Awesome College Student Defends Being Wealthy
In the typical college culture, being a member of fraternity or sorority is usually associated with the “over-privileged” stigma. We accept it; some even take pride in being affiliated with the socially and financially elite. Because, you know, why wouldn’t you? Nothing grinds a GDI’s gears more than basking in the “overindulging perspective” of which he was trying to shame you.
Katie Menendez, a writer at Thought Catalog, was fed up with the “blame the rich for being rich” bullshit and lashed out at those who constantly bitch about other people’s money.
“I’m tired of justifying my address and the backlash I receive when I tell people I am a student and live in a high-rise apartment. I’m tired of the looks my doorman gives me when he hands me my package (of work clothes) delivered from J.Crew.
So stop making me feel like I’ve done something wrong. Stop making me feel like I am less deserving. I didn’t ask to be born into this kind of circumstance and I’m tired of being judged for it.”
If you are feeling particularly masochistic, go read the comments. Here are some examples from GDIs complaining about her piece:
“BOO HOO I’M RICH”
“Sounds like you need to grow up and realize that the world doesn’t revolve around you.”
“You should use your privilege to make the world a better place for those without your privilege, instead of being upset over what you *perceive* as other people thinking about you all of the time.”
I’m not even hand picking these responses, they are literally three in a row out of hundreds of hateful comments. If you want change the perception of wealthy Americans, then become a wealthy American. If not, then get off their backs.
[via Thought Catalogue]
“Fuck normal people”.
12 years ago at 10:08 amhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvaTjJpoQlg
Amen to that. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
12 years ago at 10:10 amUnless you divide it in half.
12 years ago at 7:29 pmMaybe if those geeds spent less time complaining about the rich, they would be rich themselves.
12 years ago at 10:13 amComplaining that life isn’t fair. NF.
12 years ago at 10:26 amWon’t lie. I’m poor as all hell. Or at least I was as a kid. I grew up wearing hand-me-downs that were hand-me-downs from older brother to older brother to me. When I was a kid on the south side of Chicago, our teachers taught us that redistribution of wealth was a good thing. Holy shit, how I resented that. I would tell my teachers that the world doesn’t “owe” anyone shit just because of their socioeconomic status. My father taught me that the fruits of my labor are are my own and that, while volunteering and charity is a good thing and should be taken if truly needed (like we had to at one point), self-reliance is a virtue.
Unfortunately, not enough people think like that or teach their kids that, so they grow up thinking that the world owes them something. That’s why you see kids who spend $50,000 for a degree in Bullshit Studies occupying Wall Street screaming that they’re “entitled” or have a “right” to a job. Idiots.
12 years ago at 10:30 amI like this guy and also this is eerily similar to my dad’s upbringing(location, mentality, etc). Frat on.
12 years ago at 12:14 pmgrab yourself a beer.
12 years ago at 12:32 pmI was poor as hell when I was younger haha. I’m a first generation American. My father had $1000 and a suitcase + the preggo madre. Like any true spirited American, he worked his ass off and made something of himself. Too many people today expect handouts from the government.
12 years ago at 3:07 pmPreach. My Father moved us here when I was 7. We lived in migrant housing by a cannery, where he was a welder.
He’s on his third truck purchase this year now, and has recently taken up golf.
12 years ago at 3:23 pmAmerica. Fuck Yeah.
You sir, understand the ways of the world. Frat on.
12 years ago at 10:06 pmAs someone who has grown up in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the great city of Chicago, and went to a private highschool, I had no idea that you were taught those kind of things by your teachers. I am glad that you made it out of there and did something with your life, unlike all of the rest of those kids who will grow up to become bums and welfare queens.
12 years ago at 10:49 pmIt’s the same issue with a handful of tryhard Greeks giving the entire Greek population a bad public image. While of course we know that being in a fraternity makes you unequivocally superior in almost every way. But if you’re that guy that just sits in the back of a classroom talking as loudly as possible about how much GDI’s suck for no real reason, you’re kind of a fucking asshole. On the same note if you come from a family of means and you brag as often and loudly as possible about your car, house, etc. none of which you personally earned, you deserve the label of a spoiled bitch.
12 years ago at 11:12 amMoney talks, wealth whispers. A good friend of mine is the great great grandson of the founder of Scott’s Miracle-Gro, a multi billion dollar corporation, but you would NEVER be able to tell this from the way he acts, dresses, or talks. Yes, people need to quit criticizing others for how much money they have because that’s their own life, but if you ostentatiously flaunt it, do not get shocked by jealous individual’s rantings. Also, I’m not a huge fan of people waving their parent’s money around like they earned it, when in fact, they didn’t. My unpopular opinion of the day.
12 years ago at 12:21 pmNothing pisses me off more than someone complaining that something isn’t fair. Life isn’t fair, and you should go kick the ass of whomever told you such, because they straight-up lied to your face. This generation has an extreme problem with trying to guilt and judge someone into what they want. Being taught from a young age that you deserve something because someone else has it is ruining America.
12 years ago at 2:35 pmMy father was the oldest son in a lower income family, so he worked hard to help support his family and paid his own way through school. Afterwards he became pretty successful, and that’s the lifestyle I was born into. I was lucky enough to grow up in a household where money was never an issue. This actually scared my dad, because he was afraid that I wouldn’t learn the value of hard work and money. So the day I turned sixteen, my parents woke me up at 8AM and told me to not come back home until I found an after school job. Afterwards, I was expected to pay for all my clothes and anything I did with friends. And while all my private school peers complained when their parents bought them a Mercedes instead of the Lexus they wanted, I was grateful for the beat-up Honda my parents gave me because I realized I didn’t deserve a car at all. Now in the real world, I look back and realize how thankful I am that my parents raised me this way. And yes, I am judged by people who think I must be in my current situation because I’m living off my parents money. My parents raised me to understand the meaning of hard work, sent me to the best schools around, and ensured that I graduated college debt free. All the money in my bank account, though, I earned myself, and I won’t be touching their money again until they pass on, hopefully many decades from now.
12 years ago at 2:43 pmIf you take a look at humanity as a species in its entirety there has never been another period in our history that people have been given a greater chance to succeed. America provides a free primary education for those who want it, scholarships to those who desire to pursue higher education if they work hard enough and can’t afford it, and jobs to those have prepared themselves for them.
This isn’t medieval England. If you were born poor you have every opportunity to break the cycle and make something of yourself. By the grace of God we were lucky enough to be born Americans in this period in history where literally anything is possible. I’ve always seen it as my personal responsibility to not waste the chances that have been given to me and be the best man I can.
Not to sound non-empathetic, but I have no time or patience for those that have chosen not to better themselves and look for pity because of their station in life.
12 years ago at 3:28 pm