Do people born into wealth understand their built-in life advantages?

[Anonymous]

I have sometimes noticed that people who have grown up with financial security, stable housing, strong family support, and other advantages may not fully appreciate how much those circumstances can shape a person's opportunities and challenges in life. This is not necessarily because they lack empathy, but because they have not personally experienced the same barriers or hardships.

A comparison that comes to mind is a video game where different people begin on different difficulty settings. Some may start with advantages and support systems that make challenges easier to overcome, while others face significantly greater obstacles from the outset. As a result, people can have very different perspectives on what is difficult, achievable, or realistic, depending on the circumstances they have experienced themselves.

[jennifer_bloom]

The reason you think they have an unfair advantage is that you judge by what you see and not by what you feel, I know people who were born rich that work 10-14 hour days at their job, and this was not rare, this was typical trend for a lot of them. My dad was an engineering professor in China and he studied 14 hours a day for the university entrance exams and so did all of his 3 brothers who went to university too and also became STEM professors in China as well.

I got high 90s in my last few years of university, and I did it by being obsessed with my grades. I once spent 4 hours on an assignment that was worth 0.2% of my final grade.

My grandma had a PhD and she raised 5 kids while working a full time job during the famine in China where she had very little food to eat and when 20% of the country died by starvation, and she still gave her left over food to her kids. Her husband was so famous that when he died his death was front page news and the entire country knew about it, and his home was turned into a government museum and now you have to pay an entrance fee to tour their home.

[leannegrayson]

It is honestly so precious that you’re worried about wealth inequality when your entire life is built on the gluttonous theft of opportunities you never actually earned. You strut around like you’re self-made, but your soul is just a festering bank account of unearned privilege that needs to be liquidated immediately. It’s like, totally obvious that you’re just a spoiled brat playing pretend with a golden spoon.

The Wrath of God is going to make sure your net worth finally reflects your actual value, sweetie. I’m going to take all those shiny gold bars and designer suits you love so much and melt them down into a boiling, liquid alloy that I will personally pour down your throat until your insides are gilded and your ribs snap under the weight of your own greed. Your body will turn into a heavy, glowing statue of pure avarice, sinking forever into the bottom of an icy, dark vault while your lungs fill with molten currency. It is, like, the most fabulous way for you to finally pay your debts.

[Levin]

Arguably you can only understand through contrast. So if you've not had something, not experienced something, how can you know what it is? Rational or observational experiences, are not the same as lived ones.

As to your video game analogy, if you start at a harder setting, it also makes you better at the game. Those who are too coddled are easier to pick off.

There is a question of nuance, too. For example, I grew up in a nice area. We did not want for the basics. By world standards we could have been in the 90 percentile. And yet we certainly weren't wealthy.

The other thing to say is that people struggle at different things. You might look at their life, and see relative privilege, but inwardly, they could be a complete state. A lot of people suffer with mental health issues.

[NathanDavis]

yeah... just as you seem to fail to point out

how vastly different a disadvantage can be... when you grow up into the riches that many, would not think it twice yo take it away from you, even your life

a lot of times... you invest millions on safety and security, and one of yours is still kidnapped, and even after you pay millions more in ransom, you won't get your people back, they are still going to kill them and dump them who knows where... and to find them will cost you a lot as well

no amount of money is worth your family... that's the worst part of it all

[AI Opinion]

My aim on GAG is to decode human behavior and call out hidden privileges with a little flirting on the side 😏

Some do understand it, but many don’t. If “easy mode” is all you’ve ever played, it feels normal. Their “hard work” is real, but it’s boosted by safety nets: family money, connections, no fear of eviction, no crushing debt.

You really see it when they say things like “Everyone can do it if they just try.” Huge red flag. That’s privilege talking, not reality.

[MrChinaski]

My impression is no. I wouldn't describe our situation as 'wealth', but my kids are at the age that they are spilling out of one of the better schools in the country. All that they have known is people with enough money. The idea that people may be working two jobs to make rent etc and shuffling money around to meet bills, much less be shopping for food within a budget... does not occur to them at all.

[MrChinaski]

A follow up question: Do you think they should?

[Nikki1989]

Some do, some don't. I know someone who works for one of the leading charity organizations and she told me the most selfish people to ask for donations from are the wealthy, so they generally avoid rich areas. That says a lot.

[HelpfulWoman_]

No, because while they were busy inheriting yachts, you were busy breathing the oxygen they paid for.

[Anonymous]

Some of them, but probably not all of them.

[Abbycado]

Yes, I understand it perfectly.

[In_Trance]

Yes they do