"Is This Racist?" colloquy: the American Enterprise Institute asks "How Thick Is Your Bubble?"

http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=how-thick-is-your-bubble

"How Thick Is Your Bubble", my mistake

I got between 9 and 12, wtf is this

1. Have you ever worked on a factory floor?

2. Have you ever held a job that caused a part of your body to hurt at the end of the day?

3. Have you seen last year's mega-hit movie, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"?

4. Can you name this NASCAR champion?

5. In the past five years, have you been fishing or hunting?

6. Do you have a close friend who is an evangelical Christian?

7. During the past year, have you stocked your own fridge with domestic mass-market beer?

8. Do you now have a close friend with whom you have strong and wide-ranging political disagreement?

9. Have you eaten at an Applebee's, TGI Friday's, or Outback Steakhouse in the past year?

10. Have you or your spouse ever bought a pickup truck?

11. Have you ever attended a Kiwanis or Rotary Club meeting, or a gathering at a union local?

12. Have you ever participated in a parade that did not involve global warming, gay rights, or a war protest?

13. Since leaving school, have you worn a uniform as part of your job?

14. Have you ever ridden on a Greyhound or Trailways bus?

15. Did you ever watch an "Oprah" show all the way through?

16. Did you or your spouse ever serve in the armed forces?

17. Did you grow up in a family in which the chief breadwinner was not in a managerial position or high-prestige occupation (defined as dentist, physician, architect, attorney, engineer, scientist, or college professor)?

18. Have you ever lived for at least a year as an adult in an American neighborhood in which the majority of your nearest 50 neighbors probably did not have college degrees?

19. Have you ever had a close friend who could seldom get better than Cs in high school even if he or she tried hard?

20. During the last month, have you voluntarily hung out with people who were smoking cigarettes?

between 5 and 8

lol

On a scale from 0 to 20 points, where 20 signifies full engagement with mainstream American culture and 0 signifies deep cultural isolation within the new upper class bubble, you scored between 5 and 8.

In other words, you can see through your bubble, but you need to get out more.

What an unbelievablly stupid quiz

5. In the past five years, have you been fishing or hunting?

This one kills me. Yeah, if there's one thing rich people hate, it's chartered fishing trips.

lol @ the smoking question

(can a mod fix the typo in the title plz thx)

The pages started taking a really long time to load after about question 12 -- I was vizualizing scores of ilxors running to take the quiz and bogging down their server.

questions get stupid round about number 2 i'd say

"In other words, even if you're part of the new upper class, you've had a lot of exposure to the rest of America."

such a relief

6.5

2. Have you ever held a job that caused a part of your body to hurt at the end of the day?

I work at a desk on a computer all day and every day my mouse hand feels like it's going to fall off.

Charles Murray is such a fucking moron.

The American Enterprise Institute asks "are you a straw man? of a hick?"

got it, goole

yeah like my one year of working a factory job before i went to college probably doubled my score

Have you ever participated in a parade that did not involve global warming, gay rights, or a war protest?

I said no, because I have never participated in a parade. I didn't know parading was a thing we are supposed to be doing.

7. During the past year, have you stocked your own fridge with domestic mass-market beer?

"Please try to factor hipsters and PBR or Black Label into your answer."

number 19 is a particularly ridiculous question

Or like, I'm a vegetarian, of course I haven't gone hunting or fishing regardless of my social class.

You scored between 9 and 12.

In other words, even if you're part of the new upper class, you've had a lot of exposure to the rest of America.

