Show me a man of money, and I will show you a genius.” So intoned Malcolm Eden, of 1980s UK guitar band McCarthy, on the track “Governing Takes Brains”. I know, as I was a broke young man listening to him in an empty student bar. I wasn’t sure whether to be slightly amused, faintly encouraged or frankly outraged that such myths of a hierarchical class structure could be perpetuated in a post-capitalist society. It was a long time ago.
「指給我個有錢人,我讓你知道什麼是天才。」上世紀80年代,英國麥卡西(McCarthy)吉他樂隊的馬爾科姆•伊登(Malcolm Eden)在那首《勞心者治人》(Governing Takes Brains)中如此吟唱道。在我還是個正坐在空曠學生酒吧裏聽他唱歌的窮小子時,知道這首歌了。聽到這首歌時,我不太確定自己略感有趣、稍受鼓舞還是簡直被憤怒了——血統論神話居然能在這個後資本主義社會繼續流傳。這是很久以前的事了。