Fuck off with this priveledge bullshit.
The privilege of risk
41–50 of 83 posts
Re: The privilege of risk
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
The quoted rule would have been better stated in terms of frequency, like: Risk becomes a vehicle by which privilege reinforces itself – for the most part, only the privileged can take risks, and for the most part, only risk is rewarded. There is substantial evidence in support of this thesis, from decades of research in economic mobility. Your story of success is only a single data point in answering this question.
> Your story of success is only a single data point in answering this question. You are, of course, right. My story is meant to inspire and serve as counterbalance to the fatalist viewpoint in the original post.
Inspiration is one thing, but counterbalance is another. The whole point is that the research indicates your experience is decidedly an outlier: it doesn't counterbalance anything.
For every one of you (or me, for that matter: I was born into a family in which few had graduated high school and grew up frequently going hungry in a single parent home and am now a well paid physics PhD holding data scientist and engineer) there are dozens (or more) of people who grew up in similar conditions and never made more of it.
Re: The privilege of risk
#43Risk becomes a vehicle by which privilege reinforces itself – only the privileged can take risks and only risk is rewarded. This is patently untrue. My parents emigrated to the States in 1997 (from the post-Communist Romania) with two briefcases, two kids, and $2,000 -- hardly privileged. After their Visas expired, we technically had illegal immigrant status (after a few thousand dollars in lawyer fees and many years…
The quoted rule would have been better stated in terms of frequency, like: Risk becomes a vehicle by which privilege reinforces itself – for the most part, only the privileged can take risks, and for the most part, only risk is rewarded. There is substantial evidence in support of this thesis, from decades of research in economic mobility. Your story of success is only a single data point in answering this question.
> The quoted rule would have been better stated in terms of frequency, like: Risk becomes a vehicle by which privilege reinforces itself – for the most part, only the privileged can take risks, and for the most part, only risk is rewarded.
To think the author's statement was intended to apply to every single person past or present is ridiculous. I'd prefer we continue using language the way rational people do, and just chalk refutations like this one up to pedantry.
Obviously the author was talking about the general case. The parent commenter's refutation cites one edge case, and on that basis declares the author's statements are untrue.
This is a huge time-waster in (almost) every public argument on (nearly) every subject and I wish people (not all people, only those who engage in this pedantry) would stop doing it. To qualify the relative scale of (almost) every single claim or assertion would make (many) articles unreadable (in my opinion) and speech so labored that (many) people would probably prefer to just not engage at all.
Re: The privilege of risk
#44There's always going to be someone with a shit situation worse than yours. Using the better situations of others to justify your lack of risk taking is just lame. If you don't want to take risks, don't.
There's plenty of risk taking that didn't pay off.
Re: The privilege of risk
#45Risk becomes a vehicle by which privilege reinforces itself – only the privileged can take risks and only risk is rewarded. Which is not to say we should all be cautious and people or institutions should never venture to do unusual things. I agree with what the author is trying to say here, but disagree with the second part of the first sentence. Everyone can take risks, and risk is not the only factor that determine…
I only found out I was underprivileged (grew up not so well off, no formal education, etc) when I started talking to the privileged.
Once I became successful, those same people said I wasn't underprivileged anymore, but was privileged (parents didn't divorce, white, male, etc).
Re: The privilege of risk
#46Risk becomes a vehicle by which privilege reinforces itself – only the privileged can take risks and only risk is rewarded. This is patently untrue. My parents emigrated to the States in 1997 (from the post-Communist Romania) with two briefcases, two kids, and $2,000 -- hardly privileged. After their Visas expired, we technically had illegal immigrant status (after a few thousand dollars in lawyer fees and many years…
$1M house in Southern California isn't really saying much. Down here in San Diego: 3 bedroom, 2 baths, 1000 square feet homes going for $1M. The housing market doesn't reflect real wealth imo. Owning a house in Southern Cal is akin to playing hot potato
Re: The privilege of risk
#47>deification of risk This is the crux of the problem, and the sooner we can get away from this, the better off we will be. Risk is fine. Take it if it makes sense for you. But don't glorify it and don't worship it.
