"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.

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?"