why is DCUM so obsessed with social class/status?

[Anonymous]

Insecure and nouveau riche people are like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many threads on strivers, is this trashy/low class, how to fit in with the upper crust. And it transcends all topics....parenting, real estate (duh), schools, travel, food, clothes, careers. Is this food trashy? OMG I can't believe you take your family XYZ on vacation, it's so poor/trashy/middle class. The intense preoccupation with picking THE right school, neighborhood. The anxiety of having average kids (no AAP, average colleges, just ok in sports). Is DCUM just a microcosm of upper middle class people's intense anxiety over class and falling out of said class? Is it because DMV is a place of strivers and DCUM is a classist cesspool? Or if we dig deeper, are people just panicking that their kids will not have the same opportunities?

A little of this and a little of that. This area is filled with people right in that top 3-8% of US HHI that are treading water and working hard not to go under. And the reality is that a lot of the kids will have to work harder for fewer opportunities.

well said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many threads on strivers, is this trashy/low class, how to fit in with the upper crust. And it transcends all topics....parenting, real estate (duh), schools, travel, food, clothes, careers. Is this food trashy? OMG I can't believe you take your family XYZ on vacation, it's so poor/trashy/middle class. The intense preoccupation with picking THE right school, neighborhood. The anxiety of having average kids (no AAP, average colleges, just ok in sports). Is DCUM just a microcosm of upper middle class people's intense anxiety over class and falling out of said class? Is it because DMV is a place of strivers and DCUM is a classist cesspool? Or if we dig deeper, are people just panicking that their kids will not have the same opportunities?

A little of this and a little of that. This area is filled with people right in that top 3-8% of US HHI that are treading water and working hard not to go under. And the reality is that a lot of the kids will have to work harder for fewer opportunities.

If you are in the top 10% and treading water, it's best for everyone if you just drown.

A long standing expectation in the US is that your quality of life increases along with your wages as you age and that you can expect your children to have as good as or better quality of life as you. The vast majority of Americans have seen the opposite as their income falls against cost of living and their children see fewer opportunities. The band that is staying the same (which I called "treading water) is in that top 3-8th percent. Those above that point are seeing increased income and buying power. Saying that income is flat against cost of living as they age isn't the same as saying they are living paycheck to paycheck which may be what you heard.

How the hell is someone making 300k to 380k treading water? I think they have a spending problem. Or are my numbers inaccurate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Insecure and nouveau riche people are like this.

Yeah Im straight up middle class. Im worried about paying for college, having enough for retirement, making sure my kids go to decent schools. And some nice trips here and there. The things I read on here, I’m like “say what?” I would love to have the money of some of these DCUMers whilst still not giving a crap about fitting in. It sounds like an exhausting and stressful existence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think those threads are repeatedly posted by the same poster or the same 2 or 3 posters.

It's so stupid.

Yes, they are from a few trashy people. The verbiage are similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because so many people move to the DMV from small towns in Ohio, where they were the big fish and they want to make sure they don't come across as hicks. They're wildly insecure.

Yup. Read that thread from the other day asking about posters’ subcultures. Lots of people from really simple, unsophisticated backgrounds who wanted to “get out” of wherever they grew up and moved to DC.

unsophisticated is better than trailer park you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s just dcum, or even just Americans. I had a British friend tell me he loved living in America because in England everything is so defined by class, and people know immediately what your class is because there are so many tells. It’s so much more fluid in America and doesn’t matter to many people. But I think most human societies have some obsession with class, on some level. I had a Jewish friend from NY that used to refer to the German Jews as “the fancy Jews”—as opposed to those of Eastern European heritage. And look at the class divides highlighted in something like crazy rich Asians.
Humans love to categorize things and class is one way we do it. It makes our world feel more organized and less overwhelming, I think. At least it’s a less pernicious form of categorization than race, although I think there’s often a lot of overlap and implicit or explicit racism in the class commentary.

You are spot on.

