2023-05-18 00:25:42
One phenomenon which fascinates me is the way that different European countries are faring in this, the Wolf Age. As a man of mixed English and Dutch descent I can't help but compare the state of these two countries in particular. Furthermore, one of my cousins is mixed English and German and has lived back-and-forth in both countries. He somewhat bemoans being back in England.
Both the Netherlands and Germany are more socialist than the UK is; perhaps in a good way. The Anglo-nations, with our 'free market' absolutism (sort of) insist upon a level playing field, whilst in Germany, for example, smaller businesses enjoy significantly cheaper rates to help them compete with big companies. Plus things like more rights for renters, unlike the UK where landlords can pretty much do what they want. I'm simplifying things here but in the UK the system preserves a huge disparity between rich and poor. We pay less tax in the UK but in practice I think that continental high taxes have been sort of factored in so that the people are left with just as much disposable income (if not more) as we Brits.
It's tempting to look at Britain and joke about the 'underclass', the obesity, bad teeth, slobbish clothing, and average height (which is low compared to most other northern European nations), but one
must factor in the dysgenic policies that have been in place since at least the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. This excellent post by The End of Everything gives a (sour) taster of the sort of odds that common Brits have long faced. True Working Class Brits have been preyed upon perpetually and mercilessly by an international aristocracy for centuries, to an extent that has impacted the very genetics and health of the nation(s).
I've said it before and I'll say it again:
The English were the first victims of the British Empire and Industrial Revolution. But did those poor factory workers ever receive any sympathy? No. When Gandhi visited a struggling textile factory in East Lancashire in 1931 he dismissed the complaints of one worker, flippantly:
"My dear, you have no idea what poverty is."
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