Conference quark::human_relations-v1

    Right - the stereotype is of someone who only cares about the status
    in designer clothers, designer water, designer children, etc.  Yet
    if you find one of these people (and they DO exist), they'll argue
    that they are simply buying the quality products they can afford.
    Depending on the item under discussion, they may have a good point.
    
    I think it's been traditional in all of our societies to look down
    upon those who are visibly better off than oneself (in terms of
    posessions), even if an objective analysis would show that things
    are really equal or even unbalanced the other way.
    
    I dunno - I fervently reject the Yuppie label, even though I know
    that, in its original meaning, I do qualify.  I suppose its the
    sterotype I object to, since I know I don't come close to fitting
    it.
    					Steve

    
        You want to try coming to Europe and seeing the UK "yuppies"
    enjoying themselves.
    
        I was lucky enough to be sitting in the sunshine on Saturday
    in Annecy in France when my peaceful lunch was shattered by a group
    of English "yuppies" descending onto the next table and proceeding
    to compare material possesions and bank balances at the tops of
    their voices. This was presumably for the benefit of the locals
    (who, incidentally didn't speak a word of English so it was wasted
    on them) or the other "tourists". They gave the impression they
    were here "for the season" - then I heard one of them say that they
    couldn't be too long as the plane was leaving at 18.00 and their
    two weeks was over !
    
        At the end of the first half-hour I could have described in
    intimate detail the complete contents of "Caroline and Nigel's
    Mews Cottage" in South Chelsea (in non-"yuppie" that is a two up
    two down in Battersea).
    
        I've no resentment for people wanting to get on in life - I
    try to do it myself, but why do they have to invade my space ??. Do
    they realise how ridiculous they sound. What really worries me though
    is that 2nd generation "Yuppies" are going to be running my country
    when I get older....emigration seems like a good idea !
    
    Steve
    
    ps.. no offence to anyone called Caroline or Nigel intended
     

    
    
    	DINKs = Dual Income, No Kids

    Hmm, having made a comment about yuppies in the Saab note, this
    appears. You'd think that I had dinner with Nigel on Friday, or
    something. :-) 
    
    So the stereotype of yuppies is that they care only for themselves. So
    what? Should I start listing other stereotypes? Do I really have to go
    to the trouble of saying that stereotypes aren't true? 
    
    The people described in .3 may have nominally been yuppies, but there
    is a better word to describe them: boors. 
    
    I really don't see why I should give up pesto because some twit
    somewhere has decided that it's yuppie food. I dare say that a good
    percentage of the people who contribute to this conference are yuppies
    (given that living someplace like Nashua or Acton counts as "urban").
    It's a demographic label, and as such means nothing. 
    
    It's simply a way for people who are jealous of other people (horrors!)
    enjoying themselves to denigrate them. It's real simple: you invent a
    label like "yuppie," start assigning people to the group by
    trivialities like the sort of car they drive or the sort of food they
    eat, and then dehumanize the group by saying things like they're only
    interested in themselves or that they're overly materialistic. This
    reminds me of Ambrose Bierce's definition of an egotist: someone more
    interested in talking about himself than me. 
    
    It's amazing how well techniques like this work in spoiling other
    people's fun. Lots of people will start feeling real guilty if you
    suggest that they're interested in themselves or that they have
    material wants. Obviously, this will work best if you're more selfless
    than Mother Theresa or have no more possessions than will fit into the
    back of a VW microbus, but there are plenty of people who will
    cheerfully go off and feel miserable with very little prodding. 
    
    If you have a personality flaw, correct it. If your major problem is
    that you're human, have silly desires, and rather enjoy yourself, don't
    worry about it. I know it's hard at times, but don't let people who are
    either jealous or simply can't abide the thought of someone else
    enjoying themselves get to you. Life is far too short to worry about
    things that aren't worth worrying about. There are plenty of things in
    this world that *are* worth worrying about. Expend your energy on them. 

    	Jon

    RE: 1
    
    Isn't everybody out for *ME* (Capitals with asterisks around it)
    really?
    
    
    RE: 3
    
    Hi Steve, long time no see!
    
    I think that "The English Yuppies Abroad" is why I moved out of
    the UK 5 years ago, and that I have not been back except for holidays
    since.  I would  thoroughly recommend emigrating if they are going
    to be in charge of the country in 20 years ( I wonder what Margret 
    Thatcher was like when she was 30? ) 
    
    
    RE: 4.
    
    I guess my SO and me are DINKs under that definition!
    
    
    Andy 'DINK' Lane.

    re .6:
    
    Oh, I freely admit to being a yuppie. I'm even a second-generation
    yuppie (although the term didn't exist when my parents were my age). I
    was a yuppie before the category was invented. I don't try to be one,
    and I don't try not to be one. 
    
