class 'privilege'

plagueship · Aug 1, 2011

dear assholes: the point of this thread is NOT to deny race, gender or other forms of privilege or to attack any other notions of of individualized identity. in fact i won't even come back to check on this thread. at all. i simply want to encourage people to talk about this, and i wonder where those who like to be really loud about other forms of 'privilege' will come down on (or totally ignore) this subject.

personally i grew up in a fairly middle class home. my parents were both college educated, and the houses were always mortgaged, but always houses never apartments; sometimes in the burbs, sometimes in the country, never in the city. then i ditched out on that and traveled for 10 years and spent most of that time in urban areas and/or super rural areas. now i live on a property owned by my parents by way of my grandfather in a rural area, i'm going to school and being employed on gov't dime (due to my age, good grades and utter lack of income/resources) and i kind of want to turn this place into a commune/venue/etc.

i realize a lot of peeps are out on the road because they have no where else to go. i also know - and this is not just me, but a lot of people i used to know, esp. the most 'political', the most likely to harp on sex/race issues - that a lot of peeps are on the road because of guilt and rebellion issues about their parents/upbringing....

Margarita · Aug 1, 2011

I'm from a lower-middle class family. We were never very well-off. I got free and reduced school lunches, and when I got accepted to a very good and very expensive college, the college paid for the majority of my tuition, room and board.
It was really interesting to attend a borderline-Ivy League school as a financial aid recipient. Everyone kind of assumed that everyone else had money, and it was an unspoken taboo topic, until I took a course called "Sociology of Education," which forced us to discuss various types of privilege on campus and in America as a whole.

I met a kid, graduating senior, who swore that nobody went hungry in America. He thought he knew everything because he was born in the Soviet Union and has a shitty flat, but guess what... it was a shitty flat in New York City, and he never stepped outside of his socioeconomic class... at least not with an open mind. I think that is a very important thing to do, so he and I had some heated debates.

I'm on the road because: 1) I want to minimise my participation in capitalist society. I think we need to change our entire culture if we want to escape tragedy, but I also believe that the train won't change direction until it derails itself, because the West is descended from a tradition of violence, invasion and intolerance of other cultures and ideas. Gunpowder won this land from the natives who treated it with far more respect, and now our military is engaged in conflicts around the world to secure petroleum resources to support our grossly overextended way of life. I can't in good conscience contribute to that system any more, even though I was born to it.
I'm also on the road to 2) try to discover what is true human nature. I've had pro-capitalists tell me that humans are inherently self-serving.. which I believe to an extent, but not to the extent that egalitarianism would thus be impossible. The people who tell me that humans are too greedy, power-hungry, and stupid to function in any system but our own, have never talked to or even observed people from any other system. Of course you would believe greed and lack of individual thought to be essential parts of human "nature", if you only observed those who grew up in a system that encourages such traits! So I need to travel the world and figure out the things that define us. Or rather, prove my existing theories. The fundamental nature of humanity goes far deeper than socioeconomic class... and perhaps will provide the key to eliminating such inequalities entirely...

fr33rang3r · Sep 29, 2011

i'm certainly from the lower class socioeconomically speaking. i spose its why i always had a deep sympathy for worker's movements. i saw the hell my parents went through, and as a by product took out on us.
capitalism as it stands today is a miserable system. however, until most folks realize there are more efficient and humane ways of working and trading it will remain that way.
i know that in some ways i am privileged because of my 'race'. ive been aware of it since i was 11 and a 90yr old black woman called me "sir". one of the most humbling and humiliating moments of my life.
however, as far as privilege goes, i believe that economics is more the determining factor. i have more in common with working class people of any race, gender, or political persuasion then i do with anyone from the middle-middle class on up.
while i do agree we are all human and that we all have some basic fundamental needs and desires that we all share. how those needs are met and whether they get met at all is viewed completely differently.
i applied for a phd program one time and was accepted at a prestigious european university. but they had no money for americans. why? well obviously we are all middle class and all have the money we need to do what we want.
its very hard for me. while i completely support assisting those in need, i don't think that being white makes being poor any easier. maybe it does, but i haven't met that yet. i lived among richers long enough to know the truth. we're all just wage slaves to them. and they think this is how the world *should* be. that its my fault, i didn't work hard enough, i didn't do the right things. when in fact i've had folks admit to me in academia, "you didn't go to the right schools". and they meant from high school on.

it just about money i spose is what im saying. and if you believe Howard Zinn's take on US history its been that way for quite a long time.

