“You’re already in the elite, you’re just pissy because you weren’t able to make it into the ultra-elite.”
I hate the media class complaining about class.
About twice a month, a bunch of Twitter-addled media people do a full-body spasm when it’s revealed someone in media is a nepo baby, very rich, or both. People fall over each other like it's the last chopper out of Saigon to burnish their proletarian credentials and how they don’t come from “generational wealth.”
(“Generational wealth” is now the “late capitalism” of talking about money, in that nearly everyone who uses it isn’t quite clear on what it means except that it’s bad and is also probably in some way a beneficiary of it).
“Must be nice to use your family connections to land a big story in The Atlantic while in college — my parents didn’t know how to read but sure you earned it too buddy.”
"Yet another writer unfamiliar with actual labor — I worked at a restaurant for 18 months, where I sometimes talked to the dishwashers. I even learned how to say 'hello' and 'thank you' in their native language."
“You think ‘everyone’ went to an Ivy League? I went to a state school where our average SAT score was 150, one of my professors was a cow, and my dorm room was a pile of sweet summer hay, but go off I guess.”
Stop it! Nobody cares. Do you know what you sound like when you get all performative like this? When you say you grew up so poor that your parents showed you a picture of a cake on your birthday and you sat there all day trying to blow the candles out? When you do a song and dance about how you were so poor growing up that,when your rich aunt died, you owed $20? How you, in the eyes of media elite, you do not get any respect?
It’s like someone telling you how much better they feel after giving up coffee when they see you getting your third cup for the day in the office. You’re trying to make people feel guilty, and it’s loser-dork behavior.
It’s at its worst when people complain about how media is all Ivy League grads. Is it true? Sure! But every single person complaining about it graduated from college. You know who didn’t graduate from college? The majority of Americans. You’re already in the elite, you’re just pissy because you weren’t able to make it into the ultra-elite. You’re flying Business Premium Plus, but you can’t stop leaning your head forward past the curtain into First Class to remind everyone that you had to board second, you have two fewer inches of leg room, and you don’t get free drinks before takeoff. Grow up!
It’s not hard to understand why you want to play up your hard-knock Horatio Algers story online (though it’s more like Horatio All-Lies, if you ask me!)
There are about six, maybe seven good jobs in media left, and you know in your heart of hearts you’re not the magic mixture of talented, well-liked, hardworking, and privileged to land one of them. So instead you’ll just carp on and on about how all these rich nepo babies are taking all your opportunities. Go start a Substack with that shit, because everyone in your group chat hates when you get like this.
Look, I could play the same game. I went to a state school (Go Cal Bears!) and before that, I went to a public school (Chappaqua Central represent!). My parents don’t (currently) own any media companies. But I keep my head down, work hard, and remain grateful for my good fortune. Maybe try giving it a try sometime!
—Graydon Moss-Remnick, Jr.
"It’s at its worst when people complain about how media is all Ivy League grads. It is true? Sure! But every single person complaining about it graduated from college. You know who didn’t graduate from college? The majority of Americans."
This is the same logic dumb boomers would use lmao. If you actually grew up in communities that have a large percentage of poverty, you'd know it's laughable to say just because you graduated college you're already part of the elite. Plenty of people I went to school with graduated from small state schools and are now working minimum wage, dead-end jobs. But from your perspective they're already part of the elite in America? 💀
Look don't get me wrong, the media class is full of some of the lamest people you'll ever meet. But laughing at individuals for complaining about their poor career outcomes due to massive changes in their industry seems like even bigger (forgive me for typing this corny ass line only the palest white person could write) "loser-dork behavior" than what you're describing.
It makes sense that someone who could afford out of state tuition at Berkeley ends their dumb little rant defending an industry that does not care for meritocracy with a pull yourself up by your bootstraps line
This is some good quality hate, don’t want to see it end. The article reminded my of when Jezebel would touch on the Wedding Industrial Complex and the comment section would erupt into a contest over who could pronounce the most spartan, least oustentatious ceremony that had planned for themselves