I was an upper middle-class snob; Sorry!!!

My early years in the Upper-Middle class.

Bari Weiss’s “Free Press” offers some views by Rob Henderson on “luxury beliefs—ideas and opinions that confer status on the upper class.” You will find the article up there right now, as I write.

But I have recently had some of my own ideas about this luxury beliefs thing. It is a democracy; I have as much right as anyone, so I will my post version of the thesis. I may disagree with the Henderson article -I suspect I will -and I will verify that at the end of this article.

Anyways, my background is that of an upper-middle class person. The dad in my family was in retail business, and he made money. With that came a sense of dignity. Others did not order him around, and he did not order me around. I learned about the possibility of living that way, that this is one sort of life. In fact it was my birthright, wasn’t it? And yet it is not that way for everybody. The attitude came naturally to me, but if we compare it with any one of dad’s employees you get another sort of life, as they are punching in on a clock. Or, they are begging my dad for a raise. I remember him talking about this at home. The two kinds of existence, of life, are not the same.

So, I need to bring out the point out that working-class and what Henderson is calling “luxury” class really are different. One person eats lunch from a brown paper bag. And the other? Well, he goes “out,” to the nearby “Lunch Counter” restaurant (no, I don’t know why I capitalized it, but I have privilege, so there!) where he is welcomed as gentry, calls the waitress “honey,” and whatever they did back then. Anyhow, he gets away with it, that’s all. It’s different. That is the example that came to mind.

Basically, Well—I am kind of embarrassed now, coming to the point, but I will just spit it out: Sometimes, upper middle class persons get to act like jerks. I did it too. Maybe not quite on the Elon Musk level. Anyway, when I look back on myself (from my present vantage point as a critical thinker and more or less déclassé, if I may say so myself) I see this. I see the arrogance. I was thinking about it a long time before I read the Rob Henderson version — that I always felt I was better than other persons and had the right to look down on anyone. If I wanted to, I mean. All that mattered was that I felt -in my luxury -they deserved it. Where a working-class person would get punched, that would never happen to me. So a moderately rich kid like me can twitter and laugh as he wants to or chooses to. I did not think I did it—but: I did it! One thinks one has the right to… it is really terrible behavior… but I did that. (Now I’ve just admitted to this and there is no going back except of course if I delete this article and, Then: it will not have happened! ha ha!) That is the context in which I saw the Bari Weiss publication are read Henderson’s article.

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Dad was a mid-twentieth century liberal and he said (in unison with my mom): “we had to stop Hitler.” He was in favor of for example equal rights for the Negro (believe it or not, this was controversial, at one time). This was in the mid-60s. We had a Negro in the store. He was called a “porter.” This is an interesting dynamic. He was working-class but also Negro, so he could be “respected” effortlessly by the great liberal store-owner, my dad. Dad was the blue ribbon winner in the category, a good compassionate sort. That inspired me in life, b.t.w. My dad saw the value in others; his concerns were not limited to only himself. I don’t know if it is a liberal thing, or a Jewish thing, or what. He was sincere old-school liberal. In his Way.

I guess it probably does not mean much in the ultimate play of events. These are fairly abstract ideas, played out in the big society, and so at that time you have your liberal or conservative president, one after the other. Until finally the dynamic gets played out. An upper middle-class kid has this arrogance and thinks he can put down other persons. OK; so, this is all I am talking up. You do not really have very much knowledge, and that is the problem. Why it is unfair? Because understanding the other guy has to precede one’s having an opinion about them. So now let’s see what Henderson has to say…

I think the article is pretty inconclusive. He does not adequately explain what he means by “luxury beliefs,” and there is I think a poor understanding of what the “defunding the police” idea has to do with it. I do not like the way he uses that as the prime example of a “luxury belief.” Let’s first be clear about what that idea was (since everybody seems to hate it now and we never hear where it came from or what sense it may have made). But luxury beliefs are real. It is just fine that he brings it up.

Now if only Bari Weiss would fire this fucking peasant and publish my stuff! (Oooops, there I go again. Damn. I reckon it is a tough habit to break!)