tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8605839.post112802585816801886..comments2023-09-03T10:27:50.770-05:00Comments on Personal Musings of Priestly Goth: On Race and Class in AmericaCommunity of the Holy Trinityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327079170088324442noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8605839.post-1128092801171752852005-09-30T10:06:00.000-05:002005-09-30T10:06:00.000-05:00I find the concept of justice vis-a-vis classes or...I find the concept of justice vis-a-vis classes or (medievally) "estates" of human beings. I read fiction that often involves feudal relationships, and I find the structure of such relating to be very appealing. I sometimes think I was born to be "in service" in the house of some minor lord!<BR/><BR/>The problem in such a system, of course, is that everyone, from the monarch on down, lives on other people's sufferance. There aren't any rights, or much right of appeal if one is treated badly. Democracy seeks to change all that - but not by establishing rights for the different estates, or any "ombudsman" for the lower classes - rather, by erasing the distinctions between classes.<BR/><BR/>Such erasure doesn't seem to be working in America. I *am* grateful to my boss for employing me. I *would* like to cherish a fond affection for him, and be treated well, and work for him for a very long time. I would like, in short, to be "in service" to him with reciprocal rights of loyalty and protection.<BR/><BR/>In our capitalist market economy, I *have* noticed that I am largely alone in this sort of impulse!!<BR/><BR/>However, I and many, many other people also want to *become* minor lords. We want somebody (formerly the monarch, nowadays celebrities and the media) to "confer" nobility and thus celebrated/celebrity status upon us. I want to be a household name, like any royal or noble person.<BR/><BR/>Unfortunately, democracy merely means that I believe I achieve nobility by my own efforts.<BR/><BR/>It's weird, you know? Each of us believes we are as good as anybody else - so the idea of born-to-an-estate has very effectively been erased in our thoughts. But we climb the social/economic ladder in order to get to the highest class level. What a contradiction.<BR/><BR/>The American Dream - I'm as good as you, I can have as good as you have or BETTER - is a very cruel dream.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com