How Thick Is Your Bubble?
In his forthcoming book, Coming Apart, The State of White America, 1960–2010, Charles Murray writes about the perils of the upper-class elite setting policy that affects regular Americans, with whom these elites have little to nothing in common. Because their bubble is so thick, the elites are vulnerable to making huge policy mistakes, despite their best intentions.
To help you determine how thick your bubble is, Murray has produced a quiz whose score will place you into one of the following categories:
- A lifelong resident of a working-class neighborhood with average television and moviegoing habits. Range: 48–99. Typical: 77.
- A first-generation middle-class person with working-class parents and average television and moviegoing habits. Range: 42–100. Typical: 66.
- A first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents. Range: 11–80. Typical: 33.
- A second- generation (or more) upper-middle-class person who has made a point of getting out a lot. Range: 0–43. Typical: 9.
- A second- generation (or more) upper-middle-class person with the tele- vision and moviegoing habits of the upper middle class. Range: 0–20.Typical: 2.
Three of the Young Guns crew have thus far taken the quiz, and I was shocked to discover that with my score of 26, I have the biggest bubble. When I protested to the group that Californians need a separate quiz, Meghan Clyne responded, "No, I think that's the point--to live in California (at least, northern California) is to have separated oneself from the mainstream of the rest of the country." Touché.
Take the quiz here (questions begin on page 103), and report back with your score.
- Comment (205)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (8)
Comments:
Jun '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
When the feces hit the impeller, that toilet will be good for target practice. I hope you have sufficient ammo.
Sep '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
Additional questions:
Dog person? Add 10 points
Cat person? Subtract 10 points
Ever jumped Snake River canyon? 100 points.
Jul '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
I have over 5000 rounds of 45, 1/3 of which is Hornady TAP. I have also shot nearly every household appliance to pieces at some point, including a commode. Do we get extra points for that? It seems my longhair just can't cover up my redneck.
Feb '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
74. Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, and I remain there still in a small town. Over 1/2 my adult working life was spent working with my hands. Now I'm a teacher.
The questions were too few and too vague in many ways.
I've never been to a Kiwanis meeting, but I've been invited to join the Elks, etc.
Jun '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
Shooting a household appliance earns +10. Shooting an appliance owned by your ex earns +20 additional.
Aug '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
It's interesting to see some people's reactions to the questions and score. Particularly interesting are those who view a low score as a "good thing." Certainly, education and a successful career are good things, but to have those at the expense of an understanding that those things are rare seems to be a bad thing. One cannot understand the plight of the average citizen, if one doesn't understand the plight of the average citizen -- with real experience and not by reading "pop non-fiction books" about them.
I tire of those who write about the evils of TV. It is so staid.
As for Jimmie Johnson...given that he is the Michael Schumacher of NASCAR, I'm surprised how many people have never heard about him.
Knowledge of him and Junior Johnson (who you can read about in this Esquire article by Tom Wolfe) are required in my extended family...as is a love of grits and ham hocks.
Edited on January 28, 2012 at 5:44pmMay '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
55 - not bad for an egghead lawyer. My bubble would be a bit thinner if I watched TV (I think Ghost Hunters should have been on the list) or if the kiddos left us time to go to the movies (and if watching The Hangover on a constant loop gave you the Charles Murray street cred that it should).
I also think I should get bonus points since I not only know where Branson is, I attended a Glen Campbell concert there, my parents honeymooned there, my father worked a summer at Silver Dollar City while living in a tent, and my great-great grandfather was an honest-to-God Bald Knobber (add ten points to your score if you can tell me what a Bald Knobber is - no cheating!).
Nov '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
57.
I quibble about the meaning of some of these. The whole middle part I scored low on, and it seems to me to be a redneck test, almost a joke, except for the question about spending time with someone smoking, which makes sense as a matter of personal choice. Question 18 seems poorly formed. How can participation in union meetings be equated, bubble-wise, to participation in rotary? It strikes me that Question 19 was smarter in that it distinguished between parades that elevate society versus those that rant against society. I suspect at the core of some of the redneck question are similar problems. What exactly does one's purchase of mass-market beer have to do with the bubble? Being a tea-totaller the question is irrelevant to me, but I think I know people for whom mass-market beer is a vehicle of connection to others, and other people for whom it is a vehicle of isolation. I think the weight of questions concerning the home one grew up in or ran as an adult is too small
Edited on January 28, 2012 at 5:55pmRe: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
65--I bet there are not too many college professors who score in this range!
