hoggart is struggling with the dangers of self-censorship (and, if one should succeed in that battle, of censorship itself). hoggart notes 3 kinds of aphorism in common use - putting up with things, those concerned with tolerance, belonging and charity, ones on the value of honesty, against these he counterposes the aphorisms of the state and of management 'you're not living in the real world' and the positively bloodthirsty 'you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs' .
horsemouth is positively a fan of 'you can't make an omelette...'. this is because he is a sucker for the romance of development, he feels a positive moral need to respond to the pain and suffering of the world with some concrete action, one that is not just a repetition of eschatological revolutionary pieties (a series of token tantrums and shock slogans). or at least he used to and it is still part of his mental make-up.
strangely meszaros is concerned with the 'there's no alternative'/ 'in the real world' refusal of debate also - pointing out that if this were the case (as politicians often say) there would be no point in electing politicians as politics would have no meaning.
the hoggart book (the way we live now) is wise and sane and a little stodgy. horsemouth was pleased to read clinical wasteman (in 2012 piece on mute) praising capitalism for its impersonalism, attempting to escape the black hole of 'community' and 'authenticity' - in capitalism (for all that it is evil) we are granted at least global rather than local opportunities. while many would welcome a retreat into community, a world reduced to a human scale, it would still be a reduction. hoggart points out that many 'community' activities are in fact often staffed by the middle-class and yet intended to make provision for the poor and so do not demonstrate community but its division.
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