Comments on: 28. Reverse Snobbery

By: Susan Tiner

Susan Tiner — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:04:10 +0000

Class is complex. The US class system is very different than the class system in Britain, though the US system derived from the older version of the British system. It's not surprising non-US persons don't immediately understand/relate to all of the nuances of the US system. I'm actually writing a different blog now, discontinued this one, and recently posted on social class anxiety in the US, here's a link to that post if you're interested. It refers to an entertaining book on the US status system.

By: Susan Tiner

Susan Tiner — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:58:04 +0000

I definitely participate more out of a desire to belong to a community than out of religious beliefs. I’m not particularly religious.

By: Shelley

Shelley — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:42:58 +0000

I remember learning the term WASP as a child and, not knowing what Anglo Saxon meant, having no idea if it applied to me. All the pieces apply, but not the whole, not in this context. I never have really learned anything much about the powerful, elite or WASPs because I’ve never believed it was anything to do with me. Even though life has brought me far and away more than I ever grew up expecting would be my lot, I still think of rich and powerful as ‘other’. There is so much in this post that I don’t truly understand that I’m beginning to realise that in a lot of ways I’m really quite ignorant. Frightening to think I’ve got this far down the road with so little understanding. I’m not sure I have enough time left to learn it all. Still, bits and pieces in this blog and in the links have shed new light on some of my experiences and given me an explanation for some things I didn’t previously understand. So I’m drawn to continue reading.

By: Shelley

Shelley — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:28:34 +0000

Interesting discussion about Episcopal churches. My parents never attended church but made a point to sending me to the widest possible (well, Christian) selection with any neighbourhood families offering. I used to quite enjoy investigating different beliefs. I now live down the road from a lovely old Church of England (which in theory equates to the American version of Episcopal), but I’ve never gone in. No idea why, particularly as I would like to expand my feeling of /participation in ‘community’ now that I’m retired. May have to consider this again.

By: Susan Tiner

Susan Tiner — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:37:08 +0000

Mardel, I think it’s fair to separate anti-intellectualism and anti-elitism, though I believe the two are merged in the minds of many Americans.

Your professor’s comment made me laugh!

Of course there are all kinds of Episcopalians, but the stereotypes of exclusivity, of formality do persist. Sadly. On the other hand, as one Episcopalian friend put it, if you want to get down with Jesus, this probably isn’t the best church. She was speaking of our church, St Matthew’s, not all Episcopal churches. For all I know you can get down with Jesus too at certain Episcopal churches.

By: Mardel

Mardel — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:55:30 +0000

An exceptional list. American culture has a long history of anti-intellectualism and anti-elitism, except when, to paraphrase Pogo we find that “them is us”.

Anyway, I would agree with the comments on manners and the reactions of many to them, chalking it up to the above. My experience in the Episcopal church has always been open, welcoming and willing to embrace diversity. When I was in college and was studying Philosophy and Sociology of Religion, I recall that one professor classified the various Christian churches into three religious groups: Catholic, Protestant, Episcopalian. The Episcopalians were separate because they were the least dogmatic. He always maintained that the Episcopalians were different because they really didn’t care what you believed as long as you were polite and didn’t embarrass anyone during services. Which I suppose, in a world where rudeness is prized, makes them elite. I was already an Episcopalian at the time, but I couldn’t really come up with an argument against this point of view.

By: What To Do With Distress, Or, Saturday Morning at 10:45am | Privilege

What To Do With Distress, Or, Saturday Morning at 10:45am | Privilege — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 20:01:10 +0000

[...] Tiner, who writes My Life Unscrambled, and who had hosted me at a dinner last November, [...]

By: Susan Tiner

Susan Tiner — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:07:16 +0000

Hi Pat, it’s a challenge not tripping on my voluminous robes while holding both sceptor and orb, but I’ll try. It’s funny what you say about beautiful manners, because that’s also been my experience, but the folks I’ve been talking to tend to take manners themselves as a sign of unwelcome formality. It seems people prefer rude and crude. My point is, fine then, be rude and crude, but why do you have to disdain people who don’t want to be?

By: savvysavingbytes

savvysavingbytes — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:31:47 +0000

Because I haven’t given much thought to the so called Wasp elite, I wasn’t going to comment, but I later remembered a job I had working with Wasps. It was a part time job strictly for dough during a slow period. I worked for a private national organization made up of 100% Wasps and they were an absolute dream to work with. So unlike the world we’re surrounded with now, all the Wasps had really beautiful manners and were unfailingly pleasant to be around no matter what was happening. My co-workers saw them a cold snobs, but to me they were an oasis of civility in a sometime crude, chaotic cosmos. They were fun too.

I see I mixed up my scepter and orb with these two posts. Pat

By: Susan Tiner

Susan Tiner — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 07:13:40 +0000

LBR, I think of the Episcopal church as one in which you can be yourself and don’t have to park your brain at the door.

No, I haven’t read True Prep, but it looks like fun. I like a lot of preppy traditions, except that I think we need to talk about money. At least until we understand it better.