Well, the bootstraps myth is predicated solidly on "and I did it ALL by myself, without anyone else's help." I've long understood that if it weren't for my grandparents, I wouldn't have had new clothes or shoes (which we got at discount stores anyway). That's probably why the bootstraps/Rugged Individual myth makes me want to stab people: I know it's 98% shit. There's a small subset of people who actually DO manage to pull themselves up with minimal help from family--but did they have student loans and/or scholarships for college? Does that count as help? What about public high school?
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chiming
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Date: 2012-04-09 04:28 pm (UTC)From:The comments on lj are interesting, too.