This is what class rage feels like

[Anonymous]

It is shocking how many people were apparently walking around thinking we lived in a meritocracy. LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is shocking how many people were apparently walking around thinking we lived in a meritocracy. LOL

I hear ya. Although I was pretty old (35?) before I realized that intellect and hard work and determination and choosing a “good” field were not enough to catch up even remotely. You also need luck/timing and that’s harder to come by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look it's fine if your parents give you money for down payments and fancy vacations and private school/college money for your multiple kids.

But just realize that when your regular middle class friends learn about that stuff, they're probably going to feel weird about. Insecure or lesser than.

It's ok.

And, actually, please also realize: we are going to start looking down on you a little bit, because we thought you were doing it all on your own, like we are, and yet we realize you are actually just a little bit soft, weaker than we thought. Spoiled. Babied. Helped.

That's OK. If you want to look down on me while I'm in Aspen for winter break, and Europe for 2 weeks in the summer, and because of the fully funded private school and college tuition, I'll somehow summon the strength to carry on.

I know you will. Because you value these THINGS rather than inner strength and fortitude. Thanks for proving my point.

I'm unclear on what you're suggesting - you think I should forego these things in order to develop inner fortitude? You think I should feel bad about them? You want me to feel insecure about myself, like you are better than I am?

That's quite the chip you have on your shoulder there.

Where did pp say anything about foregoing those things? Personally, I don't think having privileges necessarily equates to being spoiled or babied it does seem like the privileged are lately making a real effort in that direction.

And your Aspen comment comes off not as a snob, but as a snot.

[Anonymous]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

Easy. Charles Dickens.

[Anonymous]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/opinion/college-admissions-fraud.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
good article. and the responses are a good read as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an immigrant who became a millionaire at 36 by choosing a science major followed by law school and then a law firm specializing in intellectual property.

I knew I didn’t have the luxury of pursuing my dream (art history) when I had no safety net. My parents were abusive and threw me out at age 16. So, I guess I did things “right” according to those of you blaming the author.

And I still think you are stupid to blame her.

America is a society in which there is no safety net whatsoever. Thus, only rich people have a broad array of choices in this country. Everyone else is either consumed by making ends meet and accumulating wealth, or suffering for daring to aim for more. But the way things are isn’t the way they have to be.

Instead of blaming people who have the nerve to want a wide array of choices when they don’t come from money, you should ask yourself why such freedom should be the exclusive province of the rich.

I guess you haven't learned much about welfare in this country. Where exactly in the world do all people regardless of the circumstances of their birth enjoy such freedom of choice? There literally is no one in this country who can't move out of poverty by attending public school, doing their homework and putting off the bad choices that suck you down like getting pregnant. Maybe they won't end up as millionaires, but most people don't. But even if they do squander all of the opportunities that they've been given, nobody starves here.

PP is full of shit. Really PP -- do you think every country has welfare; project housing; food stamps; WIC; free school lunches; Planned Parenthood for free med care; and schools in the hood sending home freaking backpacks full of food so that the single mama doesn't even have to provide a meal or two on the weekends? Sure the projects are terrible, but they still allow people to live INDOORS with plumbing. Sure food stamps don't allow you to buy absolutely everything, but they allow people not to starve. You know how poor people live in Asia and Africa? In tents on the side of the road, going to the bathroom right there on the road. Do you really think American has NO social safety nets??

Europe puts us to shame. They do, in fact, have everything you mentioned.

Not all European countries. Even affluent countries like Austria do not provide the services we do in the States. The Scandinavian countries come close but there is a two tier system between the natives and recently arrived emigres. Look what oil rich Norway has done to the Somalis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look it's fine if your parents give you money for down payments and fancy vacations and private school/college money for your multiple kids.

But just realize that when your regular middle class friends learn about that stuff, they're probably going to feel weird about. Insecure or lesser than.

It's ok.

And, actually, please also realize: we are going to start looking down on you a little bit, because we thought you were doing it all on your own, like we are, and yet we realize you are actually just a little bit soft, weaker than we thought. Spoiled. Babied. Helped.

That's OK. If you want to look down on me while I'm in Aspen for winter break, and Europe for 2 weeks in the summer, and because of the fully funded private school and college tuition, I'll somehow summon the strength to carry on.

I know you will. Because you value these THINGS rather than inner strength and fortitude. Thanks for proving my point.

I'm unclear on what you're suggesting - you think I should forego these things in order to develop inner fortitude? You think I should feel bad about them? You want me to feel insecure about myself, like you are better than I am?

That's quite the chip you have on your shoulder there.

Where did pp say anything about foregoing those things? Personally, I don't think having privileges necessarily equates to being spoiled or babied it does seem like the privileged are lately making a real effort in that direction.

And your Aspen comment comes off not as a snob, but as a snot.

Given the prior post, I'm pretty sure that's how it was intended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look it's fine if your parents give you money for down payments and fancy vacations and private school/college money for your multiple kids.

But just realize that when your regular middle class friends learn about that stuff, they're probably going to feel weird about. Insecure or lesser than.

It's ok.

And, actually, please also realize: we are going to start looking down on you a little bit, because we thought you were doing it all on your own, like we are, and yet we realize you are actually just a little bit soft, weaker than we thought. Spoiled. Babied. Helped.

