> Let's see. Most of us who are socialists or radicals think that being
> poor sucks - that it makes for material misery and constricted
> personal development. Yet, on the other hand, we feel guilty about our
> privilege, and often envy the "authenticity" of the poor.
Nothing was said -- as I recall -- about guilt or authenticity. Can't speak for anyone else, but the thought that I had in mind was that the poor might have different *priorities* than swimming, or naming your kid Moon Unit, or whatever -- different priorities than ours, in other words.
By the way, from what I've seen of poor people, their level of "personal development" doesn't in general fall short of my Upper West Side neighbors. It tends to take different directions, of course. But I've seen deeply stunted personalities with children at Spence and St Bernard's -- and the kids lined up to be equally stunted -- and what I would consider pretty developed personalities in the South Bronx.
Of course it goes the other way too -- stunted poor people and highly-developed bourgeois.
I've always felt that the main problem with poor people is that they don't have enough *money*.
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Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org