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> Like oh we’re not pretending anymore, then lets make this gulf as wide as it can go. Privilege is a tool that can be used to minimize or maximize inequality.

by uoaei 5y ago

> Like oh we’re not pretending anymore, then lets make this gulf as wide as it can go. Privilege is a tool that can be used to minimize or maximize inequality. If you have privilege, you can (and arguably should) use it to pull others up, rather than pulling up the ladder behind you, so to speak. You can do this by running or working for successful companies that provide valuable, dignifying services and employ thousands of people to give them a pathway out of poverty, without making yourself obscenely rich and "widening the gulf".

vmception 5y ago
Sure, it also means doing all that, while living in the expensive neighborhood without pretending you barely got in, compared to it all comfortably fitting in a budget. It means knowing there is widespread resentment towards college kids whose parents pay for it, and paying for it anyway because there’s no utility for that unnecessary struggle for your children.
- uoaei 5y ago
  Your arguments sum up to "society makes me feel bad for spending my money on expensive things" and, you know, that's a you problem. No one forces you to spend money on your kids' college or to live in an expensive neighborhood. I still don't see how any of this justifies "widening the gulf".
  - vmception 5y ago
    That’s not the argument. Sorry you got that impression. The “argument” or observation was “Society says I should recognize my privilege, and holy moly I was not leveraging that nearly enough!” There is no guilt associated with that. It was about seeing if anybody could relate, since it isn’t talked about enough but the article was about how some people stopped pretending. I’m totally down with normalizing that. Pretending was insufferable to the people that had wealth and a safety net, it was insufferable to the people that could tell there was a difference in the struggles. Lever tf up, is my argument.
    - uoaei 5y ago
      That is an antisocial philosophy and, frankly, a disappointment.

by uoaei 5y ago

vmception 5y ago

Sure, it also means doing all that, while living in the expensive neighborhood without pretending you barely got in, compared to it all comfortably fitting in a budget. It means knowing there is widespread resentment towards college kids whose parents pay for it, and paying for it anyway because there’s no utility for that unnecessary struggle for your children.

uoaei 5y ago
Your arguments sum up to "society makes me feel bad for spending my money on expensive things" and, you know, that's a you problem. No one forces you to spend money on your kids' college or to live in an expensive neighborhood. I still don't see how any of this justifies "widening the gulf".
- vmception 5y ago
  That’s not the argument. Sorry you got that impression. The “argument” or observation was “Society says I should recognize my privilege, and holy moly I was not leveraging that nearly enough!” There is no guilt associated with that. It was about seeing if anybody could relate, since it isn’t talked about enough but the article was about how some people stopped pretending. I’m totally down with normalizing that. Pretending was insufferable to the people that had wealth and a safety net, it was insufferable to the people that could tell there was a difference in the struggles. Lever tf up, is my argument.
  - uoaei 5y ago
    That is an antisocial philosophy and, frankly, a disappointment.