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Karen in NY
Friday, 27 January 2012 19:43:09 GMT

Ok I'll give it a try!Blogger? No
iPhone or android. Neither but I do have an iPad ! And my little samsung phone is on AT&T so I could upgrade to an iPhone, just don't want the higher phone bills!

Eighty or lefty? Lefty by birth but since my hypoxic brain injury, my left hand doesn't work so well now! So I guess I'm a reluctant righty. Politics wise, I'm a lefty! Surrounded by right wingers, ugh!

Ancestors are from Sweden , Italy on dads side and Slovakia on moms side.

I'm working class but grew up I'm upper middle class! My dad was definitely upper class when he was a boy. He worked in pro football when I was a kid so we were upper middle class.

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Karen in NY
Friday, 27 January 2012 19:43:09 GMT

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Karen in NY
Friday, 27 January 2012 19:46:25 GMT

Oops sorry for the double post!And the typo Righty not eighty!!

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Buffy
Sunday, 29 January 2012 21:38:44 GMT

Rob that game was amazing...that whole weekend was amazing. Will we ever do it again dudes?

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Kez
Monday, 30 January 2012 9:30:10 GMT

A thinker...1. Blogger or not? Not. Although I should

2. iPhone or Android? Android. Can’t justify the expense of an iPhone.

3. Lefty or Righty? Righty handy. Lefty politically.

4. Are you considered working class, middle class or upper class (be honest) Middle, I would say. Although it’s difficult isn’t it. What is it defined by? Education? Living circumstances? Parents’ professions? Very interesting question though.

5. What are your ancestor's country/ies of origin? Mother and Father English and Scottish, respectively and both with one Irish grandparent each. I myself was born in Scotland. So a fairly even split between the 3 I think, in terms of ancestry.

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chrism
Monday, 30 January 2012 9:54:15 GMT

right vs leftin party political terms these labels are pretty much meaningless. it always makes me laugh when raving GOP types call obama a socialist! he's not even a social democrat, maybe an old style compassionate conservative at his most extreme: still very much right of centre (though i accept at that he's on the left wing of US politics).

in ireland the government has been led by centre right parties for the entire history of the state (it always seemed to me you couldn't put a fag paper between FF & FG on major social and fiscal issues). i know sinn fein had a big boost at the last election, but it seemed to me they're just seen as an alternative to FF for "proper nationalists" or some such. i hope for everyone's sake i'm wrong but i expect by the next election the collective electorate will have forgotten what bertie, cowan et al did and FF will be back leading the government.

and don't even mention britain! ever since the blairite coup in the labour party the major parties have been fighting over the tiniest scrap of centre-right territory - though granted the tories are proving that was only ever an illusion to con the voters, as they rape public services and pit one group of the disadvantaged against another.

here in scotland, meanwhile, the major parties are fighting over the centre-left ground but with only one politician of note in the country i really fear for what will happen if we get independence: the SNP will be seen as the "natural party of government" for generations (just like FF in ireland) and they'll be able to abandon the centre left ground for the tory territory i believe to be their natural home.

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Fola
Monday, 30 January 2012 13:15:13 GMT

Interesting opinionsabout right, left and hide n seek!

I suppose in Ireland, during the boom, construction Developers were seen as the money-men, and I didnt condemn them totally, because they provided so much work in my industry. I got to work on projects I enjoyed, and some people earned generous salaries, like the humble stone mason who admitted to over a grand a week for a number of years. Should I have been protesting when things were good? That would have been true leftism?

I think the big strength of conservative thinking is wealth/ job creation and empowering of the individual. I am a helper person, prob leftish wing, but see that the left needs the right to create the money to fund the needs of people, who are finding it difficult to support themselves.

From here America does seem more right wing than Europe. However there are the wealthy fundraiser types, who do incredible charity work, and it seems alot more fun than gathering taxes. Essentially its the same end if not a different means. That culture is being forced in here as aid is being cut.

I wonder if Capitalism will 'fail' as many are now saying. It fails the vulnerable, but will governments give up on it someday, like Eastern Europe generally gave up on Communism?

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chrism
Monday, 30 January 2012 14:03:17 GMT

capitalismis a sneaky beast. i expect it to put on some new clothes and trick everybody that it really is the answer to all our problems.

the problem with the american style of support (philanthropic charity rather than state welfare) is that the bill gates' of the world, though his fund does good work in several areas, are not answerable to the public. philanthropists give money to pet projects, many of them very worthy; the state gives money to those who the government perceives to be in need, and if we disagree enough we vote for a different government (or more likely shout about it enough until they give in!).

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Fola
Monday, 30 January 2012 14:20:43 GMT

I d saythe state gives money to pet projects too. And Ireland changed government last year but its still the exact same too. Theory v reality, the kindness and cruelty of humanity always prevails.

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O'know
Monday, 30 January 2012 14:38:58 GMT

I love you 14 year old Dewey CoxWorking Class/Middle Class/Upper class. Very anachronistic question and i don't think its even possible to answer in a modern capitalist society. However, if you did want to use these handles, teaching is not working class it is surely by definition middle class. Farming could be working class if on a subsistence level.

As for right left politically- I always find that hard to describe. I think I'm more of a liberal. Socially my opinions would be liberal but finacially/economically i would be certainly conservative.

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chrism
Monday, 30 January 2012 16:42:38 GMT

fair point folamust be the old school statist leftie in me that wants to believe that central control is the best way to run these things! to be fair though, the state support i'd like to see would mostly be devolved to local levels. centralised government is always going to be too far removed to really see what people need (and when your government is made up of the poshest and richest in society it's beyond hope!!).

o'know: by the definition i used i'd definitely say your average teacher is working class, heads would be middle class and the cut off probably doesn't just kick in at principles but would catch other senior school managers.

farmers, if they own their own farm or employ anyone outside their immediate family would definitely be middle class, and large scale farmers are definitely ruling class.

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observer
Sunday, 05 February 2012 17:30:42 GMT

anachronism of classIt's such an old red herring to say that class definitions are anachronistic or out of date or inapplicable to a modern society. You look at what people do, economically, analyse it, and classify (no pun intended) accordingly. Maybe there's a few slightly harder cases these days, but, really, not that many.

I'm not saying class definitions can be used, by themselves, to justify socialist or Marxist conclusions, but I don't see any cogency to the charge that they're not coherent premises in socialist arguments.