Fascinating! I missed this survey somehow, but I’ve been traveling a lot and when I travel I tend to take a social media vacation. Here’s how I found your substack. I’m old - sheesh - I’m a boomer female. I read a great deal and read your book in one sitting. One of my favorite categories of books would be ‘books by and about people entirely unlike me’ so you can understand the appeal. I grew up as the daughter of a divorced woman - with my mother and her parents - as barely middle class but in a safe , pleasant neighborhood.
I found Substack via some other essayist. It’s the only social media spot that seems to allow , and even encourage thoughtful conversations that are not just provocative trolling for for likes.
I’ve moved up a lot in terms of class. In theory, I should have some luxury beliefs, but I don’t (or at least I imagine that I don’t).
"I was also intrigued by the gulf between where many of you started and where you are now. Most of you have degrees, careers, and families. Perhaps some of you read about class because you have crossed its boundaries and noticed things that are hard to explain to people who have stayed in one place."
This resonates with me. It is hard for people in one class their whole life to relate to people in other classes. The lower classes can't relate to the upper classes, but because they're the lower class, that has no practical effect. The upper classes can't relate to the lower classes, and because the upper class has a lot of power, that has a large effect.
I think there is a giant disconnect between the people at the top and regular people and the people at the top aren't aware of it because they don't even view understanding regular people as part of their role. Rather they view their role as ruling over them. And then they become irate when the regular people don't do as they say.
The problem is that people that are near the top but started out at the bottom, like Rob, are the exception and always will be.
And I suspect that in times when "luxury" (the setting apart of classes) is expressed mostly in form of "beliefs" (rather than, say, material possessions, with maybe the exception of island bunkers at the very, very top), the cultural gulf widens beyond what a civil society can hold together. If the people at the top propagate values which end up being taken up and expressed by the lower classes, but then the fabric can no longer hold the tension, it is almost impossible for this to be repaired without a clear acceptance of accountability on part of the upper classes to reconcile their "within-upper-class" hypocrisy and dishonesty about what the mainstream culture must consist of for a country to be stable...
Thanks for caring. I missed the survey. I am a female Boomer. I found you here and bought Troubled before it was published. I have gifted and recommended it to others. I like, usually, what you have to say so I wanted to support your cause. Still do.
I'm shocked that only 58% of youngsters and 25% of the Medicare crowd have *ever* hidden something they've enjoyed. You didn't ask "in the past year," or "as a matter of course," but *ever.* 75% of my age peers have never pretended not to love their guilty pleasure movie or TV show? Not once? Not to impress that brainiac they were hoping to date when they were 17 or to curry favor with their mechanic? I think you have a truly rarified group of readers, Rob.
I answered the survey and was a little disappointed that it focused mostly on demographics. Would love to know more. But I'm aware, after years of doing surveys myself, that there's a huge trade-off between length and response rate.
It was reassuring but unsurprising to note that our friends tend to be more lefty than we are. Typical of educated blue-state followers of non-progressive Substacks.
I appreciate the footnote. Yes, they would laugh for different reasons. The KKK in the 20th Century would ridicule the notion that Mediterranean Catholics are "white." Leftists use "white" as a synonym for "evil," and assign the term to "oppressor" groups.
I reject "white" because it is a political term that has no grounds in biology or genetics. I will not check "white" on a survey. I will check "European-American" or (grudgingly) "Caucasian." And yes, I wish we would cease race and color binning.
Fascinating! I missed this survey somehow, but I’ve been traveling a lot and when I travel I tend to take a social media vacation. Here’s how I found your substack. I’m old - sheesh - I’m a boomer female. I read a great deal and read your book in one sitting. One of my favorite categories of books would be ‘books by and about people entirely unlike me’ so you can understand the appeal. I grew up as the daughter of a divorced woman - with my mother and her parents - as barely middle class but in a safe , pleasant neighborhood.
I found Substack via some other essayist. It’s the only social media spot that seems to allow , and even encourage thoughtful conversations that are not just provocative trolling for for likes.
I’ve moved up a lot in terms of class. In theory, I should have some luxury beliefs, but I don’t (or at least I imagine that I don’t).
This spread gives me hope that there is more about us that is alike and that we could/should seek out others to dialogue with. Great Sunday read
Near the end Rob wrote this:
"I was also intrigued by the gulf between where many of you started and where you are now. Most of you have degrees, careers, and families. Perhaps some of you read about class because you have crossed its boundaries and noticed things that are hard to explain to people who have stayed in one place."
This resonates with me. It is hard for people in one class their whole life to relate to people in other classes. The lower classes can't relate to the upper classes, but because they're the lower class, that has no practical effect. The upper classes can't relate to the lower classes, and because the upper class has a lot of power, that has a large effect.
I think there is a giant disconnect between the people at the top and regular people and the people at the top aren't aware of it because they don't even view understanding regular people as part of their role. Rather they view their role as ruling over them. And then they become irate when the regular people don't do as they say.
The problem is that people that are near the top but started out at the bottom, like Rob, are the exception and always will be.
And I suspect that in times when "luxury" (the setting apart of classes) is expressed mostly in form of "beliefs" (rather than, say, material possessions, with maybe the exception of island bunkers at the very, very top), the cultural gulf widens beyond what a civil society can hold together. If the people at the top propagate values which end up being taken up and expressed by the lower classes, but then the fabric can no longer hold the tension, it is almost impossible for this to be repaired without a clear acceptance of accountability on part of the upper classes to reconcile their "within-upper-class" hypocrisy and dishonesty about what the mainstream culture must consist of for a country to be stable...
Thanks for caring. I missed the survey. I am a female Boomer. I found you here and bought Troubled before it was published. I have gifted and recommended it to others. I like, usually, what you have to say so I wanted to support your cause. Still do.
I'm shocked that only 58% of youngsters and 25% of the Medicare crowd have *ever* hidden something they've enjoyed. You didn't ask "in the past year," or "as a matter of course," but *ever.* 75% of my age peers have never pretended not to love their guilty pleasure movie or TV show? Not once? Not to impress that brainiac they were hoping to date when they were 17 or to curry favor with their mechanic? I think you have a truly rarified group of readers, Rob.
Also, I think I answered "don't know" to income because there wasn't a "don't wish to say" button.
I answered the survey and was a little disappointed that it focused mostly on demographics. Would love to know more. But I'm aware, after years of doing surveys myself, that there's a huge trade-off between length and response rate.
It was reassuring but unsurprising to note that our friends tend to be more lefty than we are. Typical of educated blue-state followers of non-progressive Substacks.
I appreciate the footnote. Yes, they would laugh for different reasons. The KKK in the 20th Century would ridicule the notion that Mediterranean Catholics are "white." Leftists use "white" as a synonym for "evil," and assign the term to "oppressor" groups.
I reject "white" because it is a political term that has no grounds in biology or genetics. I will not check "white" on a survey. I will check "European-American" or (grudgingly) "Caucasian." And yes, I wish we would cease race and color binning.
Ben Franklin said that the Swedes weren't white. Members of "the tawny races." Keep 'em out. (It was too late for the Germans.)