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In reply to the discussion: Do you think that feminists [View all]hfojvt
(37,573 posts)We happen to be about the same age. Whatever hurdles he has faced, the fact remains there he is, being elected state senator, US Senator, and President, giving speeches and writing books and making $400,000 a year and a multi-millionaire.
That is, not oppressed.
And whatever advantages I had, at some point, or extra hurdles that I did not face. There I am, working as a factory temp on the night shift, or working as a part time janitor. Making less than $20,000 a year.
That is, not privileged.
And yet I am told that I am a member of a "privileged class" and he is a member of an "oppressed class".
Hard to compare hurdles. He's growing up in Hawaii, where I have never been. I am growing up in ice cold South Dakota. He's going to prep school on a scholarship. I am going to regular high school. In mid 1988 he is going on a three week trip to Europe while I am living in a trailer in Wisconsin with no electricity or running water.
It does sound like he had it rough. Three weeks in Europe. I feel bad for him.
And look at the hurdle he faced here because of the color of his skin "Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national media attention[32][39] and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
Ironically we both went to graduate school at about the same time. He went to Harvard Law School. I went to the University of Nebraska to study economics. Even if I had gone to say, Yale law school and become president of the Yale Law Review would I have gotten national media attention and a book contract. Maybe I could have written my own memoir in 1995 instead of getting laid off on my 33rd birthday from my part-time job at the satelitte dish factory.
But probably that's a hurdle I would not want to face.