Back Off, Angry Commenters

There are several common fantasies about the writer that fly through comments sections. One is that the writer is ?privileged,? and/or getting rich off of their insipid and offending article. The confidence and specificity of this fantasy is interesting. One commenter claims that a writer ?typifies the white, middle-upper class man who attends Harvard. ? This is because of his race and class privilege. To him, no one really has access to the "old boys' network" or is thinking too much about jockeying for social position. That's because he is a de-facto member of the old boys? network and already has his social position.? One Slate commenter asserts that a writer ?can afford to work only sporadically?; another asserts that she ?pulled herself up by her manolo blahnik bootstraps,? yet another that the article is enabling her to put more polish ?on her Mercedes.? Assuming the commenter does not live next door to the writer and is not the writer?s sister or best friend, one wonders a little how the commenter is quite so confident about the content of the writer?s bank account. Especially since most freelance writers for places like Slate are not exactly paying the rent on the penthouse off their efforts. If the writer has come from a place of privilege?and as in the rest of the world, some have and some haven?t?they are most likely frittering away whatever they do have by entering an insecure and unlucrative profession like writing. These demographic realities, though, make little impression on the angry commenter, who, one notes admiringly, sticks to her guns.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=cdec4952ff214e26591869b8ff6cebf0

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