JUNTO-ME
Como refere o Alberto (Alberto: para quando um regresso em pleno?), o Ricardo continua a prestar serviço público com a publicação das crónicas do grande Auberon Waugh, que escrevia, na sua autobiografia: "My own attitude to the innumerable injustices of life has always been a philosophical one, specially when they have tendend to operate in my favour. A player in life's poker game can use only the cards he is dealt. It is not the sign of a clever or compassionate player who is dealt three kings if he trades one of them in for a jack. Most hands have good and bad cards in them. Others may have been born richer or more athletic than I was, better at singing or dancing or drawing in charcoal. I was born with a famous name and a certain fluency in writing - and also with sufficient acumen to see that neither of this gifts would endear me to everyone in my chosen line of business. Writing is a jealous profession, and journalism even more so. If I had not already been aware of it, I was soon to learn of the unbudgeable resentment which these two advantages would cause in many quarters." ("Will This Do?", House of Stratus 2001)
Remexendo os arquivos do Contra, descobri esta crónica de Auberon, publicada em 4 de Janeiro de 1999. Junto-me, assim, a esta espécie de homenagem, levada a cabo pelo Babugem:
"Stand Up For Snobs"
"A friend characterised my strong desire for greater European integration as being inspired by snobbish motives, and this seemed fair enough. The word “snob” – at any rate since its original meaning of «shoemaker» - has always been used pejoratively, and we must agree that when described an excessive regard for the peerage, or for social aggrandisement, it may have been justified as a term of abuse.
Nowadays, however, it is used in the proletarian culture to describe anyone who reads the Telegraph rather than the Sun, and in the great cultural battle between snobs and yobs we should be all proud to call ourselves snobs.
The difference between the two cultures was well illustrated on Friday night’s television, when Jeremy Paxman, on BBC2, introduced a version of University Challenge with two teams, one from the tabloid and one from the broadsheet press. My point is not that the tabloids showed themselves in a poor light. In fact both the tabloid team, led by the Mirror’s Tony Parsons, and the broadsheet team, led by our own Boris Johnson, struck me as brilliant – very quick and impressively well informed.
Then half an hour later, ITV showed a new series: Who wants to be a millionaire? This was presented by Chris Tarrant and sponsored, needless to say, by the Sun, promising up to £1 million for anyone who could answer a number of general knowledge questions correctly.
A fat, expressionless man called Jason with an unrecognisable accent was brought on and asked eight general knowledge questions of an easiness which made everybody present gasp. Refusing the ninth question, he was told he had won £16,000 and led away. Another, almost equally fat man, this time with a northern accent, was brought on and started the process again. The contrast between the two cultures could not have been plainer. We are all snobs. This is not quite the same thing as saying we must all support the common currency, only that those who don’t support it have some explaining to do."
Como refere o Alberto (Alberto: para quando um regresso em pleno?), o Ricardo continua a prestar serviço público com a publicação das crónicas do grande Auberon Waugh, que escrevia, na sua autobiografia: "My own attitude to the innumerable injustices of life has always been a philosophical one, specially when they have tendend to operate in my favour. A player in life's poker game can use only the cards he is dealt. It is not the sign of a clever or compassionate player who is dealt three kings if he trades one of them in for a jack. Most hands have good and bad cards in them. Others may have been born richer or more athletic than I was, better at singing or dancing or drawing in charcoal. I was born with a famous name and a certain fluency in writing - and also with sufficient acumen to see that neither of this gifts would endear me to everyone in my chosen line of business. Writing is a jealous profession, and journalism even more so. If I had not already been aware of it, I was soon to learn of the unbudgeable resentment which these two advantages would cause in many quarters." ("Will This Do?", House of Stratus 2001)
Remexendo os arquivos do Contra, descobri esta crónica de Auberon, publicada em 4 de Janeiro de 1999. Junto-me, assim, a esta espécie de homenagem, levada a cabo pelo Babugem:
"Stand Up For Snobs"
"A friend characterised my strong desire for greater European integration as being inspired by snobbish motives, and this seemed fair enough. The word “snob” – at any rate since its original meaning of «shoemaker» - has always been used pejoratively, and we must agree that when described an excessive regard for the peerage, or for social aggrandisement, it may have been justified as a term of abuse.
Nowadays, however, it is used in the proletarian culture to describe anyone who reads the Telegraph rather than the Sun, and in the great cultural battle between snobs and yobs we should be all proud to call ourselves snobs.
The difference between the two cultures was well illustrated on Friday night’s television, when Jeremy Paxman, on BBC2, introduced a version of University Challenge with two teams, one from the tabloid and one from the broadsheet press. My point is not that the tabloids showed themselves in a poor light. In fact both the tabloid team, led by the Mirror’s Tony Parsons, and the broadsheet team, led by our own Boris Johnson, struck me as brilliant – very quick and impressively well informed.
Then half an hour later, ITV showed a new series: Who wants to be a millionaire? This was presented by Chris Tarrant and sponsored, needless to say, by the Sun, promising up to £1 million for anyone who could answer a number of general knowledge questions correctly.
A fat, expressionless man called Jason with an unrecognisable accent was brought on and asked eight general knowledge questions of an easiness which made everybody present gasp. Refusing the ninth question, he was told he had won £16,000 and led away. Another, almost equally fat man, this time with a northern accent, was brought on and started the process again. The contrast between the two cultures could not have been plainer. We are all snobs. This is not quite the same thing as saying we must all support the common currency, only that those who don’t support it have some explaining to do."
0 Comentários:
Enviar um comentário
Subscrever Enviar feedback [Atom]
<< Página inicial