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I think that this is true. This is also true that you can't understand what it is of being powerful or rich when you're not. In a general way, it is very diffi

I think that this is true. This is also true that you can't understand what it is of being powerful or rich when you're not. In a general way, it is very difficult to imagine living in other people's shoes, we live on the same planet, breathing the same air, we have 99.9% the same DNA, but our experience of life and our environment can be widely different.

iiqof 5y ago
I agree what you say, although I might add that the harm potential by a "not-understanding rich of the poor" is much greater than a "not-understanding poor of the rich"
- stephc_int13 5y ago
  People who are in a position of power always have more opportunities to hurt others. But sometimes, in rare occasions, during revolutions, the rich might not be in a position of power.
- strken 5y ago
  A lot of the opportunities to escape poverty involve the kind of mindset the wealthy have - calculated risk taking, the entitled confidence to turn up to an interview for a job you suspect you can't do, looking on money as an abstract and rational thing, post-scarcity thinking, the knowledge that it could be possible and socially acceptable to ask wealth people for business loans, and so on. This is in no way blaming those in poverty for not magically knowing how to ace job interviews or detect which risks are worth it, but pointing out that in both cases, X not understanding Y hurts the poor more than the rich.
- zepto 5y ago
  > the harm potential by a "not-understanding rich of the poor" is much greater than a "not-understanding poor of the rich" This seems superficially true, conjuring up a group of callous rich people using their power to make decisions that disproportionally harm poorer people. Obviously this does actually happen. However, it’s equally true that not understand the nature of wealth causes the poor to make less than optimal decisions, both on a micro scale, and a macro scale. I don’t mean there is some simple path out of being poor by making better decisions, but I do mean that not understanding wealth means that poor people often can’t tell the difference between a good opportunity and a bad one or how much work it takes to find one. It also means that poor people end up supporting political ideas that don’t make lasting a difference. I say this as someone who grew up poor, is no longer poor, and can see now that I have had access to more people with money how much better I’d have done if I had known more about how wealth works earlier in life.

iiqof 5y ago

I agree what you say, although I might add that the harm potential by a "not-understanding rich of the poor" is much greater than a "not-understanding poor of the rich"

stephc_int13 5y ago
People who are in a position of power always have more opportunities to hurt others. But sometimes, in rare occasions, during revolutions, the rich might not be in a position of power.
strken 5y ago
A lot of the opportunities to escape poverty involve the kind of mindset the wealthy have - calculated risk taking, the entitled confidence to turn up to an interview for a job you suspect you can't do, looking on money as an abstract and rational thing, post-scarcity thinking, the knowledge that it could be possible and socially acceptable to ask wealth people for business loans, and so on. This is in no way blaming those in poverty for not magically knowing how to ace job interviews or detect which risks are worth it, but pointing out that in both cases, X not understanding Y hurts the poor more than the rich.
zepto 5y ago
> the harm potential by a "not-understanding rich of the poor" is much greater than a "not-understanding poor of the rich" This seems superficially true, conjuring up a group of callous rich people using their power to make decisions that disproportionally harm poorer people. Obviously this does actually happen. However, it’s equally true that not understand the nature of wealth causes the poor to make less than optimal decisions, both on a micro scale, and a macro scale. I don’t mean there is some simple path out of being poor by making better decisions, but I do mean that not understanding wealth means that poor people often can’t tell the difference between a good opportunity and a bad one or how much work it takes to find one. It also means that poor people end up supporting political ideas that don’t make lasting a difference. I say this as someone who grew up poor, is no longer poor, and can see now that I have had access to more people with money how much better I’d have done if I had known more about how wealth works earlier in life.