When I was a teenager, most people had a sense of proportion. Because that has since been lost, I'd like to propose a few rules that might just help some to act as if they had one
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1) What universe did you live in, that when you were younger people had a sense of proportion (any more than they do today)?
2) They are allowed to call themselves poor. We are allowed to differ on their judgment.
3) As Devon points out, "poor" will *ALWAYS* be a matter of perspective and setting. If everyone around you is a multi-billionaire, having fifty million dollars is going to feel damn poor. If everyone around you is scratching in the mud eating worms, being able to regularly find a half-rotten apple may make you feel rich. Most of our poor in the USA are undoubtedly very rich compared to the poor of many third world nations.
That doesn't mean that those of us in the 99% bracket who DON'T have domestic servants aren't going to find someone calling themselves "poor" who has servants and two houses to be... a bit overexaggerating.
1) What universe did you live in, that when you were younger people had a sense of proportion (any more than they do today)?
I wasn't thinking that young people had a sense of proportion so much as adults old enough to hold tenured professorships did. I can see how my phrasing could have put this across a bit better, however.
2) They are allowed to call themselves poor. We are allowed to differ on their judgment.
Which is pretty much what I meant, when I said the only punishment was public mockery.
3) As Devon points out, "poor" will *ALWAYS* be a matter of perspective and setting.
Very true. In high school, I was often called "poor" by classmates, because I drove the same car through high school, and it was five or six years old when I bought it.
Most of our poor in the USA are undoubtedly very rich compared to the poor of many third world nations. There are people in the US who both live below the poverty line, and eat better than the middle class of some Third World nations. (I'm told that, in Guatemala, if you have beans with
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2) They are allowed to call themselves poor. We are allowed to differ on their judgment.
3) As Devon points out, "poor" will *ALWAYS* be a matter of perspective and setting. If everyone around you is a multi-billionaire, having fifty million dollars is going to feel damn poor. If everyone around you is scratching in the mud eating worms, being able to regularly find a half-rotten apple may make you feel rich. Most of our poor in the USA are undoubtedly very rich compared to the poor of many third world nations.
That doesn't mean that those of us in the 99% bracket who DON'T have domestic servants aren't going to find someone calling themselves "poor" who has servants and two houses to be... a bit overexaggerating.
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I wasn't thinking that young people had a sense of proportion so much as adults old enough to hold tenured professorships did. I can see how my phrasing could have put this across a bit better, however.
2) They are allowed to call themselves poor. We are allowed to differ on their judgment.
Which is pretty much what I meant, when I said the only punishment was public mockery.
3) As Devon points out, "poor" will *ALWAYS* be a matter of perspective and setting.
Very true. In high school, I was often called "poor" by classmates, because I drove the same car through high school, and it was five or six years old when I bought it.
Most of our poor in the USA are undoubtedly very rich compared to the poor of many third world nations.
There are people in the US who both live below the poverty line, and eat better than the middle class of some Third World nations. (I'm told that, in Guatemala, if you have beans with ( ... )
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