RedEye
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Re:Difference Of Opinion - 2007/02/18 14:36
sarah wrote:
Redeye wrote:
“An ‘anti-smart’ ethos also dovetails, for me anyway, into the general social mores prevalent when I was growing up: don’t get ‘above yourself’, don’t ‘show off’ and don’t use what you know to put down others.”
Does this also go with the ‘don’t show emotion’ and fear of ‘passionate expression’ or flamboyance. A sense that it is uncouth or lacking self control?
I wrote that comment rather ‘off the cuff’ and have been thinking a bit more about this. Firstly I think it’s an attitude that’s somewhat in the past—in fact the ‘not getting above yourself’ bit sounds quaint, when these days we’re positively encouraged to strive for wealth and position, and flaunt it with displays of consumption (I still think, though, that not using your knowledge to make others feel small is relevant today and is just about treating others with respect).
As we’ve discussed, mainstream Australian culture has historic roots in anglo working-class beliefs like egalitarianism and the notion that ‘jack’s as good as his master’ (how accurate they were, then or ever, is another matter). So, perhaps the ideas I mentioned in my first post had more to do with not standing out and of being part of the crowd; that you shouldn’t make yourself ‘better’ than anyone, nor should you show signs of wanting to be. It’s also perhaps supported by Christian notions about the sinfulness of pride, and biblical exhortations to be humble and modest.
I think it’s an anglo thing, certainly, and one that crossed class lines—over the years I’ve heard quite well-off people state that it’s ‘bad form’ to boast (an attitude, once again, that’s in the past). I think with the upper classes, it was certainly a rejection of flamboyance and any lack of control as ‘primitive’.
In my case, it was an ethos I mainly heard at school. While I have an anglo-celtic heritage, I come from a show business family, so flamboyance was hardly frowned on in our household  . In fact, we were often the talk of the neighbourhood, something I had mixed feelings about as a kid, but I look back on as an adult with considerable amusement.
sarah wrote:
I once watched a documentary about the eastern European Jews arriving in Carlton (inner city) in Melbourne during the 30s and 40s. They did not speak English, wore red nail polish and spoke Yiddish in song and theatre around Carlton. The Jews who had arrived a lot earlier from England were well anglicised by this stage and had moved on (up as they thought) to south of the yarra. They shunned these new Jewish arrivals, shaming them over their lack of English and eccentricities, their colourful clothing and self expression.
I’ve read accounts like this too--I had occasion to read a lot of first-hand accounts of migration a few years ago, and fascinating and extraordinary they were. Apparently it was common for earlier arrivals to exert pressure on newer ones to ‘fit in’, assimilation being official policy at the time. I imagine Jewish people had special concerns and anxieties, tho, given the persecution they’d already experienced. However, it’s interesting that the pressure came from the group that had internalized English, then Aussie, cultural mores. On a lighter note, I’d love to have known some of these people—they sound wonderful.
Amps wrote:
I am trusting that you did realise that the spectacle reference in my post was just for a laugh.
Of course
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