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[NT] reverse class discrimination

bcubchgo

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Ever meet someone who has an attitude that seems to flaunt and revere blue collar ideology? The kind of person that seems to relish in being a simpleton? Holds grudges against other people for being too aggressive with their lives and is unable to understand the reasons why someone might hold themselves to a higher standard? Is focused on the belief that the common person is the most righteous person, and anyone who might be a braggart or business minded is somehow jaded towards life?

I'm struggling to understand the ins and outs of this type of behavior. Is it a ruse to cover up the fact that their lives may not have turned out as important as they would have liked? Is it an acceptance of their own lifestyle and a expression of a principle they have come to embrace simply because they do not know how to live life any other way? Are they secretly wishing that they could escape their everyday lives and be someone else or are they truly happy the way they are?

Ok, how about a sentence that doesn't end in a question mark.. lol.

I know someone with this attitude and it seems to me that he is somewhat depressed in reality. When he is in his "element" he is probably very happy - people like him because he does exude an "equalizing" type personality - he has a way with people (superficially) that people seem to enjoy. He grew up on a farm and definitely has a pretty “easygoing” mentality.

But then, there is another side to him - someone who (ultimately) feels a bit like a failure because he's not where he wanted to be in life. Someone who realizes that he might have missed his potential. Someone who sacrificed his dreams because he did it out of a sense of duty towards others.

Sadly, if he does feel this way he refuses to discuss it, leading to a vicious cycle of negative emotions which people close to him become a victim of. It's as if, by denying himself the opportunity to believe that there is more to life, that he somehow has "risen above it" when in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. It's almost as if his "arrogance" (for lack of a better word) is a cover for his real self. The self that is crushed by hopes and dreams that never got a chance to come to fruition.
 

rav3n

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It's okay to want to live a simple life. But it is disturbing when those same values and all the baggage associated with it is forcibly extroverted to others. It's exactly why extremists of any ideology become idea-lol-ogists.
 
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Oberon

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There are quite a few people right here on this forum who firmly believe that anyone who is rich is also, by definition, evil.
 

Stanton Moore

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I have a feeling your friend doesn't see himself as a simpleton or as flaunting an ideology. so why does he react to you the way he does?
 
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Oberon

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I've noticed that Stephen King's books, particularly the later ones, have a recurring theme of the Noble Ordinary Man. King's background and upraising are distinctly blue-collar; it's the source of his much-storied work ethic and a source of his core values. Extreme wealth in a King character is usually a sign that a character either A) is on the side of the bad guys, B) has an unpleasant and likely unmentionable personal habit, C) will get his by Chapter 17, or D) All of the above.
 

Edgar

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There are quite a few people right here on this forum who firmly believe that anyone who is rich is also, by definition, evil.

You never gave me an impression of somebody who has a lot of money, but I can totally see you always voting Republican
 

Totenkindly

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I've noticed that Stephen King's books, particularly the later ones, have a recurring theme of the Noble Ordinary Man. King's background and upraising are distinctly blue-collar; it's the source of his much-storied work ethic and a source of his core values. Extreme wealth in a King character is usually a sign that a character either A) is on the side of the bad guys, B) has an unpleasant and likely unmentionable personal habit, C) will get his by Chapter 17, or D) All of the above.

Agreed. But really, as you say, that's the environment he grew up in, and then worked in. I think he worked in a laundry for a bit / manual labor before finally selling Carrie. He's definitely the "small town boy makes big" story.
 
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Oberon

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You never gave me an impression of somebody who has a lot of money, but I can totally see you always voting Republican

Not. I'm actually registered Independent, and I'm thoroughly disgusted with both wings of our single-party system.
 

Thalassa

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I, for one, don't hate rich people for the sake of being rich. That's silly. Not all rich people are evil...just enough of them to make themselves obvious.

To the OP: just because someone's ideology doesn't match up with yours doesn't mean they're a simpleton or that they're depressed. He probably thinks you're a twat, and you don't like him either. That's life.
 

Thalassa

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wait how is hating rich people only an NT issue?

I don't know - frankly I think the OP is complaining that someone he knows is annoyed by his particular display of ENTJ-ness (maybe an SFP or SFJ? who knows...) and not actually complaining about classism.

