Re: [Leica] lower classes don't use leicas?

["Mxsmanic" <mxsmanic@hotmail.com>]

B. D. writes:

> Yes, people who work cleaning toilets and who
> out of desperation steal the property of others
> tend to be poor ...

That's not what I said.  People who clean toilets do not steal out of
desperation; in fact, they often do not steal at all.  And nobody steals Leicas
out of desperation, period.  And desperation isn't necessarily a defense against
theft--being desperate to own a Rolls Royce does not justify stealing one.

You are correct only insofar as people who clean toilets tend to be relatively
poor.

> ... but to suggest that they are dim-witted because
> they are poor or clean toilets is a truly repulsive,
> vile, classist thing to say that tells us a great
> deal about you.

People who are brilliant and have their choice of occupations in the world do
not choose to clean toilets.  In fact, almost anyone with the brains to do
something less distasteful and more lucrative in life will choose not to clean
toilets.  This means that about the only people left to clean toilets are those
without the intelligence or other competence necessary to find more interesting
and profitable employment.  That may be repulsive to you, but your reaction to
it does not make it any less true.

And, unfortunately, there is a correlation between intelligence and the
willingness or ability to understand or adopt the viewpoints of others, and this
in turn affects one's willingness to steal and commit other antisocial acts.
Thus, persons who are not very bright are more likely to commit crimes, and many
people who commit crimes are of below-average intelligence.

> There are plenty of people on this list who at one
> time or another worked at jobs that were the equivalent
> of cleaning toilets, or had parents or grandparents
> who did.

Are there?  How many people on this list _chose_ to clean toilets, even when
better work was available, and maintained that choice for a working lifetime?
Similarly, how many people on this list have cleaned toilets throughout their
lives because they've had no other options?

> Just who the hell do you think you are, Anthony, to
> make this kind of statement.

Someone who has studied these questions extensively.  (Note that I am able to
explain the basis for my viewpoint, whereas those who disagree with me are not,
and tend to simply attack me personally instead.)  The conventional "wisdom"
with which most of us are indoctrinated is not necessarily congruent with
reality.

> Boy, was Kyle on the mark when he pointed out that
> there are people who think that they are somehow
> "special" because they own Leicas.

That is certainly true, but there are some Leica owners, including myself, who
are not in this category.