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April 27, 2005
actually, no.
ann landers today:
Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being cocky. Class has nothing to do with money. Class never runs scared. It is self-discipline and self-knowledge. It's the sure footedness that comes with having proved you can meet life.
i could almost continue this for her: "so, as you can see, if you don't have class, or people say you don't, or you're categorized or categorize yourself as being a member of a low class, it's not because you can't afford to shop anywhere but at the wal-mart, or because, sweet as your daddy is, he's a drunk with an 8th grade education who didn't know how to help you get ahold of any better opportunities than the ones your resource-deprived & underpaid school counselors could come up with, and you couldn't afford that car to get you to the community college, nevermind paying for tuition & books & gasoline & somebody to watch the baby. no, it's because you lack self-discipline, self-confidence. you just don't know yourself. you're a coward who hasn't proven that you can 'meet life'"--and who's administering those tests again? who are we supposed to prove it to? i wonder where she thinks that confidence comes from, if not from privilege, from being able to take enough of this for granted that you can focus on self-knowledge, from being well-equipped to "meet life" because the right people were there to teach you the appropriate handshakes?
can somebody please tell me what makes this any less a victim-rhetoric than saying "well, we don't think rape is okay or anything, but she did go out wearing that dress..."
no wonder we can't have a half-cogent conversation about class in this country.
(xp to lj)
Posted by ttobryan at April 27, 2005 06:57 AM