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(not satire – it’s a serious question!)
I’m curious why Eton doesn’t produce at least some rebels and lefties.
It sounds a daft thing to say I know – privilege protecting itself and all that – but you’d expect at least a small percentage of the people it produces to have worked out that meritocracy is far better economically, morally, socially and practically than plutocracy.
Surely there must be a least a few rebels amongst Old Etonians? A certain amount of rebellion would be normal in any environment – unless the school is indulging in some kind of serious brain-washing rather than producing the thoughtful, critical, questioning, intelligent young people it claims to be producing.
So where are all the left-wing, rebellious Old-Etonians?
The only OE I could find to fit that description is the former Labour MP Tam Dalyell – although surprisingly he was a Tory until his 20s so it could be argued that even in his case Eton produced a Tory.
If you know of any lefty, rebellious Old-Etonians – or are one yourself – come out come out wherever you are. It’d be great to know you exist!
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bobchewie said:
i think its cultural Tom, sure wheh you are younger you tend to revbel against your parents…but when it comes down to inheritance..our errant ways we suddenly grow up, stop protesting and work for the insurance broker like daddy ..and again there is that inheritance..its probbly all that inbreeding too..
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bobchewie said:
oh there is some interesting stuff here..smartcards controlling what you buy where to go what not to buy all that stuff
http://gwenhwyfaer.posterous.com/
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bobchewie said:
oh by the way..tam dalyell was quite a good campaigner..just asked relevant questions ….wonder why he swapped sides Tom..?? theres a question
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bobchewie said:
http://www.pitsnpots.co.uk/2010/05/weaver-and-old-etonian-two-left-wing-writers-moorlands/
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bobchewie said:
Eton has such a conventional image, it is surprising how many authors, critics and artistic figures received their education here, some of whom could never be considered establishment lackeys.
They include George Orwell, Cyril Connolly, Aldous Huxley, Henry Fielding, biographer Michael Holroyd, poet Percy Shelley and playwright Jeremy Sandford. Orwell, typically, took a caustic view of Eton: “Probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, but the opening battles of all subsequent wars have been lost there.”
Actors include Hugh Laurie who once played a fictional Old Etonian, P G Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster. He said of his time at the school: “I just sort of plodded through it. I’d love to tell you I burned the place down … but such was not the case. I was a bit of a square.”
Other thespians include Damian Lewis and Christopher Cazenove, while Bamber Gascoigne and Humphry Lyttelton, jazz musician and host of I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, are among the broadcasting alumni, as is, of course, Boris Johnson, occasional host of Have I Got News for You.
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bobchewie said:
But even more important, Eton was the alma mater of John Maynard Keynes, father of modern economic thought.
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bobchewie said:
Then there is the one that got away. Lord Lucan, gambler and man about town, who vanished in September 1974 after killing his children’s nanny, is still officially on the run. The Eton website simply lists him as “missing”.
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Tom Pride said:
You’re quite right about that Bob. There’s a turn-up for the books!
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bobchewie said:
and in the right hand corner lord lucan gambler wife torturer nanny beater and hitler fan..so everyhthing is normal then
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Juli said:
Scrolled through the comments – the examples are all old and/or dead! Certainly can’t think of any contemporary left-wing Etonians. Curious indeed – their educative standard can’t be all that, after all… 😉
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ballymouse said:
perhaps they remember steve hilton taking a petrified mp into a small room in front of everyone, his change of vote,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
or maybe they recall the death in a loo at glastonbury, daves own constituency worker who had suddenly said they were on the take, thieves and liars all…………….
or dr kelly and dr holmes, same mo, the fingerprint-less knife, pills and water bottle, the helicopter that the police on duty forgot to mention…………………..
or maybe they all have skeletons in the cupboard, all that boarding school buggery mixed with common purpose nlp counselling they get free of charge as they say so many mps have mental problems……………………
but its not just tory, its labour and liberals, they talk the talk, but do not walk the walk.
what they call a u turn we call a lie…………………………. dave has no power, until the bankers want out of the eu, we are in the eu, no ifs buts or ands.
