This just in from the Institute for the Study of Ursine Defecation in Forested Areas: Prince Charles’ household is “hierarchical and elitist”.
The best bit, is when HRH himself spouts forth in a memo:
“What is wrong with everyone nowadays? Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities? This is to do with the learning culture in schools as a consequence of a child-centred system which admits no failure. People think they can all be pop stars, high court judges, brilliant TV personalities or infinitely more competent heads of state without ever putting in the necessary work or having natural ability.”
And that rant was brought to you by the letters B and C, which were the grades with which Charles got accepted into Cambridge.
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November 18th, 2004 at 01:41:41
“…qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities…”
I think, on the whole, that I won’t shed any tears over that kind of critique, coming as it does from a man who can’t even squeeze his own toothpaste.
November 18th, 2004 at 13:22:49
Whatever you think about Prince Charles, I think he has a point. The instant gratification culture has spilled over into thinking about jobs and the future.
You are at point A (natural talent) and want to get to point B (top footballer). Popular thought says it doesn’t matter if A is “has the speed of a mountain range, the courage of a damp tissue and the cunning of a blunt pencil” and that you can’t be arsed doing anything boring like practice shooting or dribbling, or running or weight training. Just say “I wan’t to be a top footballer” and those magic words will fix everything. Arse.
November 18th, 2004 at 18:36:48
Er… other than “if you just believe it” style self-help manuals, and sports films starring Kevin Costner, have you ever met anybody who actually thinks like that? Or, equally, any evidence that people didn’t think like that back in the good old days? People dream, people fantasize, yes - but only the delusional actually believe that they can just click their heels and all will be well. And we’ve always had delusional people.
What Charlie is really talking about becomes quite clear in the sentence “It is the result of social utopianism which believes humanity can be genetically re-engineered to contradict the lessons of history and realities of nature.” Once you pick your way through the waffle and misapplied terminology, it’s pretty obvious that what he’s talking about is The Proles, getting uppity and trying to worm their way in where they’re not wanted.
Also, that he cannot seem to distinguish between the popular conceptions of ‘pop-star’ and ‘high-court judge’ seems to say quite a lot about his grasp on the zeitgeist.
November 19th, 2004 at 10:15:39
What you (Tom) say is true. I haven’t any evidence that people weren’t delusional in the past, and yes, people have always dreamed (for which I’m glad, as it’s part of aspiration, the drive to change/succeed which is all good stuff).
I guess I’m just fed up with seeing things on the covers of most women’s (and many men’s) magazines -
* 8 steps to fix your money problems forever!
* 12 steps to being a wow in bed!
* Your child’s sleeping problems - sorted!
Unfortunately this spills over into a large part of many bookshops in the self help section.
It’s the lottery-style doing away with the inconvenient gap between where you are and where you want to be that’s the problem. I don’t think anyone should have a pre-set station in life, and it’s society/government’s job to ensure everyone has much of a chance as anyone else. But the just-add-water bit is what gets my back up, and I think that is a new (e.g. post-war) phenomenon. (Rant over.)
Again, just because Prince Charles has his flaws (grasp on zeitgeist etc.) - who doesn’t - and says nonsense sometimes - who doesn’t - doesn’t stop at least some of what he says being true or at least worth thinking about. I.e. just because Prince Charles said it, don’t dismiss it out of hand.
November 22nd, 2004 at 15:16:48
There is a genuine point, even if Charles did a completely rubbish attempt at describing it. Its not a new one, either, but has been around for at least 20 years or so. Academic success, irrespective of genuine ability is seen as the be-all and end-all; “vocational” qualifications being seen as a pretty obvious euphemism for “thicky” ones, only for those too stupid to get themselves some proper ones.
Nobody wants to be an engineer, because they are seen as crap jobs, and we don’t pay them well enough. So we’ve got a desperate shortage of qualified engineers for actual building stuff, because they’ve all buggered off to get decently-paid jobs in IT or somesuch.