I bash bankers. Mainly in the literal sense. Banker-bashing has become a problematic term and, as with most jokes, political memes and stereotypes, things are a lot more complex than they seem at their gold-plated surface.
Over the past few years, the banker has become the metaphorical whipping boy of the financial crisis, the punchline of many a joke, and the much-parodied, Champagne-veined, coke-nostriled pin-up boy (yes, always depicted as a boy) of a system gone horribly wrong.
In many cases too, this in entirely justified.
In some though, it isn’t. Banking is vast and varied, but unfortunately those who orbit it with integrity tend to get eclipsed by the white, swollen, economy-crushing, moon-like buttocks of those who shame their industry on a planetary scale. A banker causing untold destruction through fraud and personal greed has become an expectation rather than an anomaly. Every revelation of widespread price-fixing is now greeted with little more than a sigh of exhausted resignation from the hoi polloi. And, of course, banking crimes are far from victimless.
However, where does individual responsibility lie if corruption is systemic? This week, tabloid journalism has faced similar questions. Former Sun managing editor, Graham Dudman, said this on behalf of News International staff:
“…we were arrested, thrown into the police cells, treated as common criminals in front of our children, our families and our our neighbours, and our friends and our colleagues, for doing nothing more than the company expected of us – nothing.”
In November, I met a chap socially who had been ordered, along with every man in his department at work, to grow a sponsored Movember moustache. I was surprised that something normally seen as a jokey, voluntary act of charity could be turned into a mandatory invasion of body (or at least facial hair) autonomy by an employer.
“Wow,” I said, admittedly a bit drunk. “Your job makes you suck a lot of cock. What do you do?”
“I’m a banker,” he answered. “And yes, it does.”
I’ve been criticised in the past for generalising when joking about bankers, and I understand that glibness doesn’t travel well across the internet. One banker gave a thought-provoking defence of his profession, arranged and booked a session with me to prove that those like him were capable of respect and humility, then failed to show up or ever contact me again. Not a good start.
I still believe that there are decent bankers out there though. I’ve met quite a few. There are also sociopathic megalomaniacs. And then, of course, there are a thousand complex, undefinable shades between the two, as in any industry and within every human being. However, I’m an open-minded type. I won’t bash you unless you ask.
And you will.
