Again, I read somewhere that Trump’s victory is a victory for the working class. I’ve come across that claim maybe 20 times in the last few days. It’s true to some extent, but it’s a bit of an exaggeration. There are many groups in the Trump alliance that have nothing to do with the working class. We might as well talk about the victory of the industrial tycoons, or the victory of the angry young men, or the victory of the conservative intellectuals, or the victory of the evangelicals.
However, even if it were a myth, it would be a very convenient myth. If I feel myself to be a representative or protector of the working class, then I will be to I will treat the workers with respect and try to make them prosper. If I feel myself to be the representative of managers and intellectuals, then I will ostentatiously express my contempt for the stupid and lazy workers, and I will not have the least sympathy for them. My basic argument will even be: “Look at the human trash. You wouldn’t want to be like them.”
Which is also the attitude of the current Czech government. Mrs. Sommerová, the director, which is a kind of Czech version of spoiled Hollywood stars, once attracted attention by saying that there shouldn’t be libraries on housing estates because normal working people live there and for them books are a waste? She just said something openly that everyone in that stratum feels.