That doesn't go both ways. The reason you don't know what it's like here is because you don't have the problems that we do, where people can struggle their whole lives to better themselves and their situation and still not go very far, where any kind of college costs 20K+ a year, where jobs where you don't need more than a HS diploma are scarce and hard to get, and where plenty of people are stuck. Not to mention the more complex and complicated ones.

We, however, do have the problems you have and there are plenty of people just like the ones you're talking about, who come from all economic backgrounds.

So yes, I do know what it's like. I don't need to be there to understand it.

 

Tenguy, I'm out there. How am I out of touch when it is you who haven't been out there in how many years?

Working class kids are not the least bit pampered. Also, there is no "workers class". There's working class and lower than working class, middle class (and upper and lower), wealthy class, etc. Kids whose parents are working class aren't necessarily working class themselves.

 

Just... there's no getting through to you. You know everything, but no-one else knows anything.

 

Baller, you haven't got a clue to where I am or where I have been.

Your assumption that your limited exposure to the area of the city where you live trumps all, is so misplaced that you and I are not even in the same universe.

I used the term "Workers Class" because it mocks your incredible lack of knowledge.

 

I'm one of the youngest members of the baby boomer generation.
We grew up with technology like TV, but weren't introduced to computers until the age of 18, or so. I used a PC at my job for years before I bought my first PC at home when I was 28, for the purpose of doing my homework in graduate school. Because I needed to communicate with my teacher with email, I got access to the internet. After that, I discovered other things like ebay, amazon.com, porn sites, on-line news, netscape, altavista, google, etc. Eventually, I messed around with youtube, myspace, and facebook when I was in my mid 40's.

After all of that, I still visit friends in person, write letters, and go to the library.

It blows me away how the younger generations are using technology today. Computers used to be for anti-social nerds. Now they have become a tool for socializing. On-line research is an option, although a good research library probably still contains more information than the "free" internet does. If you have a good library service that allows you to look at many on-line publications, it's a definite advantage.

 

Actually we do have those kind of problems you speak of. The amount of tuition fees for Universtity courses has just increased from 3000 to 9000 per year minimum, how long it will stay this way is anyones guess now the cap is off. I know lots of people who try to better themselves but cannot due to lack of opportunities.

Are we worse or better off than you? I have no idea, as you have rightly pointed out I don't live there. However like it or not the same thing applies to you. You know what you see on the news and nothing more and believe me when I say what is reported is just the tip of the iceberg. Your knowledge is from a second source, which is always open to bias... for you to get a true understanding, you would have to come and live here for awhile.

 

I have never once said that.

I know you're not out there looking for work, nor have you ever been in the position of a modern working class kid who is. You're speaking ignorantly about things you don't know.

You used the term because you were trying to make working class out to be about something it's not and never has been about.

 

why is it, for seemingly intelligent people on this Forum, hard to understand that language evolves?...that the use of txt speak and abbreviations is the way of the future?...That being olnine and discussing it like this is made possible by faster better technology.....
In the OLD DAYS, when you wrote something, you had to make sure it was understsandable etc....you had time to write it, to think about it, to articulate in in your head before committing it to paper....and even then, you could edit as you wrote...The internet? no such luxury, you just type hit send, its done......As long as it's understood, why should it matter?

 

I live in the world, not within my mind.

There is a difference between just experiencing your own life and being a part of the world around you, the only thing you talk about is how YOU have been there and done that.

You are totally missing how young people in Tokyo live, or for that matter, how they live in Metro Atlanta, you only seem to know what you touch.

It is pointless for me to try to have a discussion with an inexperienced know-it-all.

Have a nice fantasy life.

 

I pay almost $2,000 a semester at community college for 4 classes. You have programs over there that we do not have, much cheaper schooling, and other ways for people to better their situations. The smallest college costs like $20,000 a year here, though granted that includes room and board. The most prestigious ones are upwards of $60,000 a year, and the ones in between range anywhere from $30,000 to $40,000 + a year. This will all be going up thanks to people cutting funding for colleges and other schools..

I don't watch the news nor do I take anything from other sources. My understanding comes from knowing history and knowing areas since we happen to have pretty much every type of area a country could have. As I pointed out to x_orion, your worst areas are about the same as our worst formerly working class areas, which are mainly found in the East Coast. Add to that the fact that you have cheaper and better schooling, programs that place you in jobs, etc, and it's closer to how things were back when there were opportunities in those areas.

As for the more complex and complicated problems, you can't possibly have them because you don't have the racial tensions on the scale that we do nor do you have the other divisions on the scale that we do. Your towns didn't spring up around opportunities for work but a lot of ours did. Your country went through the natural process of going from castles and other strongholds to Fiefdom to the Industrial Revolution and then modern cities. Ours didn't.

 

I know people from all walks of life.

And you're the one talking bullshit about people you don't know and calling me out of touch based on it.

 

One of the reasons I emigrated was so my children could better themselves..So they wouldnt be judged by were they came from, judged on what school they went to, judged on what their parents did for a living....judged on their accents or slang they used........So they could go to college/university. Thankfully, they did. The first of my family to go to University.
But
Such is human nature, part of me is sad, because my children do not understand me, or the family, they are out of touch with them...they will never, really, be a part of it again.

 

Yeah - on paper.

 

As long as their children don't end up in a similar position to yours due to their parents not knowing how lucky they were to be spared that (happens a lot more often than you'd think) then it's good that they're sheltered from all of that. Teach them the history of where and who they come from and let them hopefully continue to advance the family further.

Well obviously it's not perfect.

 

History is a second source. It is someone interpretation of events. You could read another book that completely contradicts the first one. You need to experience it for youself.

And you seriously don't think we have racist problems here? We have a political party called the BMP, you don't get much more racist than that.

 

No it isn't. History is objective. It is dates and what happened and what were the causes. Opinion only comes into play in books that are not considered legitimate historical sources.

I didn't say that. We've been over this before.

The only way for anybody to really understand it is to grow up here. Even if you lived here for the rest of your life, unless your kids grew up around here it's impossible to fully understand what it's like to, especially these days.

 

History is written by the victors. It's not just a pithy saying.

 

No it really isn't. Every single piece of modern history is verified in fact with sources to back it up. You can't rewrite history in this modern age and nothing from the past stays covered up for very long.

 

Amen to that, only fools believe one version of history.

Including the fools who write the history books. The nuances are lost in translation. BTW, not just language translation, but more importantly, the perspective of the teller.

 

There is no version of history anymore. The only thing that ever gets argued back and forth is how to label certain things or who was really to blame, etc. The events themselves and everything else isn't up for debate.