Those of us who grew up on the "wrong side of the tracks" do have one talent that those in the

[Atticus]

"better" neighborhoods seldom acquire: we recognize arrogance and condescension almost immediately.

You see, we spent our formative years being told we were not expected to ever amount to much. We weren't "supposed to" go to college or date doctor's daughters or succeed at any career that did not involve callouses and dirty fingernails.

Some on my side of the B & O tracks accepted their "place" and never complained about it. With the support of intelligent loving parents, I grew up resenting the hell out of being told what I could not do.

Today, I am more amused than resentful of those who presume their superiority---for any reason. Such arrogance is a form of ignorance that those who practice it will likely never understand.

One last thing: I typed the above as a WHITE man who grew up resenting being told, in essence, not to be "uppity". I can only try to imagine what non-whites had to endure.

[ampm]

1. Thanks for a truth

I also grew up being told that, and I was also on the wrong side of that track. My father was German, my mother was Native, The school system was always putting me in my place. My father was born with a disability. He always had great jobs, and I didn't know, he has an affliction. What he said mattered. He told me that I could be anything I wanted to be and always help the little guy. I did use that, have always treated everyone, as my equal and when they are uppity I'm always reminded of my father's words. Just don't ever judge a book by it's cover. Read it.

[Lucky Luciano]

2. What about white working class trumpanzees?

They really are worthless and deserve to feel worthless.

Maybe I wasn’t helping when I told one woman on Facebook that her poor writing was indicative of a bad education and therefore her opinion on any topic doesn’t matter. She had been annoying, but this shut her up. The particular topic at hand was typical antivaxx nonsense from someone who probably failed high school science or got a C at best.

[Atticus]

4. Totally wrong does not mean "worthless". nt

[Lucky Luciano]

8. Well, I'm glad that you can still somehow manage to see the humanity of a trumper.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

47. I disagree with that regarding my father

He was a drunk psychopath abused us and 55 years later I still am in therapy. Got some disorders to fuck up my life thanks to him.

Some people really are worthless leaving nothing but broken lives and scarred minds in thier wake.

Abuse serves no good purpose in a community.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

24. Those are the same things I notice...

... former junior high and high school mates who are so rabidly anti-vax Trump Humpers are the ones that I quote, "I got a D- so at least I passed", when graded tests/term papers were handed out in class. I see their semi-literate posts everyday via mutual friends on FB.

PS: I have one of those, "steel trap", memories. It can seem like a curse at times.

[Oldtimeralso]

55. You mentioned

"Steel Trap Memory " I had one of those as my age and Parkinson's progressed it has rusted shut.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

61. Sorry to see you mention your affliction(s)...

... I am the go to guy for my relatives as they age. I sure hope the rest of your health is strong. My mom's side of the family has Alzheimer's issues, so I can appreciate your situation. Until April of 2021, I was the family member, "always on call", for my dearly departed aunt(dad's older sister) who passed(87 yrs) of diabetes related stroke. I was there until the end, bringing her carryout Mexican chili releno when she fell as I was on my way and had to call 911.

Take care.

PS: Perhaps TMI, just wanted to let you know

[lastlib]

29. I won't say worthless, but loathsome covers it....

And they deserve their self-loathing, to a high degree. One thing they obvoiusly have not learned is that their knowledge in some spheres is deficient, and that they should defer their opinions to those with greater expertise.

[PinkTiger]

31. I live in a rural area in SW Missouri

Most of my neighbors and friends are conservative Republicans. Some are radicals, most are not. Most are either vaccinated or they are mum on the subject.
It isn’t really these people’s fault that they are poorly educated.
They were nurtured in the public school systems run by local people, following a curriculum dumbed down on purpose.
I think the word “worthless” is insulting.
Don’t you realize how lucky you are to have a good education?
Not everyone in the United States is so blessed.
Have a little compassion for those less lucky than Lucky Luciano.

[Lucky Luciano]

45. Sorry...I hate what they've done to me.

Ordinarily, I would think like you, but it’s the malignant ignorance that has gotten to me. I kind of hate that I have come to this feeling. That is probably why I vented and disclosed some assholish behavior…even if I was being a jerk to a toxic antivaxxer.

People that have no clue what they don’t know are the worst.

The Internet is great because it allows one to get into an elevator of knowledge and ride up to the top of the Empire State Building. The trouble is that you need to get to the top of Mount Everest to make credible controversial scientific claims, but Mount Everest is not accessible by elevator…or helicopter for that matter. One needs to put in monumental efforts with crampons, training, lots of supplies, and oxygen tanks to get that level of knowledge - the Internet is not that.

