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Poll: There are 4 people in a room. One of them has made the following statement: “The poor deserve their condition because they make bad choices and don’t take responsibility for their own lives.” Which of these 4 is most likely to have said it? MC = middle-class below
  • The born-rich person
    12.5%
  • Born MC, stayed MC
    22.9%
  • Born poor, made it rich
    27.1%
  • Born MC, made it rich
    37.4%
1,299 votesFinal results
Replying to
Interesting, I have a strong theory of the right answer (there *is* a right answer) and the polling is headed that way too.
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This should really be a 2-dimensional poll with 81 class mobility choices (based on 9 Paul Fussell classes) on first dimension and 4 educational levels on second (high school dropout, high school, college, grad/professional).
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Middle-class who made it rich. Has seen his own effort pay off, and is unaware of how much his original condition differed from true poverty. The born poor knows very well how good people can fail hard at life through sheer lack of opportunity.
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MC and rich people are more socialized to not lay things like that out loud, especially with an ex-poor person right there, and it follows the pattern where the most extreme critics of fat people all used to be fat, all the biggest athiests are ex-christians, etc
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C and D both seem very likely to me. D slightly more so. I wouldn’t be surprised if the circumstances around getting rich made a difference.
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The only people i know who hold this opinion are middle class conservatives. But then i don't know any rich people very well but i think they must know how hard and lucky it was to get there.
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As the sages have written, the defining feature of being middle-class is the struggle to advance to a higher class. So I'd ascribe the statement to person #2 - the only one who is *currently* middle-class and seeing the world through that lens.
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