OMG IM SO SORRY!

[The Rev]

Rev, it is utterly impossible for a young white man to admit that he is middle class, because that precludes them from being "street"...Even though Milwaukee is about as "street" as Batavia, Illinois, or Oro Valley, Arizona.

I have spent a lot of time in all 3 of the above-mentioned towns, and they do not resemble Compton in any measurable way.

I guess being country, not poor, and on the verge of what could be the most free time of my adult life I simply cannot understand the need for 'street cred', hell, I'm not sure wtf that even means. Denver is the only big city I have ever lived in, and that time was in the 'burbs. Besides, most of the time I lived there it was still considered a cow town.

I do remember pointing and laughing at 'wiggers' running around. Pretending to be something that you are not and don't even have a real understanding of is one of the most silly assed things humans could ever do.

I don't even want to be anything but what I am. A simple country boy with some pretty damn good savvy. No offense to you Dok, but I was once one of the best damn maintenance mechanics in the trade, shit like machines told me where it hurt. My years of recreational camping background, my maintenance days and growing up in the country learning to just make do could not possibly be a better fit for our plans. Why the hell would I want to be something else? It doesn't make sense.

[trix]

...
I guess it all depends on what you're comparing it to.

That's the crux of it right there.
it's all relative.  same as how you can ask just about anybody if they're 'rich', and the answer will almost certainly be no, regardless of their income or accumulated wealth.  people look up when they think of economic status.  that's where their desires lay, that's what they envy, that's what they want to see.
"sure, there's folks that have less than I, but i'm certainly not rich.  That guy over there is rich. he makes twice as much as me.  if i had that, i'd be rich and happy."  (of course that guy is thinking the same thing)

Having been poor as fuck, when my ex and I were making six figures each I told the kids "we are rich." I didn't want them to harbor any illusions that that was how most people live. Even right now, we're broke, but we're not poor; so I made 13k in taxable income last year, but I'm getting child support and sitting on about 100k in equity, which means a small measure of security. Of course, it also means that unless things improve radically I'm exactly two years of recession from losing everything.

Being middle-class doesn't undermine anyone's credibility, but when people who have never actually experienced poverty declare that they came from a "poor" background... not "working class", not "middle class", but "poor"... they undermine their credibility and they certainly undermine my perception of their intelligence. Because it happens so very frequently, it's difficult to automatically accept that claim at face value. Sure, Trix MIGHT have grown up below the poverty line. I'm just skeptical. I'm betting that his family had a modest house in a working-class subdivision, at worst.

I've never lived in a house, or a subdivision.  You can bet whatever you want.  I'd elaborate, but without a way for you to verify anything I say, the entire discussion is rather pointless.  Which has been what I've been trying to get across from the beginning of the "middle class" discussion.  I could type three pages of whiny tripe about finishing people's meals at McD's or hanging out at Duncan Donuts when they close for the free perfectly good donuts they'd throw away, but I could as easily be making it up as telling the truth.  So I didn't bother.  You can choose to take me at my word that I know what being truly poor is like, or you can not.

If it really matters to you though, I have left plenty of hints in past threads.  About how everything I owned was in my van because I was "in between places to live" (AKA living in the van) and some fucker stole most of what I owned of value out of it.  Or the thread where I compared Discordia to the "big d20 of life" and mentioned my prison stretch and felony, mentioned the period of homelessness and staying with a friend in his apartment.  Of course, I could have been planning for this discussion to take place since I got here.  

[The Rev]

...
I guess it all depends on what you're comparing it to.

That's the crux of it right there.
it's all relative.  same as how you can ask just about anybody if they're 'rich', and the answer will almost certainly be no, regardless of their income or accumulated wealth.  people look up when they think of economic status.  that's where their desires lay, that's what they envy, that's what they want to see.
"sure, there's folks that have less than I, but i'm certainly not rich.  That guy over there is rich. he makes twice as much as me.  if i had that, i'd be rich and happy."  (of course that guy is thinking the same thing)

Having been poor as fuck, when my ex and I were making six figures each I told the kids "we are rich." I didn't want them to harbor any illusions that that was how most people live. Even right now, we're broke, but we're not poor; so I made 13k in taxable income last year, but I'm getting child support and sitting on about 100k in equity, which means a small measure of security. Of course, it also means that unless things improve radically I'm exactly two years of recession from losing everything.