However, these twits don’t even ride that elevator! Continuing the analogy, they just use the Internet to go to the third floor of some prewar NYC walk-up building to take in the view and call that all the scientific knowledge they need to make their claims!

Their claims kill and are largely responsible for the mess we are in.

I am particularly resentful of it because I have in fact climbed the allegorical Mount Everest towards a very advanced degree in mathematics…only to have these fools think their quick Internet searches are equivalent. No. They need to STFU and leave science and math to the experts.

The funny thing is they think they know everything while actually knowing next to nothing, while I as an overeducated mathematician feel like I barely scratched the surface of what is to be known. Other mathematicians and scientists, no doubt, feel the same.

I implore everyone to be self aware enough to know what they don’t know. I don’t ask that everyone be well educated because it is a privilege as you rightly point out (though our country should optimize for much better educational outcomes so SW Missouri and other places are not behind the curve). I just ask that people acknowledge what they don’t know.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

48. Its nothing to be ashamed of to say

I dont know.

Admitting you dont know could be the first step to really finding out.

And admit when you are out of your element.

[homegirl]

53. The admission

of ignorance is the first step to knowledge.

[OldBaldy1701E]

60. Unfortunately, it is also the opposite of 'The American Way'

We don't admit when we are wrong. We are America! In fact, we are NEVER wrong and how DARE you even think that!

[CommonHumanity]

51. Right on Pink Tiger

The arrogance, superiority and condescension shown by more privileged/better educated people to less privileged/educated people makes me ill and is as great an ignorance as they ignorance they deplore.

Of course, there are some people who grow up poor and uneducated who become informed, liberal, progressive thinkers, but we cannot expect everyone to overcome the odds and then look down on them when they don't.

I am not religious at all, but do try to remember that "there but for the grace of God go I".

[monkeyman1]

54. disagree ! some people are worthless !

traveled all my adult yrs . & some human beings are that exactly that - worthless !

[twodogsbarking]

3. If you have to make someone else look inferior so that you feel superior then

you are the problem.

[IronLionZion]

7. Enjoy this video of entitled Karen flexing that she pays way too much for her Amex

[geardaddy]

10. Funny, but

did the dude just pronounce "epitome" as "ep-i-toam?

[Zorro]

12. Yeah that faux pas sabotages his comments about dumb Karens

[IronLionZion]

34. Mispronouncing words usually means they learned it from reading

[alphafemale]

46. I think it was a bot voice.

Didn't really sound exactly human.

They mess up pronunciations sometimes.

[Skittles]

19. what is it with Karens and their hand gestures

it's like they are literally used to dismissing people

[IronLionZion]

25. They like the illusion of superiority

to be exclusive you have to exclude people

[Skittles]

26. yup

They do it with the people they look down on, you know, like anyone who is serving them.

[IronLionZion]

5. There's no point complaining or listening to condescending arrogant people

I learned too late to just apply for more jobs like the Keith Olberman quote in my signature. I'm way too uppity to allow someone else to decide my place in society. When job interviewers love to point out that most of my work experience is quite literally jobs that Americans won't do...well too bad. I can always interview with their competitors who don't feel so entitled.

Things have gotten really good recently during the labor shortage as workers have been finding better opportunities and exposing abusive employers who can't handle a competitive labor market. Some of these companies won't make it.

[ancianita]

6. I hear you. "Those of us who grew up on the "wrong side of the tracks" do have one talent...

... I can only try to imagine what non-whites had to endure. "

They channeled it into their message.

[Farmer-Rick]

9. I understand what you are saying

I have a personality style, think ENTP if you are into the Myers Briggs, that can be grating. I remember being in 7th grade and the teacher asked who believed in women's rights....after doing a slightly biased explanation of it. Of course I raised my hand. Of course I was the only one to do it. Of course my class mates hated me for it. But hay equal pay for equal work, treating others the same sounded so simple and right to me.

So, yeah I was always told, "With that attitude you won't get far in this world." I always questioned their assumptions and in turn I found out I was also questioning their authority. This is one uppity SOB who ignored the nay sayers. I suspect POC have a hell of a road to travel in order to ignore those same nay sayers.

Stay Uppity!

[Random Boomer]

11. White supremacy was created to keep you in your place

The people who owned slaves back in our colonial days were terrified of the potential power of the underclass: poor/indentured whites and enslaved POC. So they created a hierarchy of rights and privileges that rewarded poor whites with a few more crumbs than black people, to give them a stake in dividing their common interests.

As shown by deeply racist working class men and women, the ploy worked like a charm. They have more in common with black people than they do the ruling class, but they're too blinded by hate to see it.

Good on you for not falling into that trap, too.