That's OK. If you want to look down on me while I'm in Aspen for winter break, and Europe for 2 weeks in the summer, and because of the fully funded private school and college tuition, I'll somehow summon the strength to carry on.

I'm a NP. I think it's FINE for you to have those things, whether you paid for them or your parents or whatever. I have these things too (save the private school). What's not cool is your attitude. You seem smug and, well, kind of like a rich bitch. Be humble. You don't have to apologize for the things you have. I grew up poor and I will not apologize for 1 second for giving myself and my kid every comfort or (for DC) advantage I didn't have. But, I'm not going to throw it in peoples' faces like your above. It's distasteful. It's tacky. And it's unnecessary. Be better.

I am the PP you are responding to. Did you actually read the post I responded to? The one that said that the poster looked down on others as soft, weaker than we thought, spoiled, and babied? Given that, I'm perfectly justified in responding with a bit of smugness - which, by the way, is *far* less offensive that what was thrown out there. So, it was necessary, [b]and you can take your "be better" crap and stick it[/b].

LOL. Two lessons out of this post:

1) Someone's nerves were really struck when they were called spoiled, babied, helped, soft, and weak.

2) Someone is, at heart, not really a very nice person. In fact, one might even call her (see above: "spoiled, babied, helped, soft, and weak"!)

Do you think those emojis reinforce your point, or make you appear a bit dim?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is shocking how many people were apparently walking around thinking we lived in a meritocracy. LOL

The meritocracy is a philosophical claim that some people deserve power and riches whereas others deserve nothing. This claim is founded upon two tenets: 1) some forms of work are worth vast amounts of money because such work is important, whereas other kinds of work are not worth anything and thus the people doing such work get paid nothing (housework, for example) and 2) the value of the person is measured in what kind of work they do and how much they perform. People have no intrinsic value. They have no right to exist without meeting the approval of the work they do or don't do.

All this is false, fallacious reasoning. The value of various kinds of work is determined by rich people who tell us that working in a bank is worth much money, whereas working to raise children is completely worthless -- not worth a single dime. We can observe the meritocracy as a form of class war.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is shocking how many people were apparently walking around thinking we lived in a meritocracy. LOL

The meritocracy is a philosophical claim that some people deserve power and riches whereas others deserve nothing. This claim is founded upon two tenets: 1) some forms of work are worth vast amounts of money because such work is important, whereas other kinds of work are not worth anything and thus the people doing such work get paid nothing (housework, for example) and 2) the value of the person is measured in what kind of work they do and how much they perform. People have no intrinsic value. They have no right to exist without meeting the approval of the work they do or don't do.

All this is false, fallacious reasoning. The value of various kinds of work is determined by rich people who tell us that working in a bank is worth much money, whereas working to raise children is completely worthless -- not worth a single dime. We can observe the meritocracy as a form of class war.

Raising children is incredibly valuable. It just doesn’t pay the bills and never will. People need to live in reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look it's fine if your parents give you money for down payments and fancy vacations and private school/college money for your multiple kids.

But just realize that when your regular middle class friends learn about that stuff, they're probably going to feel weird about. Insecure or lesser than.

It's ok.

And, actually, please also realize: we are going to start looking down on you a little bit, because we thought you were doing it all on your own, like we are, and yet we realize you are actually just a little bit soft, weaker than we thought. Spoiled. Babied. Helped.

That's OK. If you want to look down on me while I'm in Aspen for winter break, and Europe for 2 weeks in the summer, and because of the fully funded private school and college tuition, I'll somehow summon the strength to carry on.

I have all of this and more too. You know what the difference is? I feel pride in myself knowing I (and DH) provide those things for our family.

Rich kids don’t get that opportunity it seems, which is kind of sad in a way. I’ll have to think about that when my kids are getting ready to leave the nest.

You don’t know what you’re capable of because you’ve ever needed to know. No one has forced you to find out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is definitely how I feel when I find out people have significant parental help in the form of house down payments (or full purchase price), tuition, completed 529’s, free trips to Hawaii, etc. It’s all very hush hush because they want it to seem like they aren’t getting that much help.

We’re not hiding it. Nothing to hide or be ashamed of.

You should be ashamed that you’re an adult who can’t live on what they earn. You rely on handouts.. you just know who is handing out.

[Anonymous]

"And, actually, please also realize: we are going to start looking down on you a little bit, because we thought you were doing it all on your own, like we are, and yet we realize you are actually just a little bit soft, weaker than we thought. Spoiled. Babied. Helped."

NP here. I am not going to lie. I definitely feel this way when I realize how much parental and IL help some adults - adults with their own families - have. It seems kind of pathetic to me that they can't provide for their own family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"And, actually, please also realize: we are going to start looking down on you a little bit, because we thought you were doing it all on your own, like we are, and yet we realize you are actually just a little bit soft, weaker than we thought. Spoiled. Babied. Helped."

NP here. I am not going to lie. I definitely feel this way when I realize how much parental and IL help some adults - adults with their own families - have. It seems kind of pathetic to me that they can't provide for their own family.

This is how I feel too. When is one really a grown-up, then, in this type of arrangement?