2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I wasn't coming back to GD P but Skinner's post prompted me in a way to do so. [View all]ljm2002
(10,751 posts)I was raised by a blue collar family, my single mom became pink collar then white collar, but we never climbed out of poverty until my brother and myself were in our teens. I have never crossed a picket line in my life -- the behavior is so ingrained, I'm pretty sure I never will, certainly not knowingly.
We never went hungry, though. One of our family friends liked to call us the "genteel poor", i.e. we were educated and with artistic and literary sensibilities. We also had a great public school system at the time, where I was able to pursue music, drama, and art as well as all of the usual academic subjects; and there were high academic standards. So all in all, I wasn't really that badly off, and when I finally did get to university, I had a solid foundation to build on, nor did I have to shoulder a huge (and non-dischargeable) debt to do so.
But going to university, and working with a lot of high-tech libertarians, never ever wrung the blue-collar kid out of me. I know where my roots are. I know what it's like to have the country club set look down their noses at you, thinking they are better than you are "just because". I know what it's like to hide the holes in your shoes, to be embarrassed because you don't have any new clothes to wear at the start of school. It's not that bad, certainly; there are many who have had it much much worse. But my experience makes me more empathetic to that, not less so.
People sometimes mistake class consciousness for class envy -- they think that because we critique the hedge fund billionaires, that must mean we are simply jealous and wish we had that money. And they truly believe in the "meritocracy", where those who make it do so out of personal virtue and hard work.
No, just no. If anyone has followed this year's primary, and listened to the various stump speeches, including of course Bernie's, they just have no excuse for this twisted interpretation of the critiques of wealth inequality.
Anyway I just wanted to say great post, it should be an OP. And here's to those who do not forget where they came from!