When you use a word like "life styles" you are suggesting that the life we lead is something we choose, in the same way that when shopping we choose an old fashioned style, or a youthful style, or a goth style.
I don't think people choose to live in slums. I really don't.
As for their behavior....it covers a spectrum as with all people.
Joanna
Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>B:
>
>
>Yeah, it's kind of weird that Woj, who used to have a
>Johns Hopkins Uni. sig line, is comparing, you, Bill
>
>[WS:] FYI, Johns Hopkins campus is surrounded by a slum, which BTW is a big
>problem for the university, because it makes it difficult to attract
>international students and fellows. Most of the faculty and staff also live
>outside Baltimore (which is a bone of contention between the city and JHU)
>and those who do not like long commutes simply move to greener pastures.
>Quality of life is an increasingly important consideration in deciding where
>people want to work or study.
>
>I live in the city near the campus since I came to JHU in 1992 mainly
>because I like city living. As a result of that experience, my attitude
>toward the underclass changed quite substantially. As they say, familiarity
>breeds contempt, and a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged. I am
>not a conservative, to be sure, but I have no sympathy toward the lumpen
>either. I do not hate, judge or condemn them, I just do not want be near
>them.
>
>To say it differently, I do not particularly care what life styles people
>choose to pursue or not to pursue and for what reasons as long as these life
>styles do not impinge on mine. I try not to judge people for how they live
>or what they do unless they harm others or animals, but I am not trying to
>save them either unless somebody asks me for help. I do not like particular
>life styles - not only those of the lumpen, but of the suburban middle class
>as well - but generally do not rebuke people for pursuing these life styles.
>I just do not want to be a part of it. However, it gets on my nerves when
>someone implies that I am a bad person because I do not like these life
>styles.
>
>So it is really that simple - if somebody implies that I or people like me
>are morally suspect because they do not subscribe to a particular cultural
>trope about particular lifestyles, I am perfectly capable of paying back in
>kind. If I hear someone saying "fuck the yuppies" I feel like saying "fuck
>the lumpen."
>
>Wojtek
>
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