Anyone else culturally rich but asset-poor?

[Anonymous]

I think this describes the majority of DCUMers or at least a majority of people drawn to work in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am asset rich but culturally poor. Call me when you can get approved for a mortgage based on your cultural richness

+1
I'll take you our for a beer to celebrate, but I'll make sure to put it in a plastic champagne glass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this describes the majority of DCUMers or at least a majority of people drawn to work in DC.

No, it doesn't. You are speaking of people who are conventionally well-educated but usually are not culturally passionate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Culturally rich in White people speak means they read books, admire stolen artifacts and rewritten histories in museums, stare at art locked behind glass in galleries, and consider themselves ‘civilized’.

It’s not culture as POC would define it.

Genuinely curious—how would POC define culture?

Culture would equate to something from one’s own heritage or ancestry. Internal experiences vs external experiences

Sounds self-centered to me. Knowing yourself, but not knowing others?
I grew up elsewhere, speak 4 languages fluently and have been to over 50 countries, including multiple trips to many of the major European countries. I considered myself worldly and cultured.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue here is definitional. "Culturally rich" sounds snobby, pretentious, and self-important. If what is meant by that very unfortunate turn of phrase is is actually "well-educated", the responses would be quite different. It's not difficult to understand concepts like education and wealth, whereas "cultured" is often in the eye of the observer when used as a synonym for "superior to others" rather to refer simply to ways of life in a particular society.

If the question is whether some people are well-educated but not affluent, the answer is obviously yes. And certainly there are plenty of relatively uneducated but affluent people, too. While education is correlated generally with wealth, the correlation is imperfect and not universally true.

+1000

This poster understands.

eh. I get the distaste people had about the 'snobbery' in the post and that the word 'culturally rich' is loaded, but I don't think the point isn't just education. There are people who view education as a means to an end--get a good job, meet the "right" people, do what is expected of me in my class, status of the degree etc. There are others who care about culture and learning for its own sake and invest their time/energy in pursuing those interests that rather than optimizing financial gains. I think the OP was talking about valuing the latter.

This. But it is highly dependent on the individual not just their circumstances. We have two kids. On paper, they look similar in terms of their grades etc. But one of them truly loves learning for learning's sake. Wants to delve into the "why" on everything. Is a natural intellectual. We have drummed it into her head that she needs to be able to support herself but she will likely always be "asset poor" (relative to DCUM - but in the real world she'll be fine) and will be in some type of intellectual career that will fulfil her (scientific researcher is current plan). My other kid just has a knack for finding opportunities to move up in the world. Does what he needs to but is not driven by a love of learning for learning's sake. Who knows where he'll end up, but if someone in our family is going to end up "asset rich", it is going to be him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Culturally rich in White people speak means they read books, admire stolen artifacts and rewritten histories in museums, stare at art locked behind glass in galleries, and consider themselves ‘civilized’.

It’s not culture as POC would define it.

Oh, stop. This is so tiresome, little miss keyboard activist

But am I wrong? The ‘literati’ pp and ‘sophisticated’ pp in the apartment full of dusty books have corroborated.

Literati, here: Yes, Keyboard warrior. I will lend you my Lorde and Anzaldúa. I actually have quite a bit you would probably like.

There have been a lot of assumptions made on this board but what strikes me the most is the contempt for what we could call the "mid
intellectual classes"--the lawyers, PhDs, and people with grad degress in the social sciences/humanities who have PowerPoint jobs. Like it is a crime to be a well-read middle manager who doesn't make enough to fly business class to see Klimt whenever they want, but they have seen it and Amsterdam and will probably go to Amsterdam again before they die. If this angers the actual rich--the question is why? Why do they even care?

I’m not rich. I don’t go to Amsterdam to see Klimt. I’ve been adding that the white people definition ‘culturally rich’ is different from POC. It’s a viewpoint that should be considered within the context of this topic.

Since you’re so worldly and well educated, taking consideration of that seems like it shouldn’t strike such a nerve. But go ahead and read about it and discuss it as lofty conversation pieces in your echo chamber then call me a keyboard warrior for sharing my experience of this definition because you don’t want to think about culture in any other way than what fits your self description.

DP: As a POC whose tastes align with having lots of 'dusty books,' going to museums and who has even been known to spend a few days in the archives, what rubbed me wrong about your response is that you generalized their experience to be that of "white people" and put it contrast to a generic "POC" experience. I can relate to being culturally rich in the sense of deeply valuing culture and spending more energy on developing my understanding of culture than optimizing money. Which is what I think OP was talking about. OP's definition of 'culturally rich' may not align with your definition of 'culturally rich' -- but there are people of every race who align more with learning than optimizing money.

+1

+2

[Anonymous]

Calling oneself ‘cultured’ smacks of colonialist lingo.

Like calling yourself ‘civilized’.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Calling oneself ‘cultured’ smacks of colonialist lingo.

Like calling yourself ‘civilized’.

That is ridiculous. You can find cultured people in just about any country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calling oneself ‘cultured’ smacks of colonialist lingo.

Like calling yourself ‘civilized’.

That is ridiculous. You can find cultured people in just about any country.

This. Just like there are uncultured and uncivilized whites/Western Europeans, there are cultured people in all countries and continents.