Spare me the compliments of colonialist wankstains

[nanila]

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.

Comments

[oursin]

Katherine Holden's Nanny Knows Best is an excellent deconstruction by a historian of the nanny myths. (I declare an interest: I was able to put Kath onto several sources she found extremely useful.)

[miss_s_b]

I love you, and this post is ace.

[gwendraith]

It's one of the sweeping statements that doesn't really apply in any sensible way to all nannies. I expect his experience of nannies is limited to Norland nannies who are in great demand and no doubt are better treated, better paid and get all the best jobs, so not your average au pair or local college trained nanny who are so open to being poorly treated and poorly paid.

[recessional]

Your cynical side is often right. Not guaranteed but often.

(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.)

[cmcmck]

And of course an overprivileged bag of horse shit like him would know all about nannies wouldn't he?

[davidgillon]

Rees-Mogg famously took his nanny campaigning with him when he was attempting to become an MP. He's one of those Tory politicians who are so utterly 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.

[ironed_orchid]

The levels of assumptions and privilege that go in to him making that statement would require a team of geologists to excavate.

[silveradept]

Ah, yes, someone with the attitude that the hired help can take whatever gets thrown at them and will be grateful for it. I wonder how quickly that person can be corrected.

[omnipotent]

it tidily encapsulates the kind of thinking that informs our more privileged elected officials.