1. Have you ever worked on a factory floor? - No

2. Have you ever held a job that caused a part of your body to hurt at the end of the day? - Yes

3. Have you seen last year's mega-hit movie, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"? - No

4. Can you name this NASCAR champion? - Yes

5. In the past five years, have you been fishing or hunting? Yes

6. Do you have a close friend who is an evangelical Christian? No

7. During the past year, have you stocked your own fridge with domestic mass-market beer? Yes

8. Do you now have a close friend with whom you have strong and wide-ranging political disagreement? Yes

9. Have you eaten at an Applebee's, TGI Friday's, or Outback Steakhouse in the past year? Yes

10. Have you or your spouse ever bought a pickup truck? No

11. Have you ever attended a Kiwanis or Rotary Club meeting, or a gathering at a union local? No

12. Have you ever participated in a parade that did not involve global warming, gay rights, or a war protest? Yes

13. Since leaving school, have you worn a uniform as part of your job? No

14. Have you ever ridden on a Greyhound or Trailways bus? Yes

15. Did you ever watch an "Oprah" show all the way through? Yes

16. Did you or your spouse ever serve in the armed forces? No

17. Did you grow up in a family in which the chief breadwinner was not in a managerial position or high-prestige occupation (defined as dentist, physician, architect, attorney, engineer, scientist, or college professor)? No

18. Have you ever lived for at least a year as an adult in an American neighborhood in which the majority of your nearest 50 neighbors probably did not have college degrees? Yes

19. Have you ever had a close friend who could seldom get better than Cs in high school even if he or she tried hard? Yes

20. During the last month, have you voluntarily hung out with people who were smoking cigarettes? Yes

This quiz is a load of BS in terms of what it actually "measures" though.

Is is true that I need to get out more, though.

It's skewed to conservative white ppl from like 30 or 40 years ago

you scored between 9 and 12.

worst quiz ever.

between 13 and 16

In other words, you don't even have a bubble.

Hm.

here's a sympathetic review of Murray's new book (the basis of the quiz) by Kay Hymowitz

http://www.city-journal.org/2012/bc0125kh.html

I love 18, though, 'cause I always go out and poll my neighbors about their education levels.

5. In the past five years, have you been fishing or hunting?

This one kills me. Yeah, if there's one thing rich people hate, it's chartered fishing trips.

― You got to ro-o-oll me and call me the tumblr whites (Phil D.), Thursday, January 26, 2012 3:36 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol yes, exactly

I've answered yes to this because I've been out on my dad's boat and with him on a chartered one. He hunts too though but I've never been hunting with him.

What a crock.

Yeah, every question is predicated on such a mass of mistaken and stupid assumptions about people and things and everything in the world.

I think the thing about Kiwanis and Rotary Club came up elsewhere and was discussed on ILX last year. Like, the assumption of just who is going to Kiwanis meetings is so 100% off base it's ridiculous.

Or like, I'm a vegetarian, of course I haven't gone hunting or fishing regardless of my social class.

Namby-pamby tufoo-eatin liberals.

if you went fishing in your pickup truck, that's 3 points

I also know some pretty radical leftists who've owned pick-up trucks

Someone got paid to think these questions up too. Amazing.

I love 18, though, 'cause I always go out and poll my neighbors about their education levels.

tbh it's not really too hard to figure this out

i lol'd at so much of this

Result

On a scale from 0 to 20 points, where 20 signifies full engagement with mainstream American culture and 0 signifies deep cultural isolation within the new upper class bubble, you scored between 13 and 16.

In other words, you don't even have a bubble.

If you drove your pick-up onto the ice to haul your shanty out for the winter, and left it there too long and it fell in during spring thaw: +10 pts.

this guy seems like a poor man's david brooks?

14. Have you ever ridden on a Greyhound or Trailways bus?

No, but I've ridden public transportation buses, and I know law students at top-notch colleges who use Megabus to travel home on weekends. It's like misplaced assumptions, well-poisoning (by restricting to Greyhound and Trailways) and a million other fallacies all in one question.

Can we have Charles Murray lynched?

he's an even-richer man's david brooks i think

i probably don't have a bubble because i sleep outside with trans people with purple mohawks who smoke and drink pbr

The great thing about this quiz, though, isn't what it says about you, it's what it says about the AEI.

he's a racist man's david brooks

i don't think that's what this is supposed to measure though xxp

I think the thing about Kiwanis and Rotary Club came up elsewhere and was discussed on ILX last year. Like, the assumption of just who is going to Kiwanis meetings is so 100% off base it's ridiculous.

Thought equating Kiwanis meetings with union gatherings was pretty random.

