| ThurgreedMarshall |
07-11-2017 03:06 PM |
Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
(Post 508682)
There is a David Brooks column today in which he talks about how he inconsiderately takes an uneducated "friend" to a place that serves fancy Italian hams with fancy names, and then realizes how she is out of her element, and so Brooks suggests Mexican instead.
Because working stiffs don't eat capicola.
|
I read this article. If you didn't go to college, you can't ask what the fuck "soppressata" is? I didn't grow up with any specific knowledge of fancy Italian names for cold cuts and yet, here I am, capable of ordering what I want in a gourmet sandwich shop. I also remember having to ask what certain things are that I've never seen before. Hell, I do this now in some restaurants. Sometimes, I outright google that shit (especially when it's in a different fucking language). "Pomodoro" is no less foreign a word than "chimifuckingchanga" until you know it.
I understand feeling out of place, for sure. But the answer isn't to get all paternalistic and protect that person from the embarrassment of not fitting in. This is hardly as overwhelming as if he took her to a group discussion on neoclassical architecture.
And "cultural signifiers" aren't the problem. The structure we have built in which those with money have separated themselves completely from those who don't is the problem. Send your kids to private school and watch the public school in your district go down the toilet--but, hey. My kid needs the best education possible. Parents in public schools? No better. Liberal Brooklyn parents lost their fucking minds when school districts were being redrawn. In Brooklyn. Legacy spots for kids in colleges are expected. Gated communities are bad. Expensive condos are just as bad. Cops patrol neighborhoods looking for people who don't belong instead of actual police work. His article addresses some of this (although he stole it from a similar, and much better written, piece I read weeks ago).
Brooks is an insufferable ass.
TM
|