that "are you spoiled" thing

[electricland]

This meme is just bizarre. I keep trying to gauge the background and personality of the person who came up with it and coming up empty. Apparently you are spoiled if more than 40 of the following apply to you, but yeah, "good credit" and "a passport" and "a hammock" don't exactly scream "spoiled rotten" to me. Nor do "access to a large body of water" and "neighbourhood committee membership." Some parts of it suggest the author is:

- from somewhere inland and fairly dry
- about 16 or 17

And yet other internal evidence suggests otherwise. Very odd.

Do you have:
(1) your own cell phone
() a television in your bedroom - HELL NO, and I never will, thank you
() an iPod - no, but I've started eyeing them
() a photo printer
() your own phone line - not just at present, no
() TiVo or a generic digital video recorder
(2) high-speed internet access (i.e., not dialup)
() a surround sound system in bedroom - what is this obsession with the bedroom? No.
() DVD player in bedroom
() at least a hundred DVDs
(3) a childfree bathroom - very few children in my life
(4) your own in-house office - I... guess? I mean, I have a desk and a computer and a chair and stuff. I'd quite like this in-house office.
() a pool
() a guest house - have we been watching MTV Cribs or something?
() a game room
() a queen-size bed or larger
(5) a stocked bar - I guess. Whatever THAT means. I have quite a few liquor bottles in a cardboard box...
(6) a working dishwasher
() an icemaker
(7) a working washer and dryer
() more than 20 pairs of shoes - don't think so, although I haven't seen some of them in a while
() at least ten things from a designer store - define "designer store". I'm thinking no.
() expensive sunglasses
(8) framed original art (not lithographs or prints) - why not? But yes. (If it's not in a frame, it doesn't count?)
() Egyptian cotton sheets or towels
() a multi-speed bike
() a gym membership
() large exercise equipment at home
() your own set of golf clubs - hahahahaha!
() a pool table
() a tennis court
(9) local access to a lake, large pond, or the sea - yes, Lake Ontario. Yep, I'm spoiled.
() your own pair of skis
() enough camping gear for a weekend trip in an isolated area
(10) a boat - do the family sailboats count?
() a jet ski - HELL NO. Machines of the devil.
() a neighborhood committee membership - huh what? No, but... what?
(11) a beach house or a vacation house/cabin
(12) wealthy family members - I guess, depending on your definition of "wealthy" and also how far you stretch "family"
(13) two or more family cars - if we're counting my parents' cars
() a walk-in closet or pantry - sadly, no! But oh, how I would love one.
(14) a yard
() a hammock - I'm sorry, a hammock? How does this render one spoiled?
() a personal trainer
(15) good credit
(16) expensive jewelry - ish.
() a designer bag that required being on a waiting list to get - hahahaha!
() at least $100 cash in your possession right now - right now? no
() more than two credit cards bearing your name (not counting gas cards or debit cards) - I have exactly two, although they keep trying to give me more
() a stock portfolio - I'm thinking mutual funds don't qualify
(17) passport - Yes, it's official. I'm spoiled.
() a horse
() a trust fund (either for you or created by you)
(18) private medical insurance - supplementary, through work
(19) a college degree, and no outstanding student loans


Do you:
() shop for non-needed items for yourself (like clothes, jewelry, electronics) at least once a week
() do your regular grocery shopping at high-end or specialty stores
() pay someone else to clean your house, do dishes, or launder your clothes (not counting dry-cleaning) - not at the moment, but I TOTALLY would.
(20) go on weekend mini-vacations - ... sometimes?
() send dinners back with every flaw
() wear perfume or cologne (not body spray) - sometimes? What? What is this question supposed to prove?
() regularly get your hair styled or nails done in a salon
() have a job but don't need the money OR
() stay at home with little financial sacrifice
(21) pay someone else to cook your meals - do frozen entrees count? or restaurant lunches/dinners? Then yes.
() pay someone else to watch your children or walk your dogs
() regularly pay someone else to drive you
() expect a gift after you fight with your partner

Are you:
(22) an only child - yep, because us only children? Spoiled rotten. It's good to see those Grade 2 myths don't go anywhere.
() married/partnered to a wealthy person
() baffled/surprised when you don't get your way
() been on a cruise
(23) traveled out of the country
(24) met a celebrity
(25) been to the Caribbean
(26) been to Europe
() been to Hawaii
(27) been to New York
() eaten at the space needle in Seattle
() been to the Mall of America - where is that, anyway?
(28) been on the Eiffel tower in Paris
() been on the Statue of Liberty in New York
() moved more than three times because you wanted to - I never want to move, so the fact that I have moved about 20 times in my life is not relevant here.
() dined with local political figures - again with the huh?
(29) been to both the Atlantic coast and the Pacific coast - also the Indian Ocean! and the Mediterranean! Beat that!

