Celebrity and Class in the United Kingdom

If there's one thing I despise more than class and caste prejudice, it is unabashed and undeserved worship of celebrity. My distaste for such actions applies more to political and social celebrities than sports heroes, but even then, I merely aim to, as Christopher Hitchens once said, have comments judged on their own merit and not on the merit of those who have spoken them.

With that in mind, its worth noting that London is having a mayoral election on May 1, 2008, and that only two candidates have any hope of winning. The incumbent is Ken Livingstone, a "red" bully known for his bluster and almost incomprehensible levels of corruption (see the Evening Standard on any given day for ample evidence); and the challenger is Boris Johnson, a thuggish buffoon who once collaborated with a convicted fraudster to have a News of the World reporter beaten up by hired goons, according to the Sunday Times.

The whole point of this post is that I have finally come across an interesting opinion piece in the Times that summarizes these two detestable British attributes: class discrimination and celebrity worship; this writer argues that Boris's success despite so many failings exemplifies both (Boris being a pompous Oxford clown and a media quizshow pundit).

So I leave you with this:

Then there is Boris Johnson. The gaiety of nations I understand, but the most entertaining thing about Johnson is when he puts on his serious, solicitous look. Like David Cameron, he is coming to believe in his own sincerity. Servility to celebrity has partially replaced class deference, and the adoring polls suggest that Johnson benefits from both. A Greek grocer I knew put his finger on it. Musing about how Alan Clark imagined relieving himself on the public from his ministerial balcony, he concluded: “The English don't mind being pissed on, so long as it's from a great height.”[Emphasis added]