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I have been thinking, off an on, about a comment I heard Jacob Rees-Mogg (UK Conservative politician, pro-Brexit) make on Have I Got News For You (topical BBC “comedy” panel show) a few weeks ago.
He remarked, in an off-hand smiling way, “Nannies are indestructible.”
This provoked little from his fellow panelists other than some raised eyebrows and swiftly moving on to the next topic. I would dearly have loved to have seen someone call him out on it, however, because to me, it tidily encapsulates the kind of thinking that informs our more privileged elected officials.
“Nannies are indestructible.” Let’s pick that apart a little, shall we? You’re saying that people who choose a certain career are all of such physical and mental endurance that they are unbreakable. A career that is traditionally underpaid and underappreciated. A career that, in the past, many would not have chosen freely, but would have been forced into purely by necessity. A career that has traditionally - and still is - predominantly taken by women. A career that often required* one to endure physical and mental abuse not only from one’s charges, but from one’s employers.
So what you’re saying, Jacob Rees-Mogg, is that you think these people, these often young, habitually oppressed and usually female people, can endure anything. Any sort of mistreatment you throw at them, whether it be verbal insults or piss-poor pay, they can be assured of accepting and carrying on with their lives. Never mind that the only alternative, for them, is probably “starve to death on little or no income”.
This throwaway remark, by someone who thought he was paying a compliment, says a lot about the entitled thinking of imperialists. It is this kind of thinking that enables slavery.
* I really hope this can be entirely put in the past tense, but the cynical side of me is willing to bet otherwise.
He remarked, in an off-hand smiling way, “Nannies are indestructible.”
This provoked little from his fellow panelists other than some raised eyebrows and swiftly moving on to the next topic. I would dearly have loved to have seen someone call him out on it, however, because to me, it tidily encapsulates the kind of thinking that informs our more privileged elected officials.
“Nannies are indestructible.” Let’s pick that apart a little, shall we? You’re saying that people who choose a certain career are all of such physical and mental endurance that they are unbreakable. A career that is traditionally underpaid and underappreciated. A career that, in the past, many would not have chosen freely, but would have been forced into purely by necessity. A career that has traditionally - and still is - predominantly taken by women. A career that often required* one to endure physical and mental abuse not only from one’s charges, but from one’s employers.
So what you’re saying, Jacob Rees-Mogg, is that you think these people, these often young, habitually oppressed and usually female people, can endure anything. Any sort of mistreatment you throw at them, whether it be verbal insults or piss-poor pay, they can be assured of accepting and carrying on with their lives. Never mind that the only alternative, for them, is probably “starve to death on little or no income”.
This throwaway remark, by someone who thought he was paying a compliment, says a lot about the entitled thinking of imperialists. It is this kind of thinking that enables slavery.
* I really hope this can be entirely put in the past tense, but the cynical side of me is willing to bet otherwise.
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I mean there are also many wonderful families to work for. But there are also people you'd think that of? Who then show how close they've always been to the vicious side, and how deliberately they aim for "help" they can control and take advantage of, while finding ways to assuage what conscience shows up.
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* I find the Rees-Mogg family hard to take seriously after some of the If cartoons from the late 80s, which depicted Willam Rees-Mogg as 'Mogg-Rees', a cat in a gimp suit who curled round the ankles of Margaret Thatcher...
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*My background is weird, and I can recognize people from similar backgrounds but. XD
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(I was basically the "I don't have to put up with this shit" version, but I knew a LOT of - I'm sure you're shocked - Filipina nannies in my area who put up with sometimes borderline criminal treatment for their own various reasons, mostly maintaining Canadian residency.)
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I'm glad you managed to avoid the bad eggs yourself.
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But I WILL eye the family more warily in general. Like, youuu are now someone I will Watch and a bit of the benefit of the doubt I give 90% of the world has been withdrawn. Just because it's so prevalent. *sigh*
And yeah. I am also in no way unaware that coming from my family and specifically dad's legal profession and mom's take-no-shit and their willingness and ability to support me in even cases of having to walk out helped. It can be an amazing profession? But my god, the risks.
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in*well-bred that caricature simply cannot compete with the reality. Sadly this leads to a man utterly convinced only his reality is valid.*Socially, rather than genetically.
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