Why not? Courage (the motivator of risk) has been a virtue since the dawn of humanity.
Fortune favours the bold.
Re: The privilege of risk
#48Risk becomes a vehicle by which privilege reinforces itself – only the privileged can take risks and only risk is rewarded. This is patently untrue. My parents emigrated to the States in 1997 (from the post-Communist Romania) with two briefcases, two kids, and $2,000 -- hardly privileged. After their Visas expired, we technically had illegal immigrant status (after a few thousand dollars in lawyer fees and many years…
You seems to be mixing a lot of perspective to arrive at your conclusion. Let's try to unpack them one by one :
> This is patently untrue. My parents emigrated to the States in 1997 (from the post-Communist Romania) with two briefcases, two kids, and $2,000 -- hardly privileged.
Compared to whom ? the average american in 1997 or the average Romanian in 1997 ? I am pretty sure compared to the average romanian your parent wouldnt call them selves under-privileged.
As an immigrant myself, i am not sure what definition of risk you are using to call immigrating from Romania to the US a risk. If anything, the ability to emigrate to a richer nation is an opportunity that literally millions of people are still, 20 years latter, dreaming of. So much so that the US as a green card "lottery"...
> my college-educated parents had to work menial jobs like washing Target toilets, cleaning houses, and flooring and construction.
Again, unless you are omitting some stuff , i am not seeing any risk taking behavior here.
I feel i need to say this, as someone who also had the luck (and yes luck, because parental investments is sadly a very under appreciated form of privilege) to be on the receiving hand of extreme parental investments, you parent were hard-working and dedicated, but from your own description, and my experience with other immigrants not risk taking.
> I recently quit my cozy six-figure job in ad-tech to try and bring some of my ideas to fruition.
And this is where i think you are proving the authors point. You waited to be financially secure before taking those risk. Had you been richer while young, you would have probably done so earlier; And more importantly had you not have a "couchy"job (and i am guessing some savings ?) would you have made the same decision ?
> Everyone can take risks.
Yes, but that's not the point of the article. The author is simply pointing that the costs of risky behavior is are not the same for everybody. under-privilege people have much worst outcome when they fail. And thus, the difference in risk taking/risk aversion behavior that we are observing might be a reflection of people rationally evaluating business venture within their own situation and coming up with different outcome.
> Investing $10,000 and 6 months of your life in a startup is not ruin-inducing.
It's because you are in a situation where this sentence is true, that you tried. But this is not true for everybody (like let say a single parent with an enfant child)
> The purpose of life is not wallowing in self-pity, but rising above the adversity.
Telling people about the cost of risky behavior is not self-pity it's pragmatism
And as a closing though, you seem to think that you are reaping the reward of you parent taking risk, my read of the situation is that you reaping the reward of hard consistent work. And to some extent i find this to be a much more pragmatic way of living one's life.
Re: The privilege of risk
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Obviously, I don't have the same kind of opportunities as a rich trust-fund kid from Manhattan. But I'll be damned if I don't try. I recently quit my cozy six-figure job in ad-tech to try and bring some of my ideas to fruition. Will I fail? The odds are stacked against me -- I've failed before and failing sucks. The purpose of life is not wallowing in self-pity, but rising above the adversity. I leave you with this…
> But your parents have $1M house, and you have a six figure job. Are you not the definition of a rich trust-fund kid? His parents have the million dollar house today . Theirs isn't a story of privilege.
> His parents have the million dollar house today. Theirs isn't a story of privilege.
Yes but his (having parent with million dollar house) is ...
Re: The privilege of risk
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
The quoted rule would have been better stated in terms of frequency, like: Risk becomes a vehicle by which privilege reinforces itself – for the most part, only the privileged can take risks, and for the most part, only risk is rewarded. There is substantial evidence in support of this thesis, from decades of research in economic mobility. Your story of success is only a single data point in answering this question.
> Your story of success is only a single data point in answering this question. You are, of course, right. My story is meant to inspire and serve as counterbalance to the fatalist viewpoint in the original post.
Is it fatalism, or a call to change the system that exists? People are not saying "no one other than the rich should try". People are saying "our system should be restructured such that the avenues to success are more evenly distributed".