This is a bit of a mission to tackle in one blog post, and considering the fact that I’m not supposed to be blogging right now, it may indeed run on into two or more posts.
In the course on race, ethnicity and gender that so engrossed me in my fourth year, one of the issues touched upon in White, our course book for the semester and a damn good read, was that of the notion of enterprise, and how it is, in essence, a ‘white construction’. The notion of whiteness holds within it the notion of enterprise, of activity and constructivity. I’m sure that this was all around me at home, but recently I’ve been noticing a resurgence in white people’s pre-occupation with the concept.
I am, by nature, a bit of a lazy ass. I like relaxing, I love sleeping, if my digsmate offers to do the dishes I say ‘by all means’ and snuggle up in front of the TV. I’ve always harboured a secret admiration for those who feel stifled by inactivity; generally skinny types who can’t stop moving. As a child I was very busy, very active, but adolescence hit me with a wall of constant tiredness and the ability to sleep wherever you put me (I won an award for this in residence at university).
But my arb sleepiness aside, hey presto, I have a job. I have been lucky in getting my current and previous positions here in the UK in that I found the right agent, but the fact is, had I not found her, I would have found work for myself. Aside from the fact that without income, one tends to starve, I honestly felt very ineffectual for the first few days here when I wasn’t working. Friends who saw me logged in on messenger took the piss, ‘hey lazy, haven’t you got a job yet’ and so on – which I took in laughing; but I was obviously concerned.
Okay, have to stop talking about myself here, my current work status is not the main objective of this post.
Of late, I keep hearing or seeing things which remind me that not everyone is employed. Young mothers, who I see during my lunchbreak, with their kids at McDonalds. Most of the crazies here don't seem to have jobs, other than travelling on public transport. And, last night, gypsies on C4. Kilroy spent a week with them, which was entertaining and interesting to a point, but it generated a bit of a digs debate as to what exactly the deal is with ‘travellers’. Thinking about it later, I realised that it wasn’t just the mess factor or the fact that they are living on agricultural land; Kilroy, as well as most of the viewers, have been brought up in a society which values enterprising behaviour and capitalism. If you aren’t doing a job in the Western sense of the word, are you spending your time in a worthy way? If you don’t have a fixed house, a huge mortgage, 2.4 kids and less than 5 dogs, are you really a bad person?
Ultimately, these gypsies are being defeated by a court filled with people who fundamentally disagree with their way of life. I felt uncomfortable with this – I come from the very same beaurocracy, one which idealises work and considers the lack of work to be torpor and laziness. Should these gypsies not be given their human right to live the way they want to? Should that right override the rights of the people whose land they invade or live next to, thereby dropping the property value? Should they not become contributing members of society? But what does that mean, and who decides when a person falls into that category?
Why is enterprise so highly valued? Why are we so impressed – myself included – by entrepreneurs, self-starters, people with enthusiasm for work? Is there really a tangible explanation for the value we place on these qualities?
Is it a form of racism to dislike people of another ‘creed’ for their way of life, if we focus on their work ethic?
This is a 
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