#class barriers

[jhsharman]

Hangin' in the Hamptons, "The List!"

Given that Veronica has already discovered that The Hamptons has become open to just about anyone, I don't know why she ends up surprised by the non-exclusivity of P Piddy's party.

And you know who the last straw will be.

Betty's comment in the Hamptons sequence --is this an anti-Bughead item?

[howifeltabouthim]

In spite of the invitation to call him by his Christian name . . . an age-old inhibition, derived no doubt from class-distinction, checked it on Fred's tongue.

L.P. Hartley, from The Harness Room

[christianmutineers]

By John Peccavi         August 2, 2017



New York Times columnist David Brooks recently described how those in the upper middle class create what I call “invisible gated communities.”  (My phase, not his.)   Those belonging to the in-group  figuratively post “members only” signs by adopting practices which make others uncomfortable.   Brooks described taking a friend to an upscale lunch spot where the unfamiliar foreign names of the sandwiches made his friend feel out of place.

Writer Rod Dreher described a similar experience.   Dreher observed:

In her thorough book “The Sum of Small Things,” Elizabeth Currid-Halkett argues that the educated class establishes class barriers not through material consumption and wealth display but by establishing practices that can be accessed only by those who possess rarefied information.

To feel at home in opportunity-rich areas, you’ve got to understand the right barre techniques, sport the right baby carrier, have the right podcast, food truck, tea, wine and Pilates tastes, not to mention possess the right attitudes about David Foster Wallace, child-rearing, gender norms and intersectionality.

That would explain why communism has failed to produce a classless society.   Take wealth away from the elites and they will just find some other marker to set themselves apart.

Indeed, human beings will always find ways to form a clique or in-group.  Our species inherited this craving for pecking orders from ancestors deep in the evolutionary past.

Human beings have not shaken off the habit of separating “us” from “them” but merely have found creative new ways to draw the line.  David Brooks pointed out that even fancy sandwich names can create a barrier.  Like an invisible fence for a dog, the invisible barriers cause discomfort when someone crosses the line.

But here’s an important point that churches should stress far more than they do:  Jesus was egalitarian and following him requires leaving all class distinctions behind.

Whether the meal consisted of fancy sandwiches or not, Jesus ate with outcasts, with tax collectors and people regarded as sinners.  He spoke with despised outsiders such as the Samaritan woman at the well.  He rejected hierarchy and preached that in the Kingdom of God, the first would be last and the last would be first.

He also told a parable about a King who, the story leaves no doubt, symbolized God.  The King divided people into two groups.  On his left were the disfavored and on his right the favored:

Then the King will tell those on his right hand, “Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.”  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?”  The King will answer them, “Most assuredly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

Note carefully that last line.   If Jesus had simply been trying to teach the virtues of giving to the poor, of doing charity work, he could have had the King say “because of your generosity to those in need, you have earned a reward.”

If Jesus simply had wanted to teach the value of empathy, he could have had the King say, “Because you felt the suffering of the poor, you have a reward.”

But Jesus did not do that.  Instead, he had the King call the most wretched and least valued members of society “my brothers.”  Jesus made clear that the most destitute and least valued by society were part of God’s family and, indeed, his close family.  They were God’s “brothers.”

Following the Way that Christ taught thus requires more than doing charity.  It requires erasing any mental attitude of superiority and embracing them as relatives.  What kind of relatives?  Well, in the parable they were God’s brothers.  So, if we wish to be God’s children, they are uncles.

In other words, they are close relatives, not some distant fourth cousins once removed.

I hammer this point because Jesus made clear that what we hold in the heart counts.  For example, a married man may forebear from having sex with someone not his wife, but, Jesus says, if he just looks upon that other woman with lust, he has committed adultery with her already in his heart.  Corruption occurs with the mental act even if it does not lead to the physical performance.

Similarly, regarding oneself as being superior departs from the Way that Christ taught, and harms the person spiritually, even if the person never says or does anything that reveals this prejudice.

Isn’t it difficult to look at a homeless person without feeling not merely luckier than but also better than him?   Hell, yes!

So is turning the other cheek.  So is much of what Jesus calls on us to do.  He is telling us to unlearn what natural selection taught our species and to become creatures fit for a different environment:  The Kingdom of God.

Banner based on Arthur Stieglitz’ photograph “The Steerage” (via Wikimedia Commons).

[beenasarwar]

Pushing forward the cart that says "Educate Pakistan!"

Pushing forward the cart that says “Educate Pakistan!”

My piece about the TCF fundraiser in Boston last weekend, published in The News on Sunday, May 15, 2016

Adil Najam, Nargis Mavalvala, Ateed Riaz at the speakers table. Photo: Beena Sarwar

Pitching in for education in Pakistan from Boston and beyond

Beena Sarwar

“The Citizens’ Foundationis doing an amazing job, and I’m honoured to be here,” said Nergis Mavalvala, giving the keynote address at the…

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[laurajdt]

Since my BF reads my Tumblr, I will be obtuse so as not to put any spoilers up...

...but now that I have finished Downton Abbey Series 2 (Dave hasn't--so please, no spoilers!), I wonder...

Do we think that a certain Upstairs character's dalliance with a Downstairs character is part of what led the Upstairs character to have a change of heart regarding another Upstairs character's relationship with a lower-class person?