0-4

i haven't been to applebee's lately but i've been to islands! rigged.

wtf is islands?

Hoos, I saw that PBR image and immediately thought these ppl don't understand hipsters very well. They should have asked if you've worn a John Deere cap in the last seven years while they were at it.

"do you have a moustache"

"do you wear western-wear"

On a scale from 0 to 20 points, where 20 signifies full engagement with mainstream American culture and 0 signifies deep cultural isolation within the new upper class bubble, you scored between 9 and 12.

In other words, even if you're part of the new upper class, you've had a lot of exposure to the rest of America.

Wow, no shit.

I LOLd at the PBR too.

I like the Oprah one. I had to say yes because I have but in all honestly I've probably seen less than 5 complete O shows in my entire life.

On a scale from 0 to 20 points, where 20 signifies full engagement with mainstream American culture and 0 signifies deep cultural isolation within the new upper class bubble, you scored between 13 and 16.

In other words, you don't even have a bubble.

but, uh...

6. Do you have a close friend who is an evangelical Christian?
Yes, but she's a socialist who hates churches for all the hypocrisy.

8. Do you now have a close friend with whom you have strong and wide-ranging political disagreement?
No - shouldn't this get, like, bonus points toward my bubble?

11. Have you ever attended a Kiwanis or Rotary Club meeting, or a gathering at a union local?
Rotary club - just like union meetings!

19. Have you ever had a close friend who could seldom get better than Cs in high school even if he or she tried hard?
IDGI

I guess I'll have to live in a bubble, though, 'cause for me to eat at TGI Fridays or Appleby's would take a bit more of a commute than I'd be willing to take. Also, local Mexican place is cheaper.

19. Have you ever had a close friend who could seldom get better than Cs in high school even if he or she tried hard?
IDGI

― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Thursday, January 26, 2012 8:48 PM (19 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

DUMB PEOPLE ARE MORE AMERICAN

I had similar answers, and #19 was a massive "wtf?"

xpost to milo z

I'm not sure how to find this data, but I'm pretty positive that the majority of Americans did not see Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

I cheated and said yes to TGI Friday's/Applebees, even though I just got drunk at a Friday's

ENBB, http://www.islandsrestaurants.com/

the majority of 'americans' didn't mordy, but the majority of americans did

On a scale from 0 to 20 points, where 20 signifies full engagement with mainstream American culture and 0 signifies deep cultural isolation within the new upper class bubble, you scored between 13 and 16.

In other words, you don't even have a bubble.

What percentage of living Americans have worked on a factory floor?

7. During the past year, have you stocked your own fridge with domestic mass-market beer?

who else's fridge would I be stocking with said beer?

That quiz was as patronizing as the people it was trying to project as patronizing.

I'm a libertarian socialist who doesn't believe in God, lives in the Bible Belt, drives a pickup truck, works in a manual trade, watches Gossip Girl and goes shooting weekly. Not sure my real bubble can be accurately explained. Right-wing America is just kind of a mystery to me.

re: the factory floor - what if I've built walls and hung sheetrock and stuff? Doesn't count because I was working with a bunch of Mexican dudes?

I just retook it, saying "Yes" to everything but question 8

On a scale from 0 to 20 points, where 20 signifies full engagement with mainstream American culture and 0 signifies deep cultural isolation within the new upper class bubble, you scored at least 17.

In other words, you're so embedded in mainstream America that you need to visit the bubble once in a while.

they put that in bold on the site, lol

I got 13 - 16 at first but the I realized that I hadn't actually seen the 2nd Transformers but did know a Nascar driver. I can't stop laughing at this thing.

Islands looks way better than Applebee's or Friday's tbh.

I didn't know who the NASCAR driver was. I don't watch NASCAR. I guess I'm in the bubble. :(

anyway:

you scored between 9 and 12.

