It would seem only a matter of days since I wrote about Made in Chelsea and trolling the cast online. And then on
my commute home yesterday I read an article entitled Talking capitalism, without the usual whiff of self-interest in The
Evening Standard (15/05/2012). The article provided a metaphor of the American
economy which described it as “a large apartment block. Once envied, now it has
penthouses on the top and cramped flats half-way up. The bottom of the block
has flooded. Worst of all, the elevator has broken.” This metaphor however bears a striking similarity to the
British economy as of late. Cuts are hitting the poorer class more than ever,
and with figures of unemployment rising on a near daily basis there seems to be
a thicker divide than ever before between the rich and poor. Resentment of the
wealthy escaping taxes is brewing.
How, you may be asking yourselves at this point, does this
link to my first sentence speaking of Made in Chelsea? Well, here it is. MIC
has been widely criticised since day one for portraying a vacuous, overly-indulged
wealthy lifestyle that provides little to no role models for viewers to aspire
to be like. Give them the benefit of the doubt though, three series on and the
cast are personable characters. Well, most of them. Reality shows being formulaic
have set character roles. Unfortunately for the cast, but entertaining for the
viewers, it includes the mean girls. Those considered to be under this title in
Made in Chelsea are gossiper and meddler Rosie Fortescue and acid-tongue
Victoria Baker-Harber. So after Monday night’s episode (14/05) I was
entertained, but shocked nonetheless to see VBH show her true elitist colours to
Professor Green in a very public Twitter war. Professor Green, quite rightly
sticking up for his real-life girlfriend Millie Macintosh tweeted during the show after Victoria suggested she would throw something
at her or slap Millie if she walked back in the room “Did I just see a horse say it'd slap
Millie?”. Several tweets later and
VBH responded by "I'm so offended by your eloquent manner. Sorry, do you
need a dictionary for that?” to which Professor Green replied "Of course being
of the underclass I'd need a dictionary to understand a word which does not in
any way apply to you." So she could have left it there, a little jibe at
him and it would have been forgotten in two days time. But she didn’t stop
there, oh no. She then added to that tweet “I’m surprised you know what a horse
looks like @professorgreen Not many of those roaming the Hackney estates
darling!” One fan who was clearly shocked and disgusted commented on the Tweet
branding her “classist and racist”, to which she finally backed down and
apologised.
Having seen this Twitter war, as interesting and gripping as
it was, it’s probably only reinforced to many of the nation how out of touch
this Chelsea girl really is with the rest of the world. She was born into a
wealthy family; she hasn’t earned that title or wealth herself. To draw back to The Standard's metaphor, it appears to be it's not only an elevator we are lacking in society, it's respect and decency towards one another regardless of background or class. There’s nothing
more annoying than people who walk around with a sense of self-entitlement when
they’re yet to prove their worth to the world.
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