ludus litterator (13. 888)

Via Web Curios—be sure to not skip the preamble for a surreal, Kafkaque case of identity expropriation—we are directed to this engrossing essay on the vices of highly effective Victorians, which present in stark contrast to the discipline and clean-living if not practised espoused by the titians of industry of today, whose empires are arguably built every bit as much as the British one through colonialism and exploitation if not more reliant on class-struggle and inequities. Etonian and Oxbridge attitudes towards education, whilst not wholly staunchly traditional and did incorporate progressive elements, the capacity of the Classics for character development was far more privileged than a science and maths based curriculum that we would call STEM in modern parlance—on the basis that technical mastery could be acquired later with the formative years dedicated to cultivating independent thought. Although the lifestyle was unobtainable for the working poor who enabled it for the small cadre of the elite, those matriculated schedules and inculcated attitudes—with the exception of matins and vespers which required early rising—carried over to post-graduate careers with workdays generally starting not before 10:00, time to recover from the previous night’s social commitments, and an elaborate, boozy brunch with most having the flexibility to work from home for reading, research and replying to correspondence until afternoon in-person meetings, with Parliament not seated until 17:00 or later, the nocturnal existence and party scene made possible through gaslighting and electrification. Not exclusive to elected representatives, though very much encompassing the ruling class, this concession to birthright, even for all those whom it disadvantaged may have been the secret to the success of the era, the allowance for sentiment and tradition over the explicit social contract and norms that typically bind highly developed hierarchies. Contemporary parallels are abhorrent and deserving of punishment and ostracisation—like the Epstein nucleus or any who would scoff laws they themselves enacted, and whilst it is harder to hide behaviours considered inegalitarian in the age of social media, when many voluntarily brag about it—cf the expulsion and black-balling of senate candidate Madison Cawthorn for exposing orgies and “key bumps” of cocaine in the GOP and for those careless hints from careless people of lavish lifestyles (significantly at tax-payer expense and not earners nor beneficiaries but grifters for the grind) coming periodically from appointed officials. Read more from Works in Progress at the link above.