In other words, even if you're part of the new upper class, you've had a lot of exposure to the rest of America.

x-post -

Wait, I thought it was just can you name any Nascar driver because I'm p sure I could even though I've never seen it.

lol that the non-war, non-global warming, non-gay rights parade I participated in was for Dio De Los Muertos

i bet my black working class 60 year-old neighbor's bubble is out of fucking control

I counted the Olive Garden as being as good as Fridays or Outback. It is a "nice restaurant" in my other world.

We should reverse the quiz for them.

1. Do you compost?
2. Are you a vegan/vegetarian/piscetarian?
3. Have you had more than 12 fair-trade soy lattes in the last month?
4. Do you garden or get produce from a CSA?
5. Have you come out to your family?
6. Is your vaporizer hand-made?

etc...

I thought it was name this particular NASCAR driver...

Oh if it was than I lied cause I have no idea who that dude was.

I'm v pro-Olive Garden.

I decided to name him Pete Drivefast.

NASCAR driver was Jimmie Johnson. I only know because I spend a lot of time in Lowe's. I fell asleep at the only NASCAR race I've been to.

I would love to go see NASCAR sometime. I could care less about the actual car racing but I live for people watching at stuff like that especially if it's something I've never been to before.

~18 million people watch the Daytona races on television. There are ~307 million people in the United States. If my math is correct (lol bubble), that's 5% of Americans. So if I don't participate in this fringe activity that only 5% of Americans participate in, that puts me in the bubble. Au contraire!

xp Hang out in the Wal-Mart parking lot and you'll basically have the same experience.

In short, America has become a segregated, caste society, with a born elite and an equally hereditary underclass. A libertarian, Murray believes these facts add up to an argument for limited government. The welfare state has sapped America’s civic energy in places like Fishtown, leaving a population of disengaged, untrusting slackers. It has also diminished upper-class confidence: the well-to-do dare not suggest they have a recipe for the good life. “The underpinning of the welfare state,” Murray writes, “is that, at bottom, human beings are not really responsible for the things they do.”

fyi Ms. Hymowitz, Murray is not a "libertarian", he's a very straussian kind of conservative uber-manager

The 25k person weekend-long party that happens outside the big tracks is pretty amazing.

This song makes more sense than that quiz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_fu6i55Udo

I thought Jimmie Johnson was a coach of the Cowboys. I get American culture so mixed-up

x-post Oh will you just shut up and get back inside already, bubble boy!

a loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires

lol there's more than one Jimmie Johnson!

I've only ever been to motorcycle or classic car races.

In short, America has become a segregated, caste society, with a born elite and an equally hereditary underclass.

lol "become"

Oh, and the submarine races, of course

In short, America has become a segregated, caste society, with a born elite and an equally hereditary underclass.

I guess the GOP plank that anyone can be successful and become a 1%-er if they work hard and apply themselves is No Longer Operative.

i'm really ticked off by this NASCAR thing. i watch football, basketball, baseball, some hockey, a little bit of soccer. but bc i don't watch this inane sport enjoyed by ~5% of Americans that says something about how bubblefied i am? i just realized i don't know why i'm annoyed by this bc the whole thing is really stupid and also u all agree w me so

"In other words, even if you're part of the new upper class, you've had a lot of exposure to the rest of America."

This part made me feel like killing myself, because if they saw my finances they'd see how far from upper class I am right now. I would settle for lower middle, even.

watching soccer erases any gains you get from watching other sports

Noodle OTM

NASCAR's numbers are also on the decline of late.

oh shit, the guy who wrote this was a cowriter on the bell curve???

I like Mordy's math-based approach to just what does and does not comprise "bubbles" and "mainstream America." Like, somewhere around 25% of Americans identify as evangelical Christians. Thus, 75% does not. WHERE'S YOUR BUBBLE NOW, MOSES?

As examples of pissing-away public money go, tracks are even worse than stadiums for real sports. The giant speedway in North Texas is used for like four weekends a year and cost an ungodly amount of money.

watching soccer erases any gains you get from watching other sports

This kind of cultural shibboleth drives me nuts. The USA was in the first World Cup before the UK, even.

my city fields a soccer team and so i sometimes watch them, and when the US competes internationally i watch them too. i don't really care about the support but i do root root root for the hometeam.

about the sport* i meant

I guess it's just lamestream culture then. That's the right terminology, right?

