I knew I was in trouble when out-of-touch Michelle Obama took flack for buying Tuscan kale in a local farmer's market. We grow Tuscan kale and think it's great stuff.
H/t Ace of Spades.
Uh, Oh, I'm a Cultural Elitist
I'm no Pauline Kael, but I guess I'm not exactly a woman of the people, either, according to this Pop Quiz inspired by Charles Murray's "Coming Apart." I get a few points for having done a little manual labor and having once ridden on a Greyhound bus. On some questions you get credit for your spouse's activity, such as buying a pickup truck, but for hunting and fishing I guess it counts only if you do it yourself. Well, at least I have friends who are evangelical Christians and/or who disagree with me profoundly on political issues. So my score is "You can see through your bubble, but you need to get out more." I could have done better if I'd ever sat through an Oprah show or watched last year's Transformer movie. But no credit for enjoying Jeff Foxworthy? For frequenting Sonic drive-ins?
I scored "between 13 and 16. In other words, you don't even have a bubble."
ReplyDeleteWhat I think is really true is that I just have exposure to both sides. I spend a lot of time with folks at the university, who aspire to the Left/rich bubble, and I spend a lot of time in rural Georgia, which is toward the Right/poor bubble.
How'd the right get to be so poor, by the way?
Sorry, "domestic beer" is an oxymoron. And any professional athlete has a body part hurting at the end of his day.
ReplyDeleteBut I didn't get double credit for having ridden both Greyhound and Trailways. Nor for both my spouse and I being vets.
And yet: you scored between 13 and 16.
In other words, you don't even have a bubble.
Hmm....
Eric Hines
"How'd the right get to be so poor, by the way?"
ReplyDeleteGet to be? I'd venture that they started out poor, then when considering heritage and aspirations opted for the path on the Right.
That would be nothing more than my WAG of course...
Ha! Looks like my misspent youth, if not my advanced age and willingness to mingle, earned me:
ReplyDeleteResult
On a scale from 0 to 20 points, where 20 signifies full engagement with mainstream American culture and 0 signifies deep cultural isolation within the new upper class bubble, you scored between 13 and 16.
In other words, you don't even have a bubble.
Bubble free! Bubble free! Thank Bubba alrighty, I'm bubble free!
I'm sensing a pattern here. I got the same score as you three. But, but, but.....I like bubbles!
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do wonder about the subjectivity of some of the questions, too. The first one that pops to mind is "have you voluntarily hung out with smokers in the last month". I have family and friends who smoke, and I most definately hang out with them voluntarily when they are within 'hangin' out' distance. But given that our current duty station has us iving 3,000 miles away.......
Hell, I don't even know anyone around here who smokes. Which, ironically wrt my test results, isn't saying much due to the fact that, truth be told, I really don't know anybody around here in the first place.
0>;~}
No bubble here either.
ReplyDeleteBut like Grim, I've had a lot of exposure to both sides. I graduated from a snooty prep school and hung around with a girl whose Dad owned a fleet of classic cars, two houseboats, and a Lear jet.
Hm.
ReplyDelete6 out of 20.
On pickup trucks: I said no. But does a Jeep count?
On domestic beer: my current housemate brews his own, so I don't buy.
On eating out at Applebees: I don't eat out much.
Same for TV and Oprah.
I think the thing is flawed. (scored 11). I still think Paul Fussell's test in his book "Class" was better, (despite being written in the 1980's)
ReplyDeleteIt's flawed, and since I thought that as I viewed the questions, I stretched the answer a bit where I saw fit (Some of those left a pretty narrow way to answer yes). Using that method, I scored 9-12, in a thin bubble, and keeping in touch with the other side. I suppose that sounds about right.
ReplyDeleteFlawed? Well, it could be. *snickers* Yes, it could be, but 'twas entertaining and a good conversation starter.
ReplyDelete*starts mumbling Okay. It was never easy for me. I was born a poor black child. I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family, singin' and dancin' down in Mississippi...*
I scored 11. I didn't count youth trips via Greyhound and I don't drink alcohol, so no beer in the fridge. Skipped the movie and I don't have the time to spend watching Oprah - something about work to do and books to read.
ReplyDelete*shrug* Oh well, I'll stick with being (as a friend informed me once) a red-necked nerd.
LittleRed1