Nov '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
See mine above -- 57, which would have been considerably higher had I not scored low on the 8 or so "red-neck" questions. My parents never put indoor plumbing into the home I grew up in, on the edge of a town of 10,000 whose economy consisted almost entirely of cattle and lumber, and this only changed when they moved into a trailer after retirement. Today I am a professor of Mathematics at a major Canadian university and have won international awards for my research. My parents raised 6 kids, two of whom got PhDs and all 6 of whom live quite comfortably today, after choosing 6 very different paths in life.
Edited on January 28, 2012 at 6:03pmMar '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
Just in case anyone is wondering, my back-of-the-envelope spreadsheet from all of the feedback so far puts the Ricochet test average score (at 109 inputs and going) at 52.5.
Jul '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
Great idea, Crow's Nest!
What's the median?
May '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
Beasley
Here's one for you( or any ambitious takers), what's the difference between arc, TIG and MIG welding? · 10 hours ago
I have a Hobart Handler 175 in my Dungeon workshop in the basement of our building here in downtown Tokyo, I was doing some stainless welding on some stainless wire rope for a buddy the other day, I nearly ran out of my tri-mix, need to get the cylinder refilled again!
I've not done TIG in a long while, used to weld a lot of aluminum. TIG is like gas welding with electricity, MIG is wire feed, love doing both! If I had the space I'd have plasma arc torch too!
Domo!
Edited on January 28, 2012 at 7:27pmRe: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
I was hoping you would take the quiz, Squishy Blue. But I must say that I'm very surprised at your score. I thought it was a near certainty that you'd come in below 20.
Boy was I wrong!
Aug '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
~Paules
Shooting a household appliance earns +10. Shooting an appliance owned by your ex earns +20 additional. · 2 hours ago
61, probably from living in NW Mo forever. Branson has the best trout fishing anywhere. On New Years day, we would always have shoot regardless of weather. TVs were a favorite target, one year there were 5 frozen coyotes in profile on the riverbank, lab rats on ice cakes floating down the river was memorable, christmas trees make fun targets. Range of guns, from .22 thru 4 gauge industrial cannons. Couple of Class 3 licenses meant we had autos too.Blackpowder, my favorite is .45 in one hand and .44 mag in the other.
Then we'd read John Donne and Ben Jonson with mulled wine and some stilton.
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
Pseudodionysius
I'm scared to take the test and of course my non American heritage will likely void a lot of the questions, so someone will have to drag me across the conservative finish line. · 15 hours ago
The thing is, I don't think it matters if a conservative scores low on the test. Conservatives aren't the ones who want to impose government on people...or at least that's true most of the time. So if I don't know how someone in the Midwest lives, it's not especially dangerous if I'm not trying to impose my agenda on him.
That's how I console myself over my low score.
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
Please. I know plenty of upper-middles who eat at The Cheesecake Factory on a regular basis. There's one on University Ave in Palo Alto, and another at the top of Macy's in Union Square in San Francisco.
In no way is The Cheesecake Factory on the same level as Applebee's or The Waffle House.
Nov '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
I scored a 51. That's about what I expected.
May '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
34. I live in California, but I grew up in Wisconsin, worked in my Dad's warehouse in the summers, and later had a job with a software company whose products were used extensively on factory floors. I lived in the South for a time, where I experienced the warmth and decency of my friends who were Evangelical Christians. I also watch some mass market movies and middlebrow TV, and I have been known to eat at Outback and Denny's. (Murray neglected to mention Cracker Barrel, which is like a culinary trip to Branson, MO -- which town I also knew about, for some reason.)
All those cultural advantages, and still only a 34. Wow. Luckily I spent my young adulthood reading Murray, Hayek, and Isaiah Berlin, so I have highbrow reasons for wanting to leave other people alone to live their lives as they please.
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
39. It would have been even lower if I had not been hired about five years ago by Hillsdale College. And it would have been lower still had I not grown up in Oklahoma and Colorado.