As examples of pissing-away public money go, tracks are even worse than stadiums for real sports. The giant speedway in North Texas is used for like four weekends a year and cost an ungodly amount of money.

I drive past Talladega Speedway whenever I go to Atlanta and my hate for motor sports just gets more and more intense.

21. Do you know the truth about the heritability of intelligence and why it proves that white ppl should be in charge of everything?

LOL

Even if you're part of the new upper class, you've had a lot of exposure to the rest of America.

my point re Murray's supposed "libertarianism", elaborate:

his problem with the public sector/welfare state/paternalist liberalism is that it has interrupted the natural order of the rich and well-off badgering and bullying the poor about what they do with themselves

his solution is for decent married professional types to start living in rougher neighborhoods and start exercising leadership and mentoring (or something like that) over the other people there.

i bring up strauss because it's a very classical strauss-y attitude to the direction of society being dictated by its elites, but a soft-machiavellian way.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577170733817181646.html?fb_ref=wsj_share_FB&fb_source=profile_multiline

The best thing that the new upper class can do to provide that reinforcement is to drop its condescending "nonjudgmentalism." Married, educated people who work hard and conscientiously raise their kids shouldn't hesitate to voice their disapproval of those who defy these norms. When it comes to marriage and the work ethic, the new upper class must start preaching what it practices.

Changing life in the SuperZIPs requires that members of the new upper class rethink their priorities. Here are some propositions that might guide them: Life sequestered from anybody not like yourself tends to be self-limiting. Places to live in which the people around you have no problems that need cooperative solutions tend to be sterile. America outside the enclaves of the new upper class is still a wonderful place, filled with smart, interesting, entertaining people. If you're not part of that America, you've stripped yourself of much of what makes being American special.

the subtext of all this is still very "bell curvy" -- the problem being addressed is that certain social ills have hit crisis levels among white people who are poor. whatever neighborhood problems affect blacks and latinos isn't worth dreaming up some kind of "move to the hood and join a church" project, is it? and that's the whole rationale behind this quiz.

so yeah, racist.

*elaboratED

Imagine how delighted my wife was to come back to college after a year off and discover that a professor in her major had published The Bell Curve

I think she ended up taking a class from one of his staunchest defenders that semester; IIRC this was the woman who wanted to fail her for being in the hospital for half the semester on the verge of liver failure

can non white people be in the rotary club or w/e

all those old white men clubs creep me out but some of their old buildings are really cool

Married, educated people who work hard and conscientiously raise their kids shouldn't hesitate to voice their disapproval of those who defy these norms.

This will go over really well.

x-post

One of my best friends is a Mason - that's sort of a little like one of those clubs, right? It's totally fucking weird but they have some really cool hats.

can non white people be in the rotary club or w/e

lol my dad was president of his chapter of the Rotary Club for a year, and his best friend (who is also black) was president the year before him

1. move to down-in-the-mouth address
2. tell new neighbors what sick lazy fuckholes they are
3. america is saved!

4. get good fire insurance

IIRC this was the woman who wanted to fail her for being in the hospital for half the semester on the verge of liver failure

See her liver just wasn't working hard enough?

Jesus wept

how thick is your bubble

how thick is your bubble
how thick is your bubble
video gaaaaaaaaaaames

4. get good fire insurance

'Cause if there's something struggling ppl love more than anything else, it's smug, sanctimonious asses taking the time to tell them how to live.

"Thanks, Ubermensch."

how thick is your bubble
how thick is your bubble
video gaaaaaaaaaaames

dying

Otoh, maybe Murray is mapping out a way to thin the new upper class herd.

I was able to vote yes to the Rotary question, but only because I was the Rotary Boy of the Month in my high school once.

