This is a little old, but I still found it interesting. "How Thick Is Your Bubble"

[reflection]

I scored a 48.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/white-educated-and-wealthy-congratulations-you-live-in-a-bubble/

[HERVEPA]

1. The author of this "quiz", Charles Murray, is a racist by the way.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Why do you think he a racist?

[HERVEPA]

8. Check out his history

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/profiles/Charles-Murray

for one example

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. For some reason I could not get that page to come up....

but Wiki says this:
Charles Alan Murray (born 1943) is an American paleoconservative and paleolibertarian leaning political scientist, author, columnist, and pundit.

Paleo??????

Edited to add:
THIS: ....."Murray argues that the super wealthy, super educated and super snobby live in so-called super-ZIPs: cloistered together, with little to no exposure to American culture at large."

Cannot argue with that, it was most certainly in evidence during Romney's failed campaign, and other "pundits" have said the same thing.

[HERVEPA]

14. Don't know why you couldn't get it.

Just google his name and racist.

His being a member of American Enterprise Institute is also a good clue.

[madokie]

24. A member of the AEI is all the proof I need

[Rex]

15. Paleo means they are old school racists, neo means they are war lusting

chicken hawks.

[Fred Sanders]

12. Yes, he is a racist.....thank you for the info., lot of pseudo-scientists these days, the GOP has

encouraged them.

[HERVEPA]

13. Thanks Fred

[hobbit709]

2. 70 for me.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. I scored 69.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

4. The description of my score didn't match me really.

I got a 44 which put me in

42–100: A first-generation middle-class person with working-class parents and average television and movie going habits. Typical: 66.

My 'average' television and movie going habits? I clicked that I'd watched 'Big Bang' and none of the others. What I watched were occasional reruns, not the 'new' shows, since I don't even know when 'new' shows air. And I didn't click on seeing any movies from the list, either in a theatre or on DVD. I can't even recall when I last saw a movie in the theatre or bought one on DVD, but I'm thinking maybe a decade or so back.

And if anything, my working-class parents were higher class than me, since I've spent the last 5 years or so below the poverty line.

[kydo]

5. 64

[Scootaloo]

6. Eighty-one

[SamKnause]

10. Scored 71.

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. 42. interesting.

[dumbcat]

16. I got a 37

0–43: A second-generation (or more) upper-middle-class person who has made a point of getting out a lot.

Not sure how they came up with that. My dad and granddad were painters and wallpaper hangers.

I had trouble with the very first question:

Have you ever lived for at least a year in an American neighborhood in which the majority of your fifty nearest neighbors did not have college degrees?

I had to really think about this. How the hell would I know my 50 nearest neighbors? I lived for 40 years in two different neighborhoods and I didn't even know the degree status of my immediate four neighbors. I can't even imaging knowing 10 neighbors, much less 50. I answered yes, but I had to go back to childhood in the 50's when I lived on a farm in the country to figure that.

Nice to know, though, that someone thinks I'm upper middle class.

[hunter]

17. Previous DU link, slightly different quiz...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022486243

I had no bubble then, but I have a thin one now, probably because I quit watching television entirely. No Broadcast, no satellite, no cable, nothing. Our television only plays movies and we see no advertisements except for the occasional movie trailer on rental DVDs.

For what it's worth, I've always existed in situations that expose me almost daily to a wide swath of wretched humanity. And I've been part of that wretched humanity, sharing a tall one with the homeless people down by the river, or attending charity dinners as the guest of wealthy people.

The author of this test lives in a bubble so thick his quiz is stupid, like riding a greyhound bus or eating at a Denny's is beneath him.



Teaching in an inner city school, working in the E.R. of a county hospital, participating in a needle exchange, living in my neighborhood where painting over the gang graffiti on my back wall is a regular chore, driving an old beater car... that would probably kill this guy. It's among the things he fears most.

[Arugula Latte]

18. Yes I live in a major bubble. I've cultivated that bubble, too, to help keep my sanity.

I've never felt like I've fit in with the dominant American culture (almost like I was a foreigner on the outside looking in), and I recognized that about myself at an early age. That's why I've lived in places like Berkeley and Cambridge and Portland. I like bubbles. I feel very uncomfortable outside the bubble. So sue me.

I got a 22.

[dumbcat]

21. I'm with you

People often tell me, "You need to get out of your box!"

Uh, no. I've spent the last six decades getting my box exactly the way I want it and I ain't freakin' leaving it!

[hunter]

29. Nothing wrong with cultivating a "bubble" if you know what's outside of it.

The guy who wrote this quiz is clueless. His "outside the bubble" world is an imaginary place; a silly and shallow stereotype.

[pscot]

19. 66; and Murray's putative racism

really has nothing at all to do with his little survey. By the way, I'm not who he thinks I am. I'm privileged to live in a bubble right now, and it beats a cardboard condo and a begging station outside the downtown PO all to hell.

[Recursion]

20. Murray is a white supremacist shithead

Just thought you should know that.

[reflection]

23. sorry, didn't know.

[sendero]

22. Interesting a bit.

... I got 58 and parts of his description fits perfectly (i.e. economic status) but cultural not so much.

[Nay]

27. Yeah, the cultural stuff -- whoa. Uh uh. I couldn't say "yes" to any of that TV

or movie stuff. And I only know what Branson is because a coworker went on and on about the place.

[Nay]

25. A 58, mainly because I came from a poor family and was a bit poor

until I married.

Now I'm in my own bubble that I've crafted so I don't have to put up with religious, social or political bullshit from people who can't even find their ass with both hands. Sorry if that sounds elitist, but there it is.

[Xyzse]

26. I got a 32...

[bravenak]

28. I got a 68.

Just a regular person. Supposedly middle class.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

30. 57

Scoring

You got 57 points.

See below for scores Charles Murray would expect you to get based on the following descriptions. Note that there are ranges of possible scores for categories and some overlap. In the graphic, your score is denoted by the horizontal black line, and typical scores for each range are marked with gray lines. The possible overlap is represented by the blue bars.

The higher your score, the thinner your bubble. The lower, the more insulated you might be from mainstream American culture.

48–99: A lifelong resident of a working-class neighborhood with average television and movie going habits. Typical: 77.

42–100: A first-generation middle-class person with working-class parents and average television and movie going habits. Typical: 66.

11–80: A first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents. Typical: 33.

0–43: A second-generation (or more) upper-middle-class person who has made a point of getting out a lot. Typical: 9.

0–20: A second-generation (or more) upper-middle-class person with the television and movie going habits of the upper middle class. Typical: 2.