Being middle-class doesn't undermine anyone's credibility, but when people who have never actually experienced poverty declare that they came from a "poor" background... not "working class", not "middle class", but "poor"... they undermine their credibility and they certainly undermine my perception of their intelligence. Because it happens so very frequently, it's difficult to automatically accept that claim at face value. Sure, Trix MIGHT have grown up below the poverty line. I'm just skeptical. I'm betting that his family had a modest house in a working-class subdivision, at worst.

I've never lived in a house, or a subdivision.  You can bet whatever you want.  I'd elaborate, but without a way for you to verify anything I say, the entire discussion is rather pointless.  Which has been what I've been trying to get across from the beginning of the "middle class" discussion.  I could type three pages of whiny tripe about finishing people's meals at McD's or hanging out at Duncan Donuts when they close for the free perfectly good donuts they'd throw away, but I could as easily be making it up as telling the truth.  So I didn't bother.  You can choose to take me at my word that I know what being truly poor is like, or you can not.

If it really matters to you though, I have left plenty of hints in past threads.  About how everything I owned was in my van because I was "in between places to live" (AKA living in the van) and some fucker stole most of what I owned of value out of it.  Or the thread where I compared Discordia to the "big d20 of life" and mentioned my prison stretch and felony, mentioned the period of homelessness and staying with a friend in his apartment.  Of course, I could have been planning for this discussion to take place since I got here.  

Heh. There are people here who have gone through far worse, they just don't whine about it.

[trix]

Heh. There are people here who have gone through far worse, they just don't whine about it.

Oh, you are trolling.  I get it now.

[Doktor Howl]

I spent a lot of time in the Middle East, back in the late 80s - early 90s.

I will never bitch about my living arrangements.

[Doktor Howl]

Heh. There are people here who have gone through far worse, they just don't whine about it.

Oh, you are trolling.  I get it now.

[The Rev]

Heh. There are people here who have gone through far worse, they just don't whine about it.

Oh, you are trolling.  I get it now.

Are you really this stupid?

[trix]

Are you?

I avoid posting specific information, knowing it would either be called lies or whining.  You fuckers keep pushing until I finally reveal a couple things to illustrate my point, and you jump directly to "he's whining".

I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt and call it trolling, instead of assuming that you are just fucking retarded.

[Freeky]

Dude, unless you spent your entire childhood without a roof of some kind over your head, just shut.  The fuck.  Up.

Kthxbai.

[Doktor Howl]

Are you?

I avoid posting specific information, knowing it would either be called lies or whining.  You fuckers keep pushing until I finally reveal a couple things to illustrate my point, and you jump directly to "he's whining".

I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt and call it trolling, instead of assuming that you are just fucking retarded.

Okay, I give up.

[The Rev]

Are you?

I avoid posting specific information, knowing it would either be called lies or whining.  You fuckers keep pushing until I finally reveal a couple things to illustrate my point, and you jump directly to "he's whining".

I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt and call it trolling, instead of assuming that you are just fucking retarded.

Us fuckers aren't the ones constantly shoving your foot in your mouth, that would be you. Credibility and understanding others in bad situations would be critical to your comments being accepted at face value. Maybe it's just me, but to date you haven't provided either.

And when it comes to me you should always go directly to fucking retarded.

[The Rev]

Are you?

I avoid posting specific information, knowing it would either be called lies or whining.  You fuckers keep pushing until I finally reveal a couple things to illustrate my point, and you jump directly to "he's whining".

I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt and call it trolling, instead of assuming that you are just fucking retarded.

Okay, I give up.

Oh, not me. What's really funny is the thread this disaster of a thread is sitting directly over. Proves in a way that he is just more interested in spouting why we should all agree with him, instead of him getting to know us a little.

[Doktor Howl]

And when it comes to me you should always go directly to fucking retarded.

Me, too.  It comes from not being a gangsta.   

[Freeky]

Do I hear any bets of "Grew up in an apartment and therefore I'm poor"?  Anyone?  Dok?

[The Rev]

And when it comes to me you should always go directly to fucking retarded.

Me, too.  It comes from not being a gangsta.