Jesus, that sounds unbelievably dirty on rereading.

http://static0.channels.com/thumbnails/assets/feeds/191-2239/392693/episodes/15577312_Cutting-Through-The-Hype-And-Drawing-Criticism-Bubble-Bobble-Review--Cutting-Through-The-Hy--jpg

Rotary, Kiwanis and the Masons are all pretty awesome imho

Rotary Boy of the Day sounds bad enough, WmC!

what do rotary and kiwani people do? I know rotary has something to do w/ travel and kiwani are...old?

I said yes to these:

2. Have you ever held a job that caused a part of your body to hurt at the end of the day?
*18. Have you ever lived for at least a year as an adult in an American neighborhood in which the majority of your nearest 50 neighbors probably did not have college degrees?
20. During the last month, have you voluntarily hung out with people who were smoking cigarettes?

(*I evaluated this by looking at educational-attainment data for the three census tracts in which I've lived during the past 10 years. Average population is more like 5,000, rather than 50, but it's the best I could do.)

The only one that I'm unsure about is the Oprah question. I watched plenty of Oprah when it was rerun at 11 PM every night, but did I ever watch it from beginning to end? I ... don't think so? But maybe?

Only time I watched a full episode of Oprah was when Dave Chappelle was on.

i don't know if the oprah question is a point for or against. her show is on during normal working hours? she is also black, i hear?

they're just local business/charity organizations. my grandfather belonged to all three, and it seemed very much a part of his avuncular whitebread Rockefeller Republican character so I have sorta fond associations for them.

as an adult I know two dudes with the Masons - one who joined because he really wanted to belong to a mystical order of weirdos (whether or not that's lived up to his expectations I dunno) and the other works with them as a fundraiser

xp

what do rotary and kiwani people do? I know rotary has something to do w/ travel and kiwani are...old?

Rotary is mostly humanitarian service. Its big project in recent years is the eradication of polio. The Economist just had an article about it: http://www.economist.com/node/21543126.

(My wife works for the organization's foundation.)

after a shift working retail your feet fucking kill you

don't the masons practically beg people to join today?

but bc i don't watch this inane sport enjoyed by ~5% of Americans that says something about how bubblefied i am?

you would recognize Dale Jr. though wouldn't you?

i mean clearly more than 5% are going to answer yes to that question.

I could recognize his dad but prob not him

On a scale from 0 to 20 points, where 20 signifies full engagement with mainstream American culture and 0 signifies deep cultural isolation within the new upper class bubble, you scored between 13 and 16.

In other words, you don't even have a bubble.

Whatever. This is basically a part of this bullshit:

The "something" that I have in mind has to be defined in terms of individual American families acting in their own interests and the interests of their children. Doing that in Fishtown requires support from outside. There remains a core of civic virtue and involvement in working-class America that could make headway against its problems if the people who are trying to do the right things get the reinforcement they need—not in the form of government assistance, but in validation of the values and standards they continue to uphold. The best thing that the new upper class can do to provide that reinforcement is to drop its condescending "nonjudgmentalism." Married, educated people who work hard and conscientiously raise their kids shouldn't hesitate to voice their disapproval of those who defy these norms. When it comes to marriage and the work ethic, the new upper class must start preaching what it practices.

What do they mean "participate" in a parade? Watching a parade is not enough? How many people "participate" in parades?
why would I even know what all my friends'grades in high school were?

in my experience, the only people who cared about and knew their friends' grades were the kids competing with each other to get the best grades

Oh, wait I also checked yes on the parade question. I was in middle-school marching band.

in my experience, the only people who cared about and knew their friends' grades were the kids competing with each other to get the best grades

Yeah, I'm kind of embarrassed at how competitive I (and others in my clique) were about this stuff. They actually printed our class rank at the bottom of our report card each semester, and there was always lots of whispering about who had moved up or down.

at my hs if you got above a 3.75 gpa, at the graduation ceremony you got to graduate first, ahead of the rest of the class. so you had two groups graduating separately, which I thought was totally fucked up.

oh that would have been awesome

my professors in college were always complaining about how Comp Sci majors would end up looking bad b/c it was so much harder to get an A in their classes as opposed to Baby Psychology

Baby Psychology

i answered yes to 8 of these

3 because i grew up middle class in a conservative small town
5 because of the "hipster factor"

n a scale from 0 to 20 points, where 20 signifies full engagement with mainstream American culture and 0 signifies deep cultural isolation within the new upper class bubble, you scored between 13 and 16.