    I don't mind falling into a demographic category, but I do mind having
    my personal worth being judged by the car I drive or the clothes I
    wear. I'd much rather be judged by how I treat other people, the sort
    of job I do at work, and other things like that. There's one evil major
    in the world -- treating people as representatives of a group instead
    of as an individual. Most of the others fall from this one.
    
    	Jon

    All the media hoo-ha about yuppies is avoiding the real demographics
    of the baby-boom generation: they are poorer, in real (post-tax,
    post-inflation) terms than their parents.
    
    Sources: The Wall St. Journal, The Economist, Fortune.
    
    			-John Bishop

    This is interesting... until last weekend I hadn't any idea that people
    in the US disliked Y******. 
    
    Then I saw "Salvador" (it finally got to Glasgow) where, before all
    the horror and militarism, the Jim Belushi disc-jockey character, being
    driven through San Francisco, berates his lot in living in a country
    full of Yuppies, including his girl-friend who wants him to give up
    being a rock DJ to sell computers in Silicon Valley.    Now I find
    there are TWO parallel notes on the phenomenon here (one with simple
    examples like cars and rings, the other more general but including the
    British equivalent). 
    
    So, for this more general one - I'm encouraged to see a healthy dislike
    of ostentatious behaviour and some words about being tolerant of people
    who are over-negative.   Best thing is probably somewhere in the
    middle.    As for the British/English Yuppies, apart from them running
    the country now or in the near future, main comment is that they can be
    seen (and heard) behaving the same way here, no need to go to Annecy
    etc.   Tactlessness and abrasiveness is best developed by practising in
    your own country, all the time.   Probably have to go to the more
    prosperous parts of the country (London etc) to see many, though. 

    Don't think UK yuppies are quite the same as US, but they have adopted
    the label and publicised it themselves.   Might make a good separate
    note, here or in the GREAT_BRITAIN notes file - origins of the species,
    etc.

    As for the more specific note (271.*) I'm going over there now to
    write about my new car and my guilt...
        

 Perhaps the "Yuppies" fill a need in our society -- the need to have 
a group which we can scorn publically. In these "legislatively liberal"
time, we cannot display prejudice against people on grounds of race,creed 
or colour (and rightly so, lest anyone feel I'm pining for the old days of
bigotry and hatred!). 

 However, we can (and do, even judging by this notesfile) feel "moral outrage"
against people (the "Yuppies") who do not demonstrate the level of social
obligation which we feel they should. Better yet, we can publically decry
"Yuppies" for everything from the decline of the dollar to the rise of sexual
harrassment without risking a lawsuit! 

 Go back, re-read some of the notes and substitute YFEG for Yuppie. (YFEG is
an old acronym for "Your Favorite Ethnic Group", and was originally used to
tell racist jokes in a non-racist manner, back in the days of STAR::JOKES).
I did (by accident; my brain is getting tempramental in its old age!), and was
struck by the similarity between the expressed feelings towards Yuppies and
tose feelings which have been expressed in the (less enlightened) past.

			Nigel

I don't have a Saab, but I do have a CD player and a VCR and a home Computer.
Does that make _me_ a Yuppie too? 

    
    	At least the media is leaving us 'preppies' alone now that they
    have discovered the yuppies.
    					=Ralph=

Well, I have a lot of high tech toys, but I drive a 4x4 and I'm certainly
no yuppie. I don't dislike yuppies in general but I do dislike the attitude
that some of them take on. I used to live in a condo in condoland (Acton, MA).
A good many of my neighbors were downright snots, 2 of them would not even
say good morning, one of them thought it would be better for me to drink beer
and sit in the sun in the BACK of the building (guess I was an eyesore since
my unit was the first one you saw upon entering the place). I suppose a few
of them wanted nothing to do with me since I wore jeans to work while they were
all spiffed up. But they weren't ALL like that, a few of them were quite
nice. So folks are folks, they're either turdballs or they're not.

Bahama Mama

    Bahama Mama--
    
    Those folks you ran into in Acton are the worse imitations...they
    like to think they are Yuppies but they aren't...you have to live
    in the city.
    
    Seriously the Yuppies in Boston have rebuilt the residential areas
    and contributed a great deal to the tax base.  Again making tremendous
    profits gentrifying poor neighborhoods.  A good Yuppie enjoys living
    in a mixed neighborhood and has contributed a lot to reducing the
    crime in the city.  The sad part is that gentrification has reduced
    the available apartments for the poor and has forced some of the
    elderly to sell their property as the valuation has increased and
    the taxes.
    
    The next step for a Yuppie is to cash it all in and go to Vermont
    or New Hampshire and become a Flatlander.  And boy are they hated!