Some rich people lead difficult, miserable lives. Does that mean economic privilege doesn't exist?

[EffieBlack]

[TimeSnowDemos]

1. Of course not

Not even sure if this is a serious question.

[WhiteTara]

2. No. It means that happiness

is an inside job.

[Orsino]

3. Privilege comes in many flavors.

Being rich insulates one from whole classes of bullshit, whether or not one is struggling to maintain such a lifestyle.

[ck4829]

24. It does

[tazkcmo]

4. From my grandfather

"If you're looking in your wallet for your wealth, you'll always be poor."

[hatrack]

5. No, it just means different people have different problems . .

.

[Uncle Joe]

7. Enjoy your stay, maybe you will make it to

two whole posts.

[marble falls]

20. Maybe not.

[ck4829]

25. Not quite

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Sigh

[EffieBlack]

9. And thank YOU for kicking it.

And this isn’t the first time that someone decided to devote their very first DU post to whining about what I choose to discuss and accusing me of being Bravenak’s sock puppet.

Welcome to DU and thanks again for the kick, the laugh and the confirmation that I must be doing something right to generate this much interest and effort on your part!

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Yay

(and juror )

[EffieBlack]

15. Yay, you!

[BumRushDaShow]

18. That's usually how I know certain threads are here

since I usually hang out on the main DU homepage checking for news.

[Aristus]

17. Well said, Effie.

[marble falls]

19. Didn't take long, did it? Funny how many very low number posters are so upset over your OPs, is it?

[EffieBlack]

21. Isn't it? I must make a helluva first impression.

[marble falls]

22. You do. And its a good thing. Your truth may hurt some, but there's healing in it. If people ...

could just spark some empathy up instead of feeling hurt, their lives would start getting better and easier.

I admit it, sometimes my first impression is to be defensive, when I have a moment to think about it it all comes from the discomfort from discovering an unpleasant little thing about me. I'm feeling less to be defensive about these days.

Your posting isn't about you or me, its about a cultural experience that folks who look like me don't know or ignore. Most importantly folks who look like me need to realize the Black experience didn't happen in a vacuum, we were part of it and most often not necessarily a good part of it. Like PoC discovering their past, people who look like me need to discover the darker side of our own past and American experience and reconcile it. You provide a good place for us to start our work.

[EffieBlack]

27. Thanks, Marble

I'm glad it's helping. We all have to work together to figure this out ...

[ck4829]

10. LOL, Are you like from the future or something?

Already complaining about another poster and yet you only have one whole post.

[EffieBlack]

12. And very familiar with a poster who was banned a couple of years ago

Whoops! Gone.

Oh, well. I’m sure he’ll be back. They’re nothing if not persistent.

[ck4829]

11. When poor people don't work, they're lazy malcontents. When rich people don't do anything, they're..

"Suffering from affluenza"

"I'm too rich to understand the consequences of my actions, that's why I plowed my car into four people."

"I can't go to prison for sexual molestation, it will be too hard on me because I've never had a job."

Our media and politicians turns the very ennui of the rich into an asset for the rich only, you don't see this for any other class. This is economic privilege, and it's privilege being abused instead of being recognized and used as a tool for social justice (And you see this with racial and gender privilege as well).

[Wounded Bear]

14. Money can't buy happiness...

but it sure makes misery easier to bear.



Privilege is a real thing, and exists for numerous reasons including race, wealth, class, etc.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. IMHO, it manifests differently

depending on your race.

In the courts, it allows all in that class the "privilege" to mount a far more robust defense or offense than the average citizen. But for everyday "living", the race overlay comes into play to the point of affirming LBJ's famous remark to Bill Moyers -

[mythology]

23. It means their life isn't reflecting it

Moorese Bickham spent 37.5 years in prison (14 years in solitary confinement) for killing two racist cops in self defense. He got released and said he didn't regret the time in prison. That it was a glorious experience. By your "logic" we should ask if racism can have an emotional impact on people.

We have holidays for veterans, they are universally lauded, a myriad of benefits for them. And yet they have a ludicrously high rate of homelessness.

Being married has huge socioeconomic benefits, yet women are more likely to be killed by a husband/partner than anybody else.

Things can be incongruous and complicated like that.

Your approach is myopic and small. Trying to rank people's suffering is an approach that not only lacks empathy, but it also limits people to these flat 2d images defined merely by one particular characteristic, instead of complex fully fleshed out people who have their own experiences. A few years ago some store clerk worried Oprah might not be able to afford a purse. Is that example of racism as pertinent to the general impact of racism compared to a black guy getting shot by a cop or black families not getting a mortgage to buy a home? Pretty clearly not. But all three are examples of racism, even if they aren't in fact equally impactful. People are complex, don't try to reduce them to just one demographic factor.

[elleng]

26. No.

[Gothmog]

28. K&R