I allow logic to alter my opinions. Logic is the tool that allowed me to overcome my childhood.
I exist in a meritocracy - technology industry. Each person gains and achieves based on their own ability. I can't recall what year it was when I last saw one of my customers face-to-face. Maybe 2018? My customers don't care what I look like, and I don't care what they look like. Race and ethnicity are junk variables in my world. My vendors are practically anonymous to me. I know one is based in Gibraltar....I only know because it's interesting enough to remember.
I didn't get any kind of benefits or assistance growing up or as an adult. When I learned my first programming language - I was 5 years past being homeless, working full-time, and paying for weekend college classes out-of-pocket. When I say that I received no benefits - I mean it, not one cent ever. I could only afford to pay tuition by tutoring....$20 and dinner was my fee. The other nights I ate Ramen with an egg cracked in it (adding that egg was life-changing).
If you want to talk to me about privilege, understand that I had every disadvantage. I was homeless when I graduated high school, no cap and gown for me, I couldn't afford it. I asked that they not include me in the ceremony. I have a much different frame of reference than most. I know what it's like to steal cat food off of someone's back porch, why it's important to make the bed after you've slept in an RV you broke into, and how to pick locks so you can sleep in those RVs.
I don't need anyone chastising my privilege over benefits I've never seen. You can't get welfare without an address...and by the time I had an address, I no longer qualified. Minutes after my denial, I saw a woman in a BMW pick up her welfare check. Someone who has probably never missed a meal in her life has no insight for someone like me, who's childhood consisted of being beaten, molested, and eating out of dumpsters. I really don't like talking about that part of my life, because few can even comprehend it. She wrote that book for you, not me. I'm proud of my accomplishments.
I didn't have anything handed to me. I had to work for everything, my entire life. In the beginning, I had to beg for every chance that I was given. "Please sir, I don't have a phone and I need this job. I'll start right now, and I'll never be late or call in sick." I'd wager that your first job interviews had a lot less begging.
Your arrogant presumption is unbelievable.
