blargblog

I'm an Elite Pig

Let's see: male, check; white, check; 30-49, check (on the low end here); $30K-$50K, check (also on the low end, sadly); college degree, check; broadband, check.

According to the demographics of a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, yours truly is one typical dude among Internet users, yet also part of a small contingent (2%) of "content creators" who regularly update their web sites and blogs. Blogging itself is a fairly elite activity—as ya coulda guessed, what with the cost of equipment and Internet access. Yes, computers and connectivity get cheaper every year—but I remember all too well how hard it was to go to the movies on a minimum wage job, let alone buy a computer and shell out $20/month for crappy dial-up. Pew notes that most users in America live in cities and suburbs, where the broadband can be found; and better paying jobs, too.

Being a typical middle class white shmuck is no guarantee, however. Just the other day, Jenn was going over the bills, a slow dawn of panic widened her eyes: "We might not have enough to cover everything this month." Then she suggested a possibility that shakes the foundations of every bourgeois psyche: "We might have to cancel cable." B-b-but—all of it? Internet, too? Between mortgage, car payments and day care, there is not much left. Fortunately, it's all worked out, but this demonstrates how tenuous privelege can be. For the middle class, at least.

The middle what?