College has become a barrier for smart poor kids
ETA: This post is US-centric, and I should have made that clear. How much or little it applies to other countries, I can't say.
As soon as employers made college a necessity for jobs of any significant income (and even some of shockingly low income, such as "receptionist") back in the 80s or 90s, college started...
White Trash Blues: Class Privilege v. White Privilege
If you blog about white privilege, you're probably sick to death of people playing the "white trash" card in your comments. Their argument usually goes something like this:
"Being white didn't give me all these privileges you're talking about."
"I know plenty of [minority] people who are better off than I...
Criticism, hostility and non-support: three different animals
If you find yourself in agreement with a dominant belief - the most popular religion in your culture, a love of the favored local sports team, or the belief that life is mostly neat and people are mostly good-hearted - you may occasionally have trouble distinguishing someone who doesn't lick your butt in agreement...
Non-survivor privilege and silence
While it shouldn't be a privilege to escape abuse in this life, there are trappings of privilege for those who have been so lucky. I know it's an odd thing to say, and it's a realization I've been slowly moving toward since childhood, but it works like this:
Once you survive abuse or violation, you have a...
No, customer service workers do not have it easy
Every once in a while, one of my fellow Americans blows my mind with her assumption that customer service workers get insurance, paid sick days and paid vacation, and at least $10/hour. These assumptions are often of no consequence, but on some occasions they're offered in justification of why no one should be...
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