"Have You Seen the Bigger Piggies..."

 

In another, happier, time I was given the Beatles' White Album (as it's popularly called) for Christmas.  The lyric that's the title to this post is of course taken from George Harrison's song Piggies which appears on that album.

The song spoke to class distinctions of the time.  Perhaps its focus was on the peculiarities of the British class system.  In any case, it criticized the haves of society and their disregard for the have-nots.

There was a time when the British upper class was notorious for its disdain for and mistreatment of the the poverty stricken lower classes condemned to live among but far, far below them.  This time was most famously described in the works of Charles Dickens.

But I wonder whether the lyrics of Piggies better reflect the times we live in now, here.  America has arguably become even more of a plutoctacy than England was in the 19th century.  Billionaires and their minions effectively rule the nation and, like the Bigger Piggies of the song, are intent on stirring up the dirt in which others live, even to the point of classing them as enemies of the nation and seeking to use the military against them.

There's something offensively smug about the Piggies of our time.  They snort and snigger at the problems of others. 

Riches may corrupt separately from and in addition to power.  The very rich are used to buying people as well as things, and so take them both for granted. Things are important to today's Piggies solely to the extent they give them pleasure or otherwise serve their interests, and they view people as essentially the same as things.  The Piggies don't care about people or what they do unless they irritate them. The Piggies of the song eat bacon.  The Piggies of our time consume us. They think themselves entitled to do so, living Piggy lives.