I'm starting to think it's intellectual malpractice to write/talk about privilege, class, oppression, etc. without revealing at least 2 generations of family and educational history. There is a suspicious pattern of 2nd/3rd generation privilege joining the privilege commentariat.
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I'm very interested in hearing from people who have opinions shaped by a 2-3 generations of hard-won upward mobility. I'm less interested in what the grand-daughter of a 1950s industrial tycoon whose parents were beltway lawyers has to say about these topics in the new yorker.
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I won't go so far as to say I'm not interested at all in the latter, or uncritically accepting of what the former have to say. Experience doesn't necessarily translate to insight, and lack of experience doesn't preclude insight. But those are my priors...at least on those topics.
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For the record, though I rarely write/talk about these topics... basic middle-class Brahmin stock going back a couple of generations in India mouthing off here. Parents/aunts/uncles all college educated. Grandparents generation mostly not, but earned their way to home-ownership.
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Disagree, that implies you’re relying on basically an appeal to authority. While personal experience is obviously relevant, the whole idea of a book is that we don’t need to rely on biography for authority, we can rely on the logic and data presented to us in long format.
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I'm doing the opposite: probing for hidden bad faith/self-interest that's being deliberately hidden because it's not easy to explain. You're presumptively granting people benefit of doubt for a high degree of self-awareness and intellectual rigor/honesty.
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So like since I had a single mom on food stamps and my great grandmother was sole survivor of a pogrom my opinion on Prada being wasteful excess is different than a Budweiser heir’s?
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So, intergenerational struggle sessions as a prerequisite for moral consideration as a citizen?
Seems legit.
I can’t imagine how this might go wrong...
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What if there was no wealth or privilege transfer across generations?
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Favorite hate-read genres:
🌆 Living in the city on $20/day! (and a free apartment with no student loans)
🧐 How I quit my job to chase my self-employment dreams! (no dependents and family has investors on speed dial)
💀 90 hour weeks are the secret! (I am quietly drowning)
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