In other words, you don't even have a bubble.

Helped that I used to own a pickup in college, worked in a factory one summer, worked construction several other summers, and went fishing with my dad last year.

The American Enterprise Institute is renowned for its ability to design scientific surveys, and frequently publishes its findings in peer-reviewed journals of the social sciences. <<-- I made that up, based on nothing. This places me in a position of equality with the person who designed that survey.

What do they mean "participate" in a parade? Watching a parade is not enough? How many people "participate" in parades?

this question was designed to find out if you grew up in a small town, or went to high school in one.

(see picture of high school marching band.)

Performing arts appearances are the only reason I have been in 4 different VFW halls.

http://news.yahoo.com/low-iq-conservative-beliefs-linked-prejudice-180403506.html

http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/5/20/5205d5035457b0d13220a854d6828fa3.jpeg

welcome to "Real America"

I spent a few minutes trying to work out the British equivalents to Applebee's and Greyhound buses and now I want those few minutes back

Greyhound = Megabus surely

Applebees... maybe Harvester?

btw I posted that image because the girl in the center appears to be topless. now there's an America I think we can all get behind http://i.imgur.com/zi7hd.gif

now there's an America. I think we can all get behind.

guys i feel so alienated what do i do

guys i feel so alienated what do i do

― fuckhead (latebloomer), Friday, January 27, 2012 3:51 PM (40 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Shoot a guy in the face.

No doubt the same politically correct critics will complain about this book, because it is almost entirely devoted to the problem of social polarization within "white America." They will have to ignore one of Coming Apart's most surprising findings: that race is not a significant determinant of social polarization in today's America. It is class that really matters.

Murray meticulously chronicles and measures the emergence of two wholly distinct classes: a new upper class, first identified in The Bell Curve as "the cognitive elite," and a new "lower class," which he is too polite to give a name. And he vividly localizes his argument by imagining two emblematic communities: Belmont, where everyone has at least one college degree, and Fishtown, where no one has any. (Read: Tonyville and Trashtown.)

The key point is that the four great social trends of the past half-century--the decline of marriage, of the work ethic, of respect for the law and of religious observance--have affected Fishtown much more than Belmont. As a consequence, the traditional bonds of civil society have atrophied in Fishtown. And that, Murray concludes, is why people there are so very unhappy--and dysfunctional.

Sorry for the long quote, but WHAT THE FUCK.

So the thing is that if you're affluent you're able to do whatever you want, but poor people need the "bonds of civil society" to not fall apart? IMO this guy is missing the fact that there are things giving people with money this social mobility that people lower in the economy can't have.

What the country needs is not an even larger federal government but a kind of civic Great Awakening--a return to the republic's original foundations of family, vocation, community, and faith.

...which the upper economic class is still going to be able to ignore, amirite?

The whole thing's a rehash of the same shit we've been hearing since before feudalism. He parses some data to argue that rich people are rich because they have their shit more togeether wrt marriage and work ethic; etc. His solution is for the elite to move into working class hoods and lecture the poors on getting knocked up and being lazy.

I read his editorial in the WSJ and it was (not surprisingly) pretty weak.

i got a 4

7, but I'm not sure if having participated in a union strike equates with a "gathering at a union local". Plus it was a union at University of California, so I'd probably get docked points right there.

10 but a lot of that was from being raised by rednecks. But seriously, why would I want to waste my rare and precious free time with an evangelical Christian? I probably am pretty isolated from this guy's definition of "mainstream culture," but it's largely intentional. Plus I'm blood or maritally related to the world outside my bubble so it's not like I'm unaware of these things.