A person can believe in working class heroes and not glorify being "a simpleton" or "having no ambition" or whatever else OP was yammering on about in righteous indignation.
 

Randomnity

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Why is blue collar mentality automatically equated with not being rich? Lots of blue-collar-oriented people own things like construction companies, which can be very lucrative, while still sharing the more blue-collar attitudes of the people they supervise.

Also why is blue collar a bad thing?

here for example:
It's as if, by denying himself the opportunity to believe that there is more to life, that he somehow has "risen above it" when in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. It's almost as if his "arrogance" (for lack of a better word) is a cover for his real self. The self that is crushed by hopes and dreams that never got a chance to come to fruition.
It sounds like you're saying that because he's blue collar, he automatically has crushed dreams and hopes, and is missing out on life. Maybe he doesn't share your dreams and hopes for his life.

And then here:
But then, there is another side to him - someone who (ultimately) feels a bit like a failure because he's not where he wanted to be in life. Someone who realizes that he might have missed his potential. Someone who sacrificed his dreams because he did it out of a sense of duty towards others.
Are you sure you aren't projecting? Has he told you that he feels this way, or are you assuming it because you would feel that way in his position? You even mention that:
When he is in his "element" he is probably very happy - people like him because he does exude an "equalizing" type personality - he has a way with people (superficially) that people seem to enjoy. He grew up on a farm and definitely has a pretty “easygoing” mentality.

Now, the resentment/hostility towards non-blue-collar types is a whoooole different matter. You didn't expound on that very much considering it seems to be the point of your post (?). The possible reasons for that depend entirely on the specific negative things that he's perceiving in non-blue collar types (or is it specifically towards you, as your post implies?). Do you know what those might be?
 

prplchknz

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I don't have ambitions, just not die or be homeless. and feel secure finacially. and I don't give two shits whether someone else has ambitions or not, because it's not really a concern of mine.
 

bcubchgo

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You mean hippies??

no this guy is probably more like a socialist I think.

I have a feeling your friend doesn't see himself as a simpleton or as flaunting an ideology. so why does he react to you the way he does?

He's not really my friend (anymore) but from what I could gather it had something to do with the fact that he thought my aggressive business endeavors were "drama" and made me neurotic or something. ie: Type A met Type B??

I've noticed that Stephen King's books, particularly the later ones, have a recurring theme of the Noble Ordinary Man. King's background and upraising are distinctly blue-collar; it's the source of his much-storied work ethic and a source of his core values. Extreme wealth in a King character is usually a sign that a character either A) is on the side of the bad guys, B) has an unpleasant and likely unmentionable personal habit, C) will get his by Chapter 17, or D) All of the above.

Interesting....
 

bcubchgo

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I'm not saying that being blue collar is a bad thing - but most blue collar people are not wealthy by any means.

I'm not saying that he has automatically had crushed dreams by being blue collar - that's just my estimation of this particular person. He put himself into a certain position in life and has some regrets which he voiced to me briefly at one point - it wasn't projection.

Perhaps I did post this as a hostile "ENTJ gets kicked in the nutz" kind of post - but i was genuinely curious as to why someone would "look down" on someone for being business-minded, because that was the basis of my complaint I guess. I really don't know what the rationale was exactly...
 

Thalassa

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Why do NTJs seem to believe that everyone else is hiding an inner NTJ?

It's highly possible that this guy is ...oh let's say a sensing feeler, who honestly believes the best wisdom cannot be learned in books, but through hands-on work and life experiences, who enjoys being among people and feeling equal to them, who enjoys duty...so let's call him an SFJ, just for shits and giggles...who thinks as an ENTJ you're really aggressive and high strung (People do sometimes tend to think that of Te doms, no matter their socio-economic class...) and that you'd be happy if you just settled down and lived the simple life.

And you think he'd be happier if he acted more like you.

Do you see? Maybe his hopes and dreams are nothing like yours, and the two of you are just very different people, and the class thing is just incidental...though likely to be an issue since he grew up on a farm, and you're in business, so naturally...the two things have different interests.
 
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