Plenty of Arab friends of mine used to feel the same way and bemoan the fact that they themselves tended to be the western educated, or English speaking middle class elites and apparently a world away from many of their countrymen who were turning towards Islam or anti-Americanism as a kind of salve.
Yet now, he continues, "quietly spoken middle-class students huddle diligently in libraries," fancying themselves radical as they decode the political subtext of television shows.
So much so that nicely spoken, middle-class white boy Mick Jagger was able to launch a long and lucrative career as a Tina Turner impersonator, and nobody ever thought of sending the Beatles to elocution lessons.
These men were all, broadly speaking, middle-class; if they had been more privileged, they would have slipped without effort into administrative jobs in colonial Burma.
Instead of heading for major cities to the north or overseas, English-speaking middle-class Keralans, many of them Christians, are now staying behind to establish boutique-style homestays in their old family houses in the Fort Kochi district.
Mary Cunningham, Charlotte, N.C.: The theme of your column today was that the Democratic Party no longer speaks for middle class and lower middle class whites.
But the M&S consumer is, broadly speaking, more middle class, more affluent, and they have the luxury of ethical concerns that a budget-anxious Primark shopper might not enjoy.
"We need an environment where the middle speaks, where the middle class now speaks and says: Please represent me, meet our national security needs.
Presumably well-spoken middle-class types will be at the front of every queue.
On this show the suspect is a well-spoken middle-class adult, and the prank makes no sense.
Nowadays "quietly-spoken, middle-class students huddle diligently in libraries, at work on sensationalist subjects like vampirism and eye-gouging, cyborgs and porno movies".