[Anonymous]

What I see more are posters berating others for having money. A lady asked about laundry rooms in the home improvement forum and posters were hate posting because they thought her square footage was large. I've seen hate posts to people making 200k for inquiring about child tax refunds. In this thread posters are angry someone at 300k has money concerns. Never mind making 600k and up, people talk about eating you. There is definitely way more angry posters who think the only people that can complain must be destitute. I've even seen people insult American homeless people because it is so much worse elsewhere they act as if homeless here are "spoiled".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I see more are posters berating others for having money. A lady asked about laundry rooms in the home improvement forum and posters were hate posting because they thought her square footage was large. I've seen hate posts to people making 200k for inquiring about child tax refunds. In this thread posters are angry someone at 300k has money concerns. Never mind making 600k and up, people talk about eating you. There is definitely way more angry posters who think the only people that can complain must be destitute. I've even seen people insult American homeless people because it is so much worse elsewhere they act as if homeless here are "spoiled".

DCUM is actually so much better than social media that skews younger like reddit; sometimes reddit makes me feel like we are going to see a revolution in my lifetime. People on DCUM are just being puritans about spending; people on reddit can’t afford a new car.

[Anonymous]

This site attracts a lot of biglaw women who come here for brain breaks while working. They NEED to feel more successful, more sophisticated, and better endowed in the gifted child department than other site users. It is how they justify the miserable lifestyle they put up with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This site attracts a lot of biglaw women who come here for brain breaks while working. They NEED to feel more successful, more sophisticated, and better endowed in the gifted child department than other site users. It is how they justify the miserable lifestyle they put up with.

0

There are in house lawyers but rarely big law posters beyond associate level or their spouses. Even then they're not in the odd thresds about status. I don't disagree the lifestyle can be miserable but due to that there's not much room for posting to feel "better than" in terms of gifted children. You are throwing a lot of spaghetti at the wall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I see more are posters berating others for having money. A lady asked about laundry rooms in the home improvement forum and posters were hate posting because they thought her square footage was large. I've seen hate posts to people making 200k for inquiring about child tax refunds. In this thread posters are angry someone at 300k has money concerns. Never mind making 600k and up, people talk about eating you. There is definitely way more angry posters who think the only people that can complain must be destitute. I've even seen people insult American homeless people because it is so much worse elsewhere they act as if homeless here are "spoiled".

DCUM is actually so much better than social media that skews younger like reddit; sometimes reddit makes me feel like we are going to see a revolution in my lifetime. People on DCUM are just being puritans about spending; people on reddit can’t afford a new car.

I am the pp and those posts are all here not reddit including talk of revolution. Right here in "home improvement" where anyone is scolded for having money. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/75/987222.page

That lady had money but even posters with smaller hhi get berated for having two pennies to rub together.

[Anonymous]

Because they are very insecure and need to feel better about themselves by viewing others as “lower”. They are toxic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to Washington. Land of the superficial and home of the vain.

This site also attracts a very specific set of the area. I have never had a conversation about any of this stuff with a person I knew in the real world. Admittedly I don't live in the toniest neighborhood, but it's not on my radar at all outside of threads here.

Seriously. The fact that people think this is just how “Washington” is shows how out of touch they are. The median household income in DC is $85k. Only a small subset of this region is wealthy strivers. There are just a lot of them on this site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I see more are posters berating others for having money. A lady asked about laundry rooms in the home improvement forum and posters were hate posting because they thought her square footage was large. I've seen hate posts to people making 200k for inquiring about child tax refunds. In this thread posters are angry someone at 300k has money concerns. Never mind making 600k and up, people talk about eating you. There is definitely way more angry posters who think the only people that can complain must be destitute. I've even seen people insult American homeless people because it is so much worse elsewhere they act as if homeless here are "spoiled".

DCUM is actually so much better than social media that skews younger like reddit; sometimes reddit makes me feel like we are going to see a revolution in my lifetime. People on DCUM are just being puritans about spending; people on reddit can’t afford a new car.

I am the pp and those posts are all here not reddit including talk of revolution. Right here in "home improvement" where anyone is scolded for having money. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/75/987222.page

That lady had money but even posters with smaller hhi get berated for having two pennies to rub together.

That OP was possibly a troll and some of the responses just noted how tone deaf the posts were. Nothing like reddit, where “eat the rich” is very, very real.