[KS Toronado]

13. My dad put me to work in his new service station everyday

starting in the 4th grade. From then on I had mechanics hands which made it look like I never bathed, so to
most of my classmates I was from the wrong side of the tracks and looked down on by the uppity ones.
Slowly changed in high school when we starting having cars to drive and was being asked for automotive advice.
When the uppity kids (who always looked down at me) needed my help to start their car or whatever I always
did so politely. Even when I felt like punching them in the nose.

My best day of high school came on the last day of high school in the last class of the day when my History
Teacher stated we were going to talk about planning for our futures, then he started out saying everyone in
class should emulate Mike while pointing at me. Can't remember everything he said but the last line, while I
wiped a couple tears from my eyes.

[Harker]

21. That's a beautiful way to wrap up high school!

I went out asking my "Ancient & Medieval History" teacher to please check out my footnotes and look at my sources after he gave me a "D" grade on my all important final paper, telling me it was too good for me to have written it.

Still, my last day was my best day, too.

[oldsoftie]

28. Had that happen once. I won in the end. used her ego

I explained to her how SHE was responsible for my paper as it was HER who taught me! Along with some other BS. And she changed my grade

[Harker]

32. Well done!

Being more of a young hothead, I used some hard words and left in a huff.

I read his obituary last year, forty-five years later, and was saddened. It was a pretty tiny event in the big picture.

[KS Toronado]

36. Had something similar happen in science class

Had written that scientists and weathermen were wrong to tell us to open all the windows during a tornado
warning. I think he was trying to embarrass me by having me stand up and explain to the class what I meant.
To be honest what I had written was a jumbled mess, but when speaking I was able to communicate my ideas
better about force, torque, friction, pressure, his facial expression changed to a more friendly one and gave
me a B+. About 2 years later it came out on the national evening news to keep windows shut.

[Harker]

39. Ahead of your time!

Clearly that teacher was unaware he was dealing with the future KS Tornado... I remember when it was widely held that opening the windows would reduce or eliminate the interior/exterior pressure differential.

I think our experiences show that the best teachers are the ones who are open to learning, and who help students find the best ways to express themselves.

[KS Toronado]

52. Thanks for the compliment

By the way a tornado touches the ground and then goes up in the air and repeats this pattern.
A 1970 Oldsmobile Toronado always touches the ground.

[Harker]

57. You bet!

I wish my '66 Chevelle had always stayed on the ground...

[Kingofalldems]

14. Funny, I grew up on the wrong side of the B & O as well.

Last edited Fri Feb 11, 2022, 02:41 PM - Edit history (1)

I was okay until people found out I was poor---then 'get lost kid'.

[Hekate]

15. KnR

[DFW]

16. Where I was growing up, there weren't even any tracks

Dirt roads and a small driveway my dad couldn't even get out of when it rained until he could afford to have it paved. The county finally paved the roads when a few more people moved into the area (we were the third house in the neighborhood--in 1955, that did not merit paved roads).
Later on, I found it didn't matter that there were no tracks, because I grew up on the wrong side of the Potomac. Maryland= cool, Virginia=stupid hick, whatcha doing over there anyway? At least that's the way it was in DC, where I went to school from my pre-teens to mid-teens, before moving to Spain, where being born in Virginia was not yet listed among the Seven Deadly Sins.

[Joinfortmill]

17. Tasted some of that in my own life.

[llashram]

18. ++

I hope I'm not too presumptive

[Emile]

20. About the time I went into junior high I found this out.

The powdered asses would just turn their noses up at kids who didn't have 20 different outfits to wear at school. We knew them, but they never knew us. I went to a car dealership to buy my wife a new car a few years ago and the car dealer happen to be one of those powdered asses I went to school with for three years. The SOB didn't remember me even after I told him who and the fuck I was! He lost that sale!

[TeamProg]

22. No kidding! I can't imagine having grown up far away from any tracks! n/t

[Mopar151]

23. I learned how to sleep through the big freight trains.

100 yards away..... Spent 2 hours/day on the school bus, from 5th to 12th grade. I learned pretty quickly that my parents were wizards, compared to most! And that the folks who really got things done, did'nt matter to the stuffed shirts who lived in pretty houses.

[usaf-vet]

27. Atticus, nice post. I grew up in a house with a mom & dad and 5 sibilings. I was a horrible student.

Last edited Fri Feb 11, 2022, 05:11 PM - Edit history (1)

The schools told me not to expect to go to college. Find a job working with your hands: mechanic, laborer, carpenter, or factory worker. I was five year HS student just squeaking by.

