The Politics of Envy and Spite

Zoe Williams in the Groan, where else?

The problem with the rich is not the people themselves. It’s not the hoarding of wealth; it’s not the tax avoidance or the inequality or the excavation of undersoil so that cars can drive in and out of buildings with no one having to suffer the vulgarity of a pavement. No, the problem is that they are paid far too much attention; the accumulation of money has become an ur-qualification in everything, a PhD in the world.

As someone below the line points out,

The problem with some journalists is that they think they are qualified to write. Dyson may or not be smart but he can communicate in a far more effective manner.

Indeed. All we see from Williams is a childish rant about “the rich”. As is also pointed out below the line:

As the very rich contribute about a third of all tax revenues. (And no they don’t all evade tax, if the rate isn’t prohibitive). Before telling us to demonise these folk, perhaps the likes of ZW could explain how we would do without the wealth creators and jobs, GDP etc they create, quite besides the fiscal contribution which can fund hospitals, schools, etc.

Again, quite so. What is interesting is that we are increasingly seeing these nasty little pieces being ripped to shreds below the line. Yes, in the Guardian. As for the petulant author of the piece, she comes across as being about nine and half, frankly. I am amazed that any publication would not only publish such risible nonsense, but pay the author who wrote it. And, yes, I would pay more attention to a man like Dyson who has actually produced something of worth than a useless, lazy, good for nothing idiot who writes stupid articles for the Guardian.

13 Comments

  1. “…explain how we would do without the wealth creators and jobs, GDP etc they create, quite besides the fiscal contribution which can fund hospitals, schools, etc.”

    We only have to look at the history of Eastern Europe in the latter half of the twentieth century to get the answer to that one. A society of poverty and endless queueing for basic essentials.

  2. It’s a nasty article, by a nasty woman who sees the whole world through the politics of envy. She is absolutely consumed with a kind of class and wealth hatred which currently defines a number of Guardian columnists.

    In thier world it doesn’t matter how you became successful, or how many people have jobs as a result – you are a target for hatred simply because you have made a success for yourself and others and cannot possibly be permitted to reward yourself for that.

    And the bitter, inane way that Williams simply lumps together everyone who owns a successful business as a target for her bile speaks volumes about her. It’s all about stoking class resentment, no matter what the facts are. Hatred from a jealous, achieved nothing, employed nothing gobshite Guardian Journalist.

  3. the excavation of undersoil so that cars can drive in and out of buildings with no one having to suffer the vulgarity of a pavement Dearest Zoe, might the RAPE of our cities undersoil be more to do with there being NO FUCKING PARKING outside than any desire to avoid the nasty little oiks ? Just a thought that might not have occurred to you; as I’m sure you cycle everywhere.

  4. As Orwell noted in the Road to Wigan Pier, it isn’t the poor that matters to the Left, it’s hatred of class, privelege and wealth.

    You can see that today as clear as you like. The poor areas of the UK have not improved in any relative sense since the 1930’s. It pays the Left to keep the poor poor – that way, they keep voting for them.

  5. Zoe Williams does not understand what money is. Which is why she’s so bitter and envious of those who have accumulated it. She fears what she cannot understand and hates what she fears.

  6. The fact that Zoe loves Munroe Bergdorf and worships the ground it walks on is sufficient to prove that Zoe is a lovely, warm and caring person.

    Which means that everything she writes is intelligent, balanced and reasoned.

    Just explaining the morality of the left

  7. An easy question for her: At which point does someone become “rich”? Could she name a number? Then we’d know that if we stayed below that line, we’d be ok…

    She’s “rich” in the eyes of her Ocado delivery driver, and they probably think she talks shit also 🙂

  8. Socialists always look at people in power and think they got their through luck, public sector workers tend to look at their superiors and wonder how the fuck they got the job. Capitalists look to their superiors and wonder what qualities they need to get a job like them. One is envy, the other admiration.

    • Having worked in the public sector – BR in its dying days – I saw how people got their jobs. Seniority. If you were there long enough, you got the promotion regardless of talent and all too often the talent was noticeable by its absence and removing an incompetent was remarkably difficult in a unionised workforce.

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