Did you:
() go to another country for your honeymoon
() hire a professional photographer for your wedding or party
(30) take riding or swimming lessons as a child
(31) attend private school
() have a Sweet 16 birthday party thrown for you

(ETA: although of course, as raithen points out, it does show that I am plenty privileged. But I knew that. And I bet I could come up with a better list of questions for gauging it, too.)

Comments

[lietya.livejournal.com]

that's a lovely portable office!

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Lee Valley rocks my world! (Am very excited that they just opened a store downtown (http://www.leevalley.com/home/page.aspx?c=1&p=53697&cat=). I am somewhat lame.)

[raithen.livejournal.com]

seriously, you and Dad may NOT be turned loose in Lee Valley together without strong willed chaperones :).

[calebbullen.livejournal.com]

A passport for a person who doesn't live near a border is pretty unusual for most folks.

A hammock is TOTALLY a spoiled thing. I mean it's a nice luxury and I'm a big fan but it's something that's A. not essential and B. usually implies a fair amount of space and trees. A whole lot of folks don't have trees, especially in the inner city. Maybe 1 communal tree but not two that one could hammocize.

And for most places that have water, the real estate is way more expensive on the water than away from it.

So those totally make sense to me. A sound system in the bedroom though... That's crazy. That's an essential, how can a person sleep without 5.1 sound?!?

[themusesbitch.livejournal.com]

On the flip side, I bet there's a whole lot of people living in tropical countries who don't necessarily have a ton of the other things on this list, but who are awfully close to the ocean and may even have a hammock or two (possibly in lieu of other, more expensive furniture?). I'm thinking this list has some pretty clear regional bias...

[calebbullen.livejournal.com]

I bet of the people in tropical countries doing quizzes in english on the internet, most of them in hammocks are spoiled. The ones who aren't probably rate very low on the quiz except for the hammock and sea questions, so it seems like it's not wholly inaccurate..

[themusesbitch.livejournal.com]

Well fair enough. If physically taking the quiz, and in English, and on the internet is part of the test, then yes. That is true.

[kendokamel.livejournal.com]

Some parts of it suggest the author is:
- from somewhere inland and fairly dry
- about 16 or 17


That's what I was thinking. As if the rest of it hadn't been clue enough, the Sweet 16 party was what gave it away. (Speaking of, have you seen that awful show on MTV where they chronicle the toils and woes of spoiled rotten 15 year olds who are getting 16th birthday parties that cost more than my parents' house?)

[electricland.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it, but it sounds DIRE.

...oh Lord, and now that we have MTV Canada, I might accidentally come across it...

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Most US tv is dire.

Most of what I watch, in fact, is Brit. Or Australian. Have you seen the one from Oz with the women running a stock station in the outback?

McLeod's Daughters!

[raithen.livejournal.com]

She might possibly have heard me wax greatly eloquent about it once or twice. It is my "YAY I AM HOUSESITTING AND HAVE CABLE!" guilty pleasure ;) I wish they would hurry up and release Region 1 DVDs already. Region 4 will do me No. Good. Unless I can convince M in Oz that he needs a TV and DVD player while he is there, and that he should bring the DVD player home. Sadly, that would mean waiting 2 more years. And he is doing the starving PhD candidate thang, sooooo...

Oh, lookee here - it's 4! I can go home now!

But there will be no McLeod's daughters for me.....

Re: McLeod's Daughters!

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

They've axed it in the US as of the end of series 3, but there will be Region 1 DVD releases starting with series 1, tentative date early October 2006.

You can buy region-free DVD players on amazon for not too much money. Also, they will play on a computer. But none of the Oz DVD's are closed-captioned so I can't just get series 4 and 5 and carry on. I have to wait for the US versions. :(

Damn. That show is about, like, me.

[themusesbitch.livejournal.com]

I agree, electricland... the person who wrote this test seems to have confused concepts like priviledge vs. feeling of entitlement vs. self-absorbed jerkiness, and merged them all together under the term "spoiled." Spoiled being a term I loathe in general and can only really fathom when applied to a small child (because once you're a grown up your attitude isn't something that was done to you, it's something you can alter if you have a bit of self-awareness).

As for good credit, I would suggest that this is often a symptom of NOT being spoiled... unless you're unimaginably wealthy, having good credit involves applying discipline to your spending and delaying gratification: not really something synonymous with being spoiled!

[electricland.livejournal.com]

That is put so much better and more succinctly than I managed!

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

also the Indian Ocean! and the Mediterranean! Beat that

Actually, me too. Those exact four.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

but see, you two have the whole "went with parents to do aid work in Africa" thing in common!

;)

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

Ah, but they served in central Africa. My encounter with the Indian came as a quasi-adult when I served as a missionary in Mozambique. All four were under my own power, as it were.

Also, the Carribean.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

That's a very good point. I've only seen the Atlantic and the Pacific under my own power.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Cool!

It just occurred to me that I've also seen the Atlantic from 3 continents. Hmm.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

I was thinking that about the pacific.... ;). but that's from two continents and several islands ;).

say what?

