more at junkee/tony-abbotts-dont-work-on-weekends-comment-is-everything-thats-wrong-with-tony-abbott/49602#IYt6YMDvDJQwSb4G.99
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 03:57:42 +0000
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