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Thursday 10 July 2014

Schadenfreude, The Socialist Worker, the Etonian and the polar bear

Eton by bear? The inquest begins

Horatio Chapple, an Eton pupil, was killed by a polar bear in 2011 while on an adventure holiday. The 24 year old polar bear was seriously underweight. It weighed about 250kg rather than the typical 400kg, and had heavily worn teeth which would have caused it pain.

The bear was shot dead after it attacked Horatio and others on the trip. An inquest into Horatio’s death began this week. Troublemaker has long supported campaigning for the environment. 

Now we have another reason to save the polar bears.

http://socialistworker.co.uk/art/38532/Tories+shy+about+their+posh+party,+but+the+Rolls-Royces+say+it+all

The pun is also very witty.

If that over-privileged Etonian had not gone on his expensive adventure holiday, the polar bear would still be alive now.

Famous Etonians: Justin Welby, David Cameron.

Who would you keep alive if you had to choose: those two or a polar bear?

Etonians: what are they for? They aren't cute, furry and cuddly, are they? What do these Etonians do to make Britain a better place? Do they instead set your teeth on edge knowing how much their parents paid for their expensive over-privileged holidays that caused this polar bear to be shot dead?

http://blogs.channel4.com/gary-gibbon-on-politics/the-old-etonians-who-still-run-britain/14474
List of Etonians in government

If you had to choose between shooting dead all Etonians and shooting dead all polar bears, which would you choose?

Dead Etonian

Dead polar bear

Let'as have a YouGov poll on this!

I can already predict the answer, can't you?

Even if you had loadsa money should you let your kid go on these over-privileged holidays in polar bear territory and cause hungry polar bears to be shot for eating your kid?  

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jul/09/horatio-chapple-paw-prints-polar-bear-attack-inquest
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jul/10/horatio-chapple-inquest-polar-bear-director-british-schools-exploring
http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Mother-schoolboy-Horatio-Chapple-17-speaks/story-21339258-detail/story.html

http://www.britishexploring.org/ExpeditionsProgrammes/Age16-20/ArcticFinmarkNorwayExpedition2014.aspx £2500 including VAT to have your kid eaten by a polar bear and then having it shot.

Is it just a bit unnerving to feel so much class hatred for another human being you have never even met and know for certain that you prefer polar bears to Etonians?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/socialist-worker-called-to-apologise-over-vile-article-saying-eton-schoolboy-horatio-chapples-death-is-reason-to-save-the-polar-bears-9597931.html

People huffing and puffing about the callous comments about the Eton boy should accept the truth that most Britons prefer polar bears to Etonians and all the huffing and puffing in this world by all the public schoolboys and schoolgirls of this world and the next cannot change that.

To whinge, have a collective hissy fit and demand a formal apology from socialist workers is not going to yield satisfaction of any kind because it is entirely predictable that it will be withheld. A properly aristocratic attitude is to pretend not to even notice what the plebs at The Socialist Worker said, because it is beneath one's notice.

Essay questions for Etonians:

  1. Why are Etonians hated?
  2. Why do most Britons prefer polar bears to Etonians?
  3. What have Etonians done for Britain in the last ten years?
  4. Is the Independent trying to whip up a Twitter campaign to get people angry at the Socialist Worker for insulting Etonians in a bid to increase its circulation and is this linked to how many employees in the Independent went to boarding school?
  5. Should patricians regard insults by plebs in a plebeian political publication as beneath their notice?
  6. Is it dignified and masculine for Etonians and their parents to demand an apology from the Socialist Worker or is it self-indulgent and effeminate?
  7. Is environmental tourism good or bad for the environment?
  8. Should the Socialist Worker apologise for making light of the boy Eton by bear?
  9. If you were the parent of boy Eton by bear should you be that surprised to discover that the plebs hate you and your son?
  10. What should Eton College do to make Etonians less hated?
  11. Is Eton College really the best place to send your son even if you can easily afford it?
  12. Can you name an Etonian you admire? If so, give reasons. 


http://thevoiceofreason-ann.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/httpwww.html
Etonians, free speech and The Socialist Worker discussed on the Stephen Nolan Show, but not ecotourism

8 comments:

spaniel-lover said...

I choose polar bears over Etonians.

snork maiden said...

Posting up a picture of a dead child while insulting their memory now?

Wow, that is a new low even by your standards.

Claire Khaw said...

I am merely highlighting the environmental effects and dangers to human life as well as wildlife when profit is being made from environmental tourism.

My point is simply that if these spoilt over-indulged over-privileged teens had stayed home they would all be alive and unharmed and the polar bear would still be alive.

Also, the organisers of this trip were clearly negligent from the facts I have gleaned from the Guardian report of the inquest.

Perhaps the good that will come out of this is that polar bears will be left alone to hunt what they can and leave over-privileged Etonians alone if these over-privileged Etonians find another kind of holiday for their parents to throw their money at.

Visceral feelings of loathing for the eaten Etonian and sympathy for the bear was something I shared with the great British public.

Is it a class thing, I wondered, or just holiday envy?

Did other Etonians also think "Serve Chapple right, I feel sorry for the bear"?

If I were this boy's parent I would know exactly what the rest of the country thinks of Etonians and not take it personally. Extreme envy and hatred is the price you have to pay for extreme privilege.

Indeed, I once heard that Etonians would be beaten up by CHAVs in Windsor if they ever venture out, so loathed are they.

Anyone who gets raped and murdered in their gap year in exotic places will probably get a similar response, even if they are not Etonians.

For some reason, schadenfreude comes more visceral and unbidden for teens with rich parents than any other class of people.

Matthew Steeples said...

A shameful lack of compassion to the family of a dead 17-year old is shown in this bile filled "article". Think before you write.

Adam said...

My god, this has to be the most tasteless and hurtful thing I've seen on the web this year. Applauding the violent death of a child because of the school he attended? I'd say you should be ashamed of yourself but clearly that won't scan with you. I'm really shocked actually.

Claire Khaw said...

As far as I know, not showing compassion is not yet a crime in this country.

I have nowhere "applauded the violent death of a child" and was making the point that environmental tourism seems to

(1) arouse hatred and envy for those who cannot afford £2500 to get their kid eaten by a polar bear

(2) be bad for wildlife because a polar bear lost its life

(3) be bad for Etonians

(4) be bad for bereaved parents of Etonians

(5) remind people of how much they hate Etonians

I doubt if Chapple's parents will be reading my blog, or if they do they will already know that Etonians are hated by the Socialist Worker who will be unable to resist the temptation of pointing out that most Britons prefer polar bears to Etonians.

snork maiden said...

Come off it. You put this on your blog because you want people to pay attention to you, and causing offense is the only way you know how to do that.

Well done, a handful more people have read your blog and been repulsed by it.

Personally I felt sorry for the polar bear and the boy. It isn't necessary to take sides in a tragedy.

Claire Khaw said...

You can write politely and discursively about eco-tourism as Neil Davenport did at http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/swp-eton-by-green-politics/15380#.U8BB0_ldVqX or you can write about it in a way that will make people want to discuss it, as I have.

It is worth discussing whether ecotourism does more harm than good to the wildlife and environment that ecotourists go to observe as well as why we prefer polar bears to Etonians and whether there is anything Eton College can do make us hate Etonians less.

There must be a purpose to being privileged, people probably think, and so far Etonians have not demonstrated what this purpose is, perhaps.

It may just be because we hate David Cameron and know he is an Etonian.

Possession is nine points of the law from 1:34:00

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