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I have never liked Bruce Springsteen. He has written just one song which keeps getting repeated time and again – you’re a victim of “the man”, nothing in your life is your fault, the world is stacked against you; oh and it’s perfectly OK to abandon your wife and children. Imagine my amusement – and understandable superciliousness – to discover in later years that Springsteen was raised in a household with a deadbeat father who never had a job. That explains a lot. Then along came Bernie Sanders: another who’s never had a job; bemoans America; and champions in politics Springsteen’s version of the world.
If you think left-wingers are not all the same then listen to this, dear reader. Earlier this week I discovered a chap camping in my driveway (we live in the country a couple of miles outside of Mosgiel); we got chatting – mainly about when he was going to dismantle his tent and depart – and it turned out he was a “professional loser”. He is on the dole (or whatever it’s called these days), has been since 1997 and potters around the country avoiding gainful employment; camping in DoC campgrounds and anywhere else that takes his fancy.
Oh, and he’s a militant socialist: which, when I invited him into my house (actually some distance from where he was camping) for a cup of tea and a meal, led to a fascinating discussion. He made a series of contentions – it’s a free country – which he truly believes to be true, including
1. Only members of “Socialist International” (a Dunedin organisation with an astonishing 70 members) can see the ‘truth’. [Don’t worry – I burst out laughing too]
2. People in Dunedin and Mosgiel (where he grew up), are being exploited “with low wage service jobs”.
3. AI will be great because everyone will have leisure time.
4. People like me are not “legitimate” because we’re so rich.
5. Stalin and Pol Pot were misunderstood.
6. You probably get the general idea.
So I challenged him on the various points he made which quickly saw things unravel. If people working at, say, New World or in a cafe are undertaking “low wage service jobs” should the Mosgiel Woollen mill re-open? His response was to say “Oh don’t be silly”; I replied that I was not being silly at all; if there is something wrong with working in a cafe, those doing so are being exploited, then should we return to Dunedin being a manufacturing centre? Should the mill re-open (oh and I pointed out to him the wages, adjusted for inflation, amounted to around $16 per hour). I then rattled off other “Gone With The Wind” employers in the Dunedin area – various freezing works, Cadburys, Fisher and Paykel; all have departed along with the low-paid drudgery many people wasted their lives on.
When all boiled down it amounted to the following – he, and his ‘comrades’, do not understand that the vast majority of people enjoy gainful employment; like to get up in the morning and go to work; take pride in their work; enjoy getting paid and love spending their money. His view is everyone is a lazy slob (like himself) and when AI does everything for them, “the people” will spend their days watching Netflix and walking the dog.
Sort of like Bernie, Bruce, Jacinda, and all the other left-wingers; they genuinely don’t “get it” with working-class people in particular. They also judge everyone by their own indolence and lack of ambition in life. It was an eye-opening chat that showed my view of left-wingers is accurate.