It was 1965, and my dad was a WW II vet and his dad a WW I vet. So it seemed to be that my best option was the military. So I enlisted the week after graduation in the USAF. Of course, Vietnam was raging then, and I was surprised at how vehemently opposed my dad was to my 18-year-old independent decision to enlist. I should say I was opposed to the war then and still believe in my decision now.

Well, here is the question I would like to pose to others. Did the military change your outlook toward your ability to do more than what the school experts predicted? I chose the USAF because the recruiter asked me what job I wanted. My Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test scores were respectable and opened many options. I told the recruiter I wanted to be a medic, and he said that that was a viable choice based on ASVAB scores.

Two months later, I left for basic training. At the time, 57 years ago, I was in great physical shape, having worked through high school in physical jobs. Basic training wasn't a breeze, but it wasn't overly challenging either. I started to realize that you knew exactly what the military expected of you, and if you met those expectations, you succeeded and advanced.

When the day came to see counselors about your job wishes. There was a bit of a surprise waiting for me. The counselor said, so you want to be a medic? I said yes, sir! He said, tremendous so, your first choice is medic, your second choice is air traffic controllers, and your third choice is air police. This was the moment I found out the recruiter wasn't completely honest with me. I didn't realize there were three choices. You got one; the military got the other two. Ok, so let's see, the counselor said as he shuffled through the papers. Hey, you are in luck; medics it is. You will get orders shortly and will be headed off to medics school.

Ok, off to the question with one summary statement.

I graduated from introductory (basic) medics school, 2nd in the class. I graduated 2nd in an advanced specialty school. I went on to put in my four years loved the job. I got discharged in 1969, married in 1970, and started a family. Earn two college degrees. Fifty years later, my wife and I are still married (she has a BS degree). We are retired and financially comfortable. She spent her career working as a specialist in public schools. And I became a school board member and worked for those eight years to try and change how we teach in schools. Along with eight other board members, my name is on a plaque in the newest elementary school at the school's front entrance.

My question. Did your time in the military become a turning point in your life and your own expectations of what you were capable of doing in life? My time did.

I know that the Vietnam war created a lot of pain and sorrow for eight families in my hometown community. I like to think that I have tried to honor my eight high school classmates that were KIA in Vietnam by doing all I could do to make life better for those in my community today and every day.

[oldsoftie]

30. My dad credits his 20 yrs in the USAF for giving him everything he ended up with.

I did 9 yrs in the USAFANG & wish I'd stayed for the whole 20. But I had started a small service business & had no other employees to do the work while I was deployed.
Many of my friends DID do their 20 in one or the other of the services. Some reached the rank of General. ALL have been successful in life since their service; whether enlisted or officer.
I've always thought everyone should go through Basic training right after graduation. Kind of kick you into "responsibility" gear & prepare you for the real world.

[70sEraVet]

35. This should be an OP on its own, because its thought-provoking in a different direction.

I didn't feel like I could really respond to Atticus's post, because I grew up in a very solid middle-class neighborhood. But by the time I graduated high school, I was into drugs and had NO direction and no strong family connections.
I joined the Navy and learned to work and live within a framework. I earned a sense of accomplishment at finishing my enlistment. I took that feeling of self worth and graduated college on the GI bill.
A good, supportive wife rounded things out to make for a pretty happy life.

[usaf-vet]

38. You asked for it. It now has its own OP. Thanks for the suggestion and your comments.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216345220

[GeoWilliam750]

43. Thank you sir, for all that you have done

[panader0]

33. I grew up in a solidly middle class family. Dad was an Air Force officer.

In sophomore year of high school I tried to be hip, subscribed to Down Beat magazine and
Avant Garde magazine, listened to Dylan and jazz. I traveled the world with my dad's stations'
read the classics, etc. Then I dropped out of college to become a bricklayer. That was quite an
education of it's own. I discovered that the uneducated guys I worked with were very smart in ways that
I wasn't. As a general contractor, I learned more. I still read daily, but I wouldn't trade my journey
for anything.

[IBEWVET]

37. Not the wrong side of the tracks

But about the military, barely got through high school went to collage and was flunking out by the second semester. Draft was big then so I joined the army did Vietnam and got out. I gained confidence in my abilities and learned a lot about life and death. Got out went back to schools made good grades using the GI bill. Looking back it was the best thing I ever did for myself.

[Codifer]

40. Is truth

I have given this very idea much thought of late.

Being poor in a small town where everyone knows everyone and in the late 1950s was an education.

I was skinny, tall and redheaded to boot. There seemed to be but four ways to be in a small high school. Some blending could occur.

One could be a sosh (student council etc)

A jock.

A science nerd.

A juvenile delinquent.

