Classism in America
Very interesting thought, that colleges&#x27; purpose is to acculturate one into a certain culture.  That would explain why collegiate athletics are so important: because people of a particular college&#x27;s culture place importance on chasing after balls on grassy fields, it&#x27;s important for colleges to acculturate their students to watching people chase after balls on grassy fields.  I&#x27;m not saying that sarcastically — as much as I personally have never understood the point collegiate athletics, it makes a lot of sense in this context.<p>I take issue with her desire to leave race out of the discussion.  That&#x27;s precisely the problem with race in America: race is a decent first-order approximation of class, with all the bad that entails.  If we could address that head-on, if people didn&#x27;t automatically assume that others of the same race are &#x27;like them&#x27; and others of a different race are &#x27;unlike them,&#x27; <i>and not have those things be true</i>, then racism would be a thing of the past — or, at least, no worse than the silliness one sees about redheads&#x2F;gingers.  The colour of one&#x27;s skin has no more effect on one&#x27;s worth as a human being than the colour of one&#x27;s hair: the day that it&#x27;s seen as no more important is the day racism is dead.  But as long as race and class are conflated, that day won&#x27;t come.<p>&gt; The ban on smoking in restaurants – which, let me be clear, I am wildly in favor of, being someone who can&#x27;t patronize a business with cigarette smoking in it<p>Can&#x27;t?  Given that tobacco smoke contains no allergens, methinks the mot juste would be &#x27;won&#x27;t.&#x27;<p>&gt; I empathize when social classes not mine find themselves on the short end of the stick, such as in the above account of smoking regulations, but that doesn&#x27;t mean I&#x27;d do anything to change that outcome. Like, &quot;Wow, it must suck to have your class&#x27; norms so disrespected by a change in the law like that. Welp, I&#x27;m off to buy a burger in this now refreshingly smoke-free burger joint, and discuss with my class-peers how else we can change public policy to make it more support my class&#x27; norms – even, if necessary, at your class&#x27; norms&#x27; expense.&quot;<p>What was wrong with the previous policy, which meant that some places catered to the author&#x27;s class and some places catered to other classes?