etonians like dave can take bags of cash for cosy suppers, cash for titles, cash for honours, cash to live in the uk from despots, he will have his rear covered, but he cannot make a decision that will help this country out of this mess its in.
funny they all end up millionaires – they aren’t stupid, they just make money by screwing up the system……………………. rewarding failure in guv is standard practice.
in 10 years we have 2 million fiscal immigrants, bleeding the system dry, then being used as targets for the media to blame it on, its the politicians who carry the blame, not the immigrants, they were invited in, i would have come if i had lived in a poor country, who would not want to better their lives?
if the tory labour or liby-wobblies were incompetent they would end up on the dole, you will not see them treat their finances like they do the countries, strange that.
even the queens 3d speech was written for her, by the goberment, she is a talking head, a figurehead on hms england, full of worm and rot, perhaps now gerry anderson has died we could buy up the rights for lady Penelope, parker would replace the old nazi racist ……….. be cheaper and much more fun.
the whole worlds a stage, politicians play their parts, the prime-minister reads the lines the bilderberg bankers, crown corporation give them in the big red book he is given.
if you do not believe it read tonys book, 10p signed from any charity shop.
thanks for all the humour and fun in 2012, looking forward to 2013,
,
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John Ruddy said:
Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall? He is surely Left wing?
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sharoot66 said:
MIGHT BE SOME HERE! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9770908/Tory-shires-in-revolt-over-cuts.html
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samp server said:
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franjangle said:
Didn’t the Cam circle learn their economics doing PPE with same Oxford tutor? Is he why UK is f******
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Arbeitology said:
You know meritocracy is actually something that both New Labour and Cameron’s conservatives are completely wedded to. That those who are at the top deserve to be at the top because they are the best. It may be a skewed view of ‘meritocracy’ as it has been used recently (by successive elitist governments) but it was originally coined as a sort of dystopian contortion of socialism by Michael Young you know (he associated it with an obsession with tests and scoring. Something our Etonian government [look at Gove] are well acquainted with).
I know this is a bit of an aggy post but I just felt like I needed to point at that the etonian lot are already in some sense meritocratic (an ideology fully compatible with harsh *harsh* neo-liberal social exclusion and class structure).
I feel your pondering in general but think you should probably not waste to much time worrying about it! (I don’t want a leftist elite, elites are half the problem!)
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David said:
The word “rebel” is misunderstood and consequently it is misused. A rebel is one who opposes power, is antagonistic towards the powerful. Youthful rebelliousness is shallow and conformist, and is followed by conservatism. If an old etonian were to join the communist party, he would only be exchanging one form of power for another; he would not be rebelling – a rebel never, ever, seeks power.
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Tom Pride said:
You’re probably right. But Eton doesn’t even seem to produce shallow conformist rebels, never mind any real ones.
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David said:
No, Mr Fearnly-Whittingstall is a tart with a heart kind of Conservative – I think.
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poetmcgonagall said:
I was just watching a clip from If – pity there’s no longer that sort of spirit left in the well-heeled young. Now they’d be more likely to join a fascist militia.
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Sam Spruce said:
No one seems to have mentioned Guy Burgess. I think selling secrets to the Russian Communists is a bit left of right. Well at least that was the purported idea.
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Tom Pride said:
Sam – of course. Should have thought of him.
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Jon Beech (@_jonb) said:
old etonian David Renton is still SWPing according to Wikipedia
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richardinnorway said:
Keynes was not the father of modern economic thought!! Stupidly, modern economic thought tries to ignore keynes as much as possible
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bobchewie said:
@richarddinnorway ah right so instead its stupid useless Adam smith instead now is it ?
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Floreat Etona said:
Pretty much as left wing and as rebellious as it gets…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Burgess
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Miles Darrington said:
I’m proud to say that I AM an Etonian leftie. To be honest, i’m very much a minority…
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Tom Pride said:
Miles – that’s interesting. Can you tell me more about how going to Eton affects the political views of its pupils (or not)?
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