I loved science and smoked with the JDs

[I_UndergroundPanther]

49. I was a mixed

Group person in highschool but also I was different. Because we wre not well off my mom sewed alot. She taught me to sew when I was really young.

I hung out with geeks artists. Wasent into substances. But I got along with those who were in middle school.

I did my own thing I identity wise. I made what I thought was cool looking and I wore what I created. I caught a lot of shit for that.

I know I was doing something right when the bully girls who treated me like shit imitated the things I made myself and wore in school.

Oh they still hated me but inwardly I couldn't help but laugh because they were wearing something I designed and made and it was a shitty imitation. Something they tried to humiliate me for wearing a week ago!

Maybe I just saw the future of teen fashion in 1976.

[Meowmee]

41. I think everyone goes through this on some level

There is always someone “looking down” on you whatever your circumstances were / are. And if you have enough money, almost no one cares what your background is except maybe upper crust cliques. Money talks in the US and elsewhere I am sure.

My mother grew up in relative poverty and my father’s family were not well off. She definitely would not have been encouraged to do much but she eventually became a teacher and then married, went back to school later and almost became a professor when her death prevented it. My father’s family placed importance on intellect and their sons became doctors and scientists. My father was born with a brilliant mind most cannot comprehend.

[slightlv]

42. Was told I could never be a preacher

no matter how filled with the "spirit" I felt I was, nor how much I wanted to help my fellow human beings. After leaving there with them laughing at me, I joined the military, served my country as military police, left when I knew it wasn't the kind of "service" I wanted to fulfill, and spent the next 7 years in search of Truth.

Ended up as an Initiated Wiccan Priestess, where I teach instead of preach and learn as much from my students as they from me. Is it in the same religion as from where I started? Nope. But do I even want to be in the same religion as those who swore laughingly I'd never preach in their game? I wouldn't want to be a part of it. I didn't set off to find a new religion. But in those sometimes lonely days and dark nights of soul I boiled off what wasn't necessary and got down to what 'is'... I'm not arrogant to believe I know all Truth, but I caught a glimpse of mine and I try to help others find a glimpse of theirs, which is all I ever wanted to do. The old boys club, meantime, probably got rich "preaching" telling others how to live their lives, but I doubt they ever really helped anyone who really needed it... and especially not women.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

50. Blessed be

To you.

[George II]

44. I heard a lot of that, too. In my case I grew up on the wrong side of the Broadway EL in Bushwick...

...the same neighborhood as now Mayor Eric Adams.

I too am a white man who, if Black, would have been written off before I reached 10.

[elias7]

56. You have settled into an amused, and I'd say enlightened state. However...

What we are seeing from the “blue collar” reich wing is a rejection of much of what is good about both sides of the track - education, critical thought, intellectual rigor, science and math, academic theory, etc.

[Demsrule86]

58. I grew up in a small town (at least went to high school there). It was becoming quite wealthy after

we moved there. And I was a bit jealous as the kids were getting new cars and designer clothes. My Mom and Dad sat me down and said,' this is America, we have no royalty so never feel inferior to any person regardless of wealth or title. I never forgot that and believe it to this day. My parents were amazing people. My mom came from the south and one would have expected a woman like her to be racist...most of her age were, but nope, she and Dad went to march on Washington and were active in civil rights their entire lives. When they banned the book Boss and Soul on ice thanks to some Birchers, Dad bought a copy of the book for the three older kids.

I was too young but he insisted that I read it when I was old enough...honestly Boss was one of the most boring books ever written and Soul on Ice was very disturbing...I hated them both. But Dad said, if someone tells you that you can't read something then you have to read it...it is a duty. And my dad was a liberal Republican, folks...he later became a Democrat officially. Although he never voted for Reagan whom he disliked...I guess the point is we were less affluent than many in our town but never felt inferior in any way thanks to our parent's belief that in this country every person is equal. He also sent my sister to college (older than me) at a time when quite a few parents sent their sons and expected their daughters to be secretaries or marry someone...they were ahead of their time in all ways. I won the parent lottery for sure. We all grew up believing we were just as good as anyone and could do anything we wanted to.

[ewagner]

59. This hit home....thank you..

My first experience was in kindergarten where children of the enlisted men and children of the officers were separated.

It got worse from there....

high school guidance counselors who didn't "waste their time" on me; overlooked for awards and recognitions; dating circles were limited; skipping proms and dances because I didn't have money or clothes to do so.

Fortunately I had one buddy from the other side...I saw the differences because of him and tried to learn from him how to be acceptable in his society.

I ostracized my siblings to claw my way out and still suffer from it to this day.

It was all there in your post...thanks again.