We were all glued to the news that Aviva's Chief Exec has resigned. I'm sure "hissy fit" is not the way to describe it, no matter what Young Keith said. And I'm getting most amusement from suggesting to Burton that the problem was their buses didn't arrive on time. He hates jokes about public transport - says it's not a laughing matter. And I am inclined to agree, if I ever catch a train.
But it's part of a theme of the world not being how it was. When I was young, banks were hushed, almost ecclesiastical places. Bank Managers were there to look solemn and lend you money under absolutely no circumstances.
In those days, Fred the Shred would never have been imagined.
An advert featuring Howard surfing would never have been imagined.
A serious bank, like Barclays used to be, having a service called "Pingit" would never have been imagined. Seriously. Never.
Banks, along with those institutions formerly known as Building Societies, insurance and assurance companies, went from being scary, to exciting, to pushy, to broke, to clingy. From feared to loathed. From receiving respect, to begging for money while even then paying their executives too much.
Once the Church, Medicine, Banking were all institutions accorded instant, if grudging, respect. We don't trust any of them any more. Spineless bishops moving dodgy priests around, Harold Shipman, Fred the Shred have between them given us a feeling somewhere between the benefit of the doubt (doctors) and loathing (bankers and their ilk). We don't trust authority any more. I wonder if we ever will again?
You pose the question...and identified the change in attitude, but have not answered "why?". Why don't we trust those in authority? Sometimes even people we elect to be in authority?
ReplyDeleteBTW, this is your loyal anonymous from the Pacific Northwest of America, just with an identity. I am not a baron, nor is my name Opal, but the handle lends an air of pomposity which I savor.
Don't you think that these days, anything that smacks of being institutional, sounds outdated and corrective in some way. Penal Institutions for instance, applied to Prisons.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that we dislike authority, when it's us wielding it (Arch Druid's can confirm this) it's just when another wields it. When it actually affects us, it becomes personal and we form an active dislike of it.
I'm interested that you think that anyone ever respected the authority of Bishop's? Ever since Donald McGill poked fun at Clergy, but particularly Bishop's, they've been everyone's 'Aunt Sallies'. And what about the hundreds of jokes about the Bishop and the ......