Earth · Sep 30, 2011

ok... born in W.Germany, grew up in Brooklyn NY in an Irish and German household, both parents worked two jobs at times to make ends meet, only child (brother died at birth I sorta remember - we never bring it up) and learned very early on to do things on my own and not depend on others.
My parents were great.
My friends - non existant for the most part.
Tormentors were everywhere....................

Do I consider myself privilaged??
No.
Just a member of the working class trying to get by, and somehow I do.

I am the loner.
You have made me this way.

kurbster · Oct 5, 2011

I grew up apparently privileged, but isolated in fact; it was hard to have meaningful participation in anything, what with parents that didn't trust anyone. Nowadays I got that class guilt, even though I'm broke for real.

Yani · Oct 5, 2011

Privilege ...
I was born and raised in a Latin American country where I was privileged because of my color(s). I was treated better and given things and opportunities because of it, not because I earned them. It did not take long for me to figure out that I did not have to do much of anything to receive better everything.

Looking back I think it was a great disservice -never mind an injustice. One does not build character or any noble qualities by believing in our own entitlement, or feeling superior.
Today I still find myself starting from scratch in some ways ... parts of me that did not develop as a child, I find necessary to retrace my steps and actually learn them now.

Mmm I think a handicap it better. Makes one stronger.

Jimmy Beans · Oct 5, 2011

I grew up, moms did meth from my first memory till I left home at 16. Pops left us when I was a baby, he's passed away now. Moms has hep b&c from sharing straws. She married 4 times and had a few fill in boyfriends when she wasn't married to one. I can't think of any of them that didn't kick the shit out of her in front of us three kids. She'd scream "CALL THE COPS JASON!" and drag us into the shit, which at the time I felt like I was doing all I could to save my mom but then I grew up and I started realizing and remembering all of those fights, she started them. All of those fights were her hucking a heavy glass ashtray across the room and busting Tom in the eyebrow, granted I'd never hit a woman ever... but I see why that motherfucker did. She was terrible.
Shit was so fucking chaotic in my house, sorry apartment.. we had one house once for a few months. I went to 8 elementary schools from Fresno to San Bernadino to Fresno to Palo Alto to Salinas to Fresno, 6 of those schools in Fresno. Three junior highs, 3 high schools kicked out the beginning of my 10th grade year cause I had a haircut they deemed "distracting to other students" and if I didn't conform and cut it I couldn't come back. I have a memory from when I was in the 6th grade where I was walking alone through residential neighborhoods at roughly 2 am and I remember very clearly thinking to myself "this is weird, I don't know where the fuck my mom is and I guess I should care but I can't deny I enjoy the freedom". But that also made me sad to think about it, and why she didn't seem to care.
I remember once one of her husbands beating her up, put her in the hospital and she kicked him out when she got out with law enforcement help, so he started stalking us, he'd just have his face pressed up against our windows at night and scare the shit out of us and she'd call the cops and he'd split. One night she was out partying and he pulled that shit, it was my older sister 13 at the time, me 11, and my baby brother 3. My sister got scared and grabbed the shotgun my uncle had left at the house and grabbed my baby brother and me and said "we're going to find mom". We jumped in my uncles lemans and my 13 year old sister hot wired it.. I know that sounds far fetched but it's how my uncle would start his car and it was 2 or three wires hanging out under his dash and seeing that enough times even I knew how to start that car. So she's got the shotgun, my baby brother and me in a car she's hotwired and she's driving the fucking thing across town sometime after midnight or so. We go to her conections house and she's there having a good time.
I could do this shit for hours really, but I'll wrap it up. I seldom talk to my mother and when I do it's shit like "I wasn't that bad of a mom was I? I tried, you know I tried" and shit like that, and it's hard to hold my tongue but with her hep b&c and all, I don't know how much longer she'll be around so I just humor her... yeah mom.. you did all you could and we're alive right. But inside I'm thinkin "WHAT THE FUCK, are you kidding me!" So I'm not sure if I'm doin this right, was there a question even? or? I saw other people telling their story, figured I'd toss some of mine in the mix since it seemed like everyone had a "middle class, lower middle class, privileged, etc" theme.. I don't know what class we were, is that lower class? seems there's something, several stages maybe below that we might have rested somewhere down there whatever that is called. Poor didn't quite spell it out. Fucked is a decent word for it I suppose.