[elissa-carey.livejournal.com]

Wait -- because I once lived in Hawaii and California and now live in Delaware, I'm spoiled? Does that still count since that came about due to being in the military? If so, then this person has NO concept about what it's like, because you don't get paid well at all. (And I ought to know, since we had to apply for government assistance -- WIC, specifically -- while we were living in Hawaii.)

In fact, I don't think this person understands really what being spoiled is. Privileged, maybe, but not spoiled. Goodness knows that just because anyone meets a celebrity once, it doesn't mean that they become odious and expect the best things in life from then on.

Re: say what?

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

It looks to me as if this person watches The WB, MTV, and other suburban-US-teen-focused media, and has drawn a picture of privilege from that.

Real privilege would sneer at the Mall of America and mention Rodeo Drive, just for starters. Dinner at the Space Needle? Honey, there are 'way better places to eat in Seattle. The Eiffel Tower when there is so much more for the cognoscenti to see in Paris? The Statue of Liberty, NYC, ditto? Those are the cheap tourist thrills. Fun but, hey. Slumming. "Designer" items? One would name them.

I did laugh at some of it--I come out Spoiled just because I have horses, and if "designer" means riding clothes including custom boots, yep, got 'em.

Re: say what?

[raithen.livejournal.com]

as I said to kerlin over in her journal -- I had to laugh as we more or less simultaneously debated the definitions of privilege and spoiledness in one series of threads (and WHOA has this meme ever generated discussion!) and in another thread, we discussed our lust for items of designer riding clothes ;).

Re: say what?

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Well. Good riding clothes. I mean. They're essential.

We need a Horsewoman's Meme, where you list your horses' facilities, your riding clothes and tack, then opposite that you list your house and its condition, how old your vehicle is, and how long it's been since you did anything about either one except vacuum up the mud and horsehair every so often.

8)

Re: say what?

[raithen.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! What a fantastic idea ;D!

And yes to good riding clothes. I've tried without them. And have had uncomfortable chafing and sundry other wounds to show for it.

Actually, I am currently in the market for decent riding briefs - the mountain horse boxers I have are all giving up the ghost, and were never great anyways. Do you have any great insight?

Re: say what?

[raithen.livejournal.com]

also, we won't talk about the beautiful $50 SSG deer hide gloves I bought on the weekend, mmmkkk? but OH so nice - and I HAVE to wear gloves, or I get the evil hives..... I'm kind of allergic to my babies ;(

Re: say what?

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Wow. SSG deerhide? Niiiiiice.

No clue about the briefs. I just buy regular cotton Hanes and change them a lot.

Also, I have saddles that fit me well. That's crucial. (Good seat-savers can help, too, though I don't use one.)

Re: say what?

[raithen.livejournal.com]

ya, my saddle fits (I test rode 3 bajillion before buying this one), but I still sometimes have issues. *sigh* Thus is life!

Re: say what?

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Hee. I think you're absolutely right. Definitely teen TV has played a role here. And I have to say that in my spoiled snobbish wildly overprivileged (ahem) way I too was lifting an eyebrow at the Eiffel Tower and the Space Needle.

(I'm still trying to figure out whether I own any "designer" items. I mean, other than all the dining room chairs I inherited from my grandmother. I think if your boots count, my chairs probably count.)

Just odd.

Re: say what?

[raithen.livejournal.com]

yup. you are clearly just a snotty-nosed brat ;).

Meme consensus - skewed, wierd, and not terribly accurate. But it HAS generated interesting and useful discussion!

Re: say what?

[electricland.livejournal.com]

that is very true!

I need to build the next level of my countermeme... I especially liked the commenter in lietya's journal who said some days s/he feels wildly spoiled just to have a beautiful neighbourhood and a transit pass!

Re: say what?

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Yes. Definitely there is a privileged vs. spoiled (possibly vs. generally affluent or in a job that takes them a lot of different places) problem here.

[monkeycommando.livejournal.com]

I'd assume that to qualify for spoiled, the understood clause at the end of most of these is "that your parents paid for".

[monkeycommando.livejournal.com]

I think the weirdest item on the list, to me was "good credit".

I'd generally think that might be an idicator (often) of _not_ being spoiled (not to say that bad credit is an obvious indicator of being spoiled).

[electricland.livejournal.com]

exactly! I mean, good credit is kind of the default state. You have to work at it a bit (or at least be lazy) to get bad credit.

[nellisir.livejournal.com]

I'd guess that the person that wrote this is in their twenties, lives in an apartment, a woman, lives in the South, is probably left-leaning in politics, and I suspect the oldest of multiple siblings.

I get a whole "rebellion" vibe off of it. I think they dream of running off to the country and living as one with the land, blah, blah, blah.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Yes, the oldest of multiple siblings could definitely account for the child-free bathroom and the only-child bits. And the apartment could explain a lot.