CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
After effectively making a career out of calling out bigotry on the internet, Fitzroy woman Charlotte Meredith-Thistlethwaite (30) has today proven that she too is prone to a bit of old fashioned prejudice.
In 2015, she was banging the drum about not judging all Muslims by the actions of all a select few of lunatics in Paris and Syria, in 2017 she was demanding that the public not judge all Lena Dunham fans by the actions of Lena Dunham.
In 2019 she joined the fight in making sure that LGBTI community weren’t excluded from her privileged brand of feminism after watching the J.K Rowling binfire on Twitter.
However, September 2021 has been hard for Charlotte.
As the daughter of an investment banker father and part-time theatre patron mother, Charlotte has been afforded a well-rounded upbringing that equips her with the tools to dismantle the oppressive racist and sexist structures that exist in today’s society.
But after what she witnessed taking place in the streets of Melbourne’s CBD over the weekend, Charlotte can’t help but speak about her city’s blue collar workforce with absolute contempt.
The sausage fest that was the bizarre protests outside the CFMEU offices on Monday, and the subsequent riots that have taken place since the state government ordered a heavy-handed two-week ban on construction work – has only reaffirmed the deep-seeded disdain she inherited from her parents against overweight people who drink energy drinks.
It helps that she knows none of these men, except maybe the black ones, know what ‘Naarm’ means. And the fact that the only women there were conspiracists – but now Charlotte finds herself in a position where she is revolted by anyone wearing hi-vis.
Walking through Fitzroy today, these barely subconscious prejudices were on display for all, as a man wearing a hardhat and PPE workwear walked down the same side of the street as her.
Without even thinking, Charlotte clutches her handbag closer, in case these poorly educated animal tries to cough on her – because she’s now under the impression that the 500,000 blue collar workers in her city are all criminal anti-vaxxers.
The tradesman, a local surveyor who was helping an old lady cross the street at the time – is fortunate enough to not see Charlotte dehumanise him with her body language.
However, the tradies community service is misread as a direct violation of Dan Andrews orders. Charlotte is no longer subconscious in her discrimination.
“Look at him” says Charlotte, her lips dripping with classist venom.
“It’s like he doesn’t understand the 1.5 metre rule. He’s literally touching that old ladies groceries.”
“That’s how close he is to her. These morons spend too much time on YouTube”
“I bet you he didn’t even finish school”