But hey, I did alright in the end and most importantly I'm striving every day to break that chain, trying to make sure my kids get at least an idea of what somewhat normal is, if there's such a thing. It's really hard having no examples or role models. Most of my parenting is just on the fly, or things I've seen friends go through with their kids before I had mine. That life in a way did some good for me though, I've never once touched a powder, EVER! I've never touched a drug that was known to be addictive (with the exception of opium a few times). I've done heaps of lsd and mushrooms, these days though I'm pretty much just smokin herb. Fuck, what was the question again?

rezmutts · Oct 5, 2011

Wow such different back grounds of living. For me it was always moving to cities like any other family who needed to leave your roots. I'm Navajo and the Rez is consider a underdeveloped Country forced to give up resources to whitey. My dad was a skilled Carpenter and my mother worked for IHS federal Government. Was fun even though we knew our place in this society of who has more and who works more to keep them in power. Family and different races I've meet in the same boat got by. Helping on another and keeping our culture and tongue alive, Which I'm teaching my daughter to learn. Now that I'm older and still make mistakes, Our lives is in our own hands, changes takes time like any revolutions not the ones sparked from the top.

Jimmy Beans · Oct 5, 2011

rezmutts said:
Country forced to give up resources to whitey.

Damn honkies, I know man. I hear those same fools say shit like "Well if they're gonna be here in our country (refering to most any immigrants, mainly those from Mexico as I live in California) the least they can do is learn the god damn language! America, fuck yeah!" And I'm like "could you say that again in Diné bizaad(Navajo) please kthxbai."

How soon they forget.

Yani · Oct 5, 2011

One thing I did not mention earlier was that even though my European parents worked very hard we were were definitely not swimming in money.
However, there is another type of poverty that is much worse, the poverty of spirit.
I know what you both mean guys ... it was the same down where I grew up: I could not stand how the whites would forever undermine and mistreat the natives.

trash diver · Oct 5, 2011

Egyptians enslaved hebrews,romans enslaved celts,whites enslaved blacks.....the list goes on. Humans tend to center their exsistence on concrete princibles.Material goods and standards of living-rich or poor,exploiter or proliterian. All of the worlds religions teach us to seek the spiritual and shun the material.These two philosiphies have been in conflict since time began.Maybe someday,we will learn to balance our views of the meaning of exsistence.And in so doing,finally begin too see each other has human beings.

Mankini · May 6, 2015

Easiest way to break class barriers: Buy a passport and some hot credit cards with high limits.

intoxnito · May 19, 2015

i saw an interview with the dalai lama once.he was asked to describe buddhism, his response was the most simple yet profound ive ever heard&idk i think upon hearing it one becomes calm&humble if one truly hears the meaning. "if a person can help another,then they should,if they cannot help,then they should atleast refrain from causing harm"doubt i quoted that perfectly.but ya get the gist. im far from perfect i harbor my discriminations&animosities,but i also no the root causes of these are delusions of my mind&thought processes produced.wish i could remember this when its needed rather than perpetuate ignorance.
Lmao!..i totally just slid buddhist philosophy in an anarchist forum!,i'm going to be pompous&say i am the ultimate anarchist for it,lol! the only thing thatd would humor me more is if this was a athiest forum,infact i think it would be so much better,damn my foolishness.

RobHASboots · Jun 18, 2015

plagueship said:
dear assholes

hey. does this milk taste funny to you?

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class 'privilege'

plagueship

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Margarita

Sunset Follower

fr33rang3r

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Earth

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kurbster

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Yani

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Jimmy Beans

Bad Order Hoghead

rezmutts

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Jimmy Beans

Bad Order Hoghead

Yani

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trash diver

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Mankini

I'm a d-bag and got banned.

intoxnito

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RobHASboots

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