Meanwhile….
I don't like terms like "white trash" or "Puerto Rican trash" because they are labeling of large groups. I don't think emphasizing "class" distinctions is all that helpful either. My wife is pretty liberal, but she made the point that when we grew up, nobody wanted to be labeled. That was liberalism - don't label me or assume I am this or that because I fit into a group. That was considered prejudice. Now, everyone wants to label everyone else with a million so-called identities. Both sides do it incessantly!
Slightly different subject, but I found it eye opening. NPR did a story interviewing schoolchildren about political views and tolerance, and it was counterintuitive. This is not science, but it does make you think. They asked several kids if they thought their parents would be OK if they went over to play at the house of someone on the other side of the political spectrum. Guess what - most kids whose parents were Trump supporters said "sure, I don't see why not." Most kids whose parents were Harris supporters said "I don't think my parents would let me because they hate Trump so much." What does that say? Who is more open minded?
I say this as someone who can't stand Trump and would vote for pretty much anyone else. I plan to vote for Harris later today. But you have to think about these things and have a little bit of humility IMO.
How much of that attitude is class based? I think, even being poor, many of my friends parents growing up, wouldn’t have had any problem sending their kid to a birthday party in a rich neighborhood…. But many parents do get a bit nervous sending their kids to mobile home parks or projects if nothing else because of the sketchiness of some of the surroundings and some bad habits their children might see / pickup.
It’s something I’ve thought a lot about, living in a somewhat lower socioeconomic area, but being in one of the relatively few higher socioeconomic neighborhoods…
One part of me wants to keep my child grounded and know humility and empathy, but the other part wants to avoid imprinting some of the negative experiences I had hanging out with low class poor kids when I was young. (Not to say rich kids didn’t have their own foibles that I want to avoid as well). That being said, I was a poor kid who was friends with quite a few rich kids so maybe I should be repaying the kindness showed to me.
I suppose ultimately “class” in terms of respectability exists in a realm outside of wealth or poverty. I would argue that Trump himself has very little class and it has rubbed off on many of his supporters who
Also, anecdotally I would say that the parents who were most crappy to me about hanging out with their kids were also the most conservative and religious and were not the wealthiest of my friends. Now that was decades ago, so maybe things have changed.