Reply to The Social Class Ladders—Labor, Gentry, and Elite

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I agree with this. I think I grew up in the elite class, or possibly higher gentry, and when i travelled and deliberately spent time in rural parts of America, I was just truly shocked.  A set of rules I could not understand [/quote]

Quite the opposite, I was raised L1/L2 in semi-rural America, in a house full of guns, cigarette smoke, John Wayne movies, country music and red label Scotch.  I am always shocked by how many of the policymakers in DC have never even seen that (much less lived it), other than glimpses in some [i]Orange is the New Black[/i] backstories.  So much of DC thinks of rural America as a punchline, and I am amazed how many here avoid "flyover country" out of actual fear (fueled by ignorance and stereotyping), as opposed to mere disinterest.  [/quote]

My spouse was raised in a similar area, though his parents aren't into cigarettes or alcohol and placed a higher importance on education than probably 90% of the county.  (My family was higher up the L class but not rural.  My grandparents were higher-level Gs, and I spent a lot of time with them growing up, so jumping the L to G barrier wasn't that hard for me.  My spouse struggles to fit in with the Gs, despite being educated and intelligent.)  My in-laws still live in the town my spouse was raised, and, candidly, I don't enjoy visiting.  It is 99% white, people feel perfectly comfortable using racial slurs, evangelical Christianity is the only religion that doesn't raise eyebrows, welfare is the major industry, and the educational system is a complete shitshow.  My spouse never read an entire novel for an English class until college.  In honors classes.

I feel pretty comfortable saying that my dislike of flyover country is based on distaste based on exposure, not fear or disinterest.  There are some lovely people individually, but, on the whole, I'd never want to live there.[/quote]

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