people from other planets
Jan. 24th, 2009 08:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fleaI don't know W*ill Sh*tt*rly from a hole in the ground, and have no interest in bringing out the rabid fandom hordes to my non-fandom LJ, but I just gotta say.
(The following is quoting a post of his at his blog; see coffeeandink's LJ for a link and context):
"a) My "class", no matter what you mean by the term, changed enormously when my grandfather's money became available to me in my mid-teens, and changed again when it was gone. The newspaper article here explains my father's class background as well or better than I could.
b) People who see the world primarily in terms of skin color or gender may not realize that class can change. So they may have been confused by noticing that I've lived more than one lifestyle, and concluded that I must lie."
CLASS DOES NOT CHANGE LIKE THAT. His family's income changed, and/or his access to financial resources changed. (The newspaper article he references talks a lot of about his father's political activism and some about how he earns his living, but does not mention his upbringing, whether or not he attended college, etc. I see nothing in the newspaper article that references his father's class background - did I miss it? Edit: I re-read; his father is described as a "self-educated high-school dropout." Now, that could mean a lot of things - were his parents sharecroppers, or was he the rebellious child of priviledge? Note also he is described as a "businessman" operating a theme park, restaurant, and gas station. He has the resources to send his children across the country when they are threatened at school. End edit.)
S. may have lived in poverty and as a social outcast in his narrow-minded community as a child, but he came from people who had heard of Choate, and inherited the money to send him there. That alone means he was upper-middle class. His parents, had they chosen to do so, could probably have lived a much different life (i.e. one of suburban middle-class comfort) from the one they chose. I've been richer or poorer in my life, though I've never been destitute or hungry. I have always been the child and grandchild of upper middle class people, which fact alone means I know how to behave in polite society (though it took a little time to get used to the Actual Rich when I attended Choate, in the late 1980s), it was always assumed I could and would attend college, and it was always assumed I could be almost anything I wanted to. It sounds like S.'s class background is not actually much different from mine, although our life experiences are vastly different.
(The following is quoting a post of his at his blog; see coffeeandink's LJ for a link and context):
"a) My "class", no matter what you mean by the term, changed enormously when my grandfather's money became available to me in my mid-teens, and changed again when it was gone. The newspaper article here explains my father's class background as well or better than I could.
b) People who see the world primarily in terms of skin color or gender may not realize that class can change. So they may have been confused by noticing that I've lived more than one lifestyle, and concluded that I must lie."
CLASS DOES NOT CHANGE LIKE THAT. His family's income changed, and/or his access to financial resources changed. (The newspaper article he references talks a lot of about his father's political activism and some about how he earns his living, but does not mention his upbringing, whether or not he attended college, etc. I see nothing in the newspaper article that references his father's class background - did I miss it? Edit: I re-read; his father is described as a "self-educated high-school dropout." Now, that could mean a lot of things - were his parents sharecroppers, or was he the rebellious child of priviledge? Note also he is described as a "businessman" operating a theme park, restaurant, and gas station. He has the resources to send his children across the country when they are threatened at school. End edit.)
S. may have lived in poverty and as a social outcast in his narrow-minded community as a child, but he came from people who had heard of Choate, and inherited the money to send him there. That alone means he was upper-middle class. His parents, had they chosen to do so, could probably have lived a much different life (i.e. one of suburban middle-class comfort) from the one they chose. I've been richer or poorer in my life, though I've never been destitute or hungry. I have always been the child and grandchild of upper middle class people, which fact alone means I know how to behave in polite society (though it took a little time to get used to the Actual Rich when I attended Choate, in the late 1980s), it was always assumed I could and would attend college, and it was always assumed I could be almost anything I wanted to. It sounds like S.'s class background is not actually much different from mine, although our life experiences are vastly different.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-01-25 03:04 am (UTC)How did he live? His parents, who lived on Central Park West, sent him regular checks.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-25 05:09 am (UTC)I remember once in college, one of my friends said that she didn't think she could ever marry someone rich, because she'd feel too much like she was exploiting the poor.
I grew up in an upper-middle class suburb, where my family was fairly average for the town, I think. My parents paid my tuition and room and board from my college fund (plus I had a partial academic scholarship), and they'd pay for any clothes that my mom agreed I needed, but things like movies and going out to dinner and other things like that were from my own money. I didn't have to work, and that made me "rich" to most of my friends. But I had to pay for fun stuff myself, I did have to limit how often I went out, and my parents would have laughed if I'd ever even considered asking them to pay for a spring break trip for me, so that made me not as rich as a whole lot of other people.
(After that friend made the comment about not being able to marry a rich man, I said, "I'd be able to," and before I could say any more, she said, "You know, there are lots of ethnic jokes I could make now, but I'll refrain." Took several days before I calmed down enough to address that rationally.)
no subject
Date: 2009-01-27 06:17 am (UTC)