Class Divide

Have you ever notice how some people tend to associate themselves with certain things to try to come across as sophisticated to others, even when it truth they’re about as ‘kampung’ as they get?

Take jazz for example. Do you like jazz? Chances are, a lot of people will say yes. But how many people actually listen to jazz regularly? How many people actually understand it, or know a lot of jazz musicians? Truth is, we listen to Britney-Spears-type pop songs most of the time. But some of us will always say we like jazz, because we think jazz is cool…and not liking it would be… well… uncool.

Now take the case of coffee. What’s a good cup of coffee? Mr. Sophisticated will say he likes strong and dark made of freshly roasted and brewed Arabica beans. But actually, most people don’t bother knowing the difference between Arabica or Robusta or Kopi-O. We all actually want weak, milky, sweet instant Nescafe. But saying we like ‘americano’ is so much cooler than saying ‘kopi-o’.

Lastly take accents as the ultimate case. I’m from a country called Malaysia. Most of us here (and in Singapore) speak about 2 ~ 3 languages and our everyday banter is a weird mixture of English, Mandarin, Malay with a dash of Cantonese and Hokkien. Malaysians call it Manglish. Singaporeans call it Singlish. We like fighting about, even when its childish. But once in a while, you get someone who starts speaking English with a funny foreign accent (usually Australian, British or US)… And we go “WTF? You weren’t there THAT long okay. Quit the act la…” But it’s cool to have a foreign accent (if it sounds genuine enough) ain’t it?

I usually get very put off when I see people trying to put on airs, or try to appear sophisticated. But it’s hard to want to blame them entirely. Everyone, regardless of place and country, always try to move upwards. We all want move up a class. The poor want to be middle class, the middle class want to be rich, the rich want to be ultra rich, the ultra rich want to be famous, and the famous… well, they just want to be anonymous again.

It’s not really a crime to want to move up this social hierarchy. The problem I have, is that they try to do it by 2 superficial means – mannerism and money.

Mannerism is all the 3 examples I just talked about. They try to ‘act’ like someone they are not, thinking that’s how people above them act. But its seldom convincing we usually spot a fake pretty quickly.

Other people do it by ‘buying’ their way up. They have cash, either inherited or earned… and they just buy the expensive load of everything they can grab their dirty hands on. Thousand dollar shirt? Yes. Ten thousand dollar bag? Yes. Million dollar car? Yes…. Class?... Not necessarily.

Money buys you stuff, but it can’t buy you class. You can still wear carry a LV bag, Prada cloths, Jimmy Choo shoes and still be a total tramp. You can still wear Armani and a Philippe Patek watch and still be a complete bastard. People with class behave with class, and no amount of money can teach you how to behave. Those who can’t imitate their money, will try to imitate their mannerism. Hence the attempted association with supposedly sophisticated things.

But it doesn’t work.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to belittle anyone. I myself come from a normal worker class family. We’re not sophisticated, and the last time I checked, we’re still not wealthy.



So what ARE classy people like then? To me, they aren’t necessarily the people who have a lot of money, listen to jazz, wear designer clothing or speak with a fancy foreign accent.. though some of them actually do have those things. Classy people also never try to ‘act’ classy, nor do they try to impress other people that they are.

What they do is keep their pride, so that they never stoop down to the level of others who cheat, lie, scheme and deceive. Bu they’re also wise enough to stay humble, so that they never get so high to the level of others who are arrogant, aloft and detached from reality that they cannot relate to the common man.

And when you look at it that way, class isn’t divided into 3; poor, middle class and rich. It’s divided into two; those who have dignity as well as humility, and those who don’t.

So really, there really isn’t any need to try and act all sophisticated and learned, listening to music you don’t like, wearing cloths you can’t afford and talking like someone you don’t know. Always keep your dignity, always let go of your pride – and as far as I’m concerned, you’re a classy person.