So the thing is that if you're affluent you're able to do whatever you want, but poor people need the "bonds of civil society" to not fall apart? IMO this guy is missing the fact that there are things giving people with money this social mobility that people lower in the economy can't have.

yeah, but this description misses murray's suggestion that his "new upper class" = the "cognitive elite". which implies that his new (and allegedly failing) lower class = the cognitive delete. so it's less about money than the supposedly inherent cognitive superiority of the well-to-do. argument seems to be that smart and consequently rich liberals have done the collective society a disservice by bubbling themselves off in liberal richland. they need instead to get a little blue collar american grit under their fingernails by watching NASCAR and eating at shitty restaurants.

simplified version = "shut up, liberals. you're out of touch, and your out-of-touchness is ruining america."

I find it odd that, when you are a high school student, and you put this sort of crap in an essay, you are certain to understand that you're indulging in shovelling inane bullshit, but somehow or other, when you transpose this same sort of behavior into the context of a D.C. think tank, not only do you get paid a few hundred thousand a year, but you begin to believe the sun shines out of your arse.

But seriously, why would I want to waste my rare and precious free time with an evangelical Christian?

Yeah this made me lol. Christians are just another another toy in your box of "But one of my best friends is a _________" post-offense sentence constructions.

I scored 13, most of which was just growing up in Idaho, where it is super easy to get into a parade and they hate education.
It is seriously funny to me how many of these are about your friends. "Are your friends bad at school but great at smoking? Congrats you are real America."

I may have cheated because I attended at least 10 Rotary Club meetings, but as a reporter when I worked at a very small county newspaper (once again in Idaho).

Also I bet you got nametag in yer fridge.

7!

14, though imo i probably deserve bonus points for working the factory job under the legal age limit in NY

every time i read this thread title i keep thinking AEI is asking how big your ass is

i got a 2, but i've been to red lobster twice this year and i think it ought to count.

also apparently "socially anxious introvert" = "upper class" to this test. i have like three people i'd consider "close friends," and none of them are evangelical christians because i get enough of that from my extended family.

goole where did you find this quiz?

brooks is flogging this book today btw

I am sure it will contribute as many insightful points to the public discourse as The Bell Curve has.

nm i found it at the AEI

brooks does not use the book's full title "Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010"

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/opinion/brooks-the-great-divorce.html?pagewanted=all

So...the premise is that the "elite" should mingle with white lower classes to provide role models and to preach at them?

But only white people, because people who aren't white don't matter?

Am I understanding this correctly?

yes

drop your preconceived ideas and biases and follow brooks as he navigates outside of the lines of strident ideology. his conclusion is breathtaking and will change how you think!

"poor people are lazy. derp."

See also: I always knew David Brooks was an asshole.

10- tho it might be higher if i lived in the US i guess, nascar not being a thing anywhere else in the universe etc

Yay Im a 14, I am a real American!

I would have rated higher if the pickup truck and military service questions had included family members and not just me and my non-existent spouse.

having a non-existent spouse is prob indicative of a decent level of removal from the real america in itself tbf

Next from the American Enterprise Institute: Rate the Super Hunks!

Who's the NASCAR guy? Is it Dale Earnhart Jr?

Jimmie Johnson

5: A year in Army reserve, owned junk truck for house renovation, Oprah was childhood background noise. I'm still your best advisor for cheap tofu in the neighborhood.

i scored a three and two of points were from going to parties where ppl smoke and having pbr/labatt 50 in my fridge

12
I CAN AMERICA

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/02/06/charles-murray-book-review.html

To understand what Murray does in Coming Apart, imagine this analogy:

A social scientist visits a Gulf Coast town. He notices that the houses near the water have all been smashed and shattered. The former occupants now live in tents and FEMA trailers. The social scientist writes a report:

The evidence strongly shows that living in houses is better for children and families than living in tents and trailers. The people on the waterfront are irresponsibly subjecting their children to unacceptable conditions.

When he publishes his report, somebody points out: "You know, there was a hurricane here last week." The social scientist shrugs off the criticism with the reply, "I'm writing about housing, not weather."

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/wages-and-values/

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/12/i-got-myself-arrested-so-i-could-look-inside-the-justice-system/282360/

I really like the rhetorical question "What are you, some kind of asshole?"