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Comment by techpop10 | Hacker News Reader

This is a truly ridiculous over simplification of reality in the Bay area and so loaded with personal biases to be taken seriously.

The majority of people I know and work with are mostly in between the inner and outer circle the author describes.

That's a very large group who are paid well (many also sitting on options that will continue to pay well). Being a software/hardware engineer, marketing, finance or other back-office roles does not automatically put you in the "outer circle" on the edge of the middle class.

This is a classic example of an author with a very narrow world view based solely on their personal experience which doesn't look like reality.

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From my perspective, your reply supports the article's point.

Yes, the inner and outer circles are paid well. And yes, nothing is completely black and white, there are spectrums in many dimensions. Everything is complex, but it is sometimes helpful to look at something from a perspective other than your own to maybe notice things you don't normally notice, in this case the mass of people that the author calls the "service class" and the "untouchables", and the way they are perceived and [mis]treated by the "higher" classes.

I'm not accusing you of mistreating people in these groups. But you admit you don't know many people in them, and I think the article is valuable in pointing that out.

That you had to relate your rebuttal in the terms that the author describes only serves to further illustrate their point. You can't call their worldview narrow when you had to tacitly accept it to make your point.

Whenever you accuse someone of personal biases you gotta back up your accusation with data. How do we know your statements aren't biased as well?

I'm challenging the authors over simplistic breakout of inner and outer circles which is not supported by anything other than opinion. My observation (and opinion) is there is a big gap in between the two that's not represented in his simplistic caste system.

If you want to state your opinion then state your opinion without an attack. Say, "I don't agree" or "I feel the situation is more complex" because when you mount an attack and call someones' idea "ridiculous" you better back it up and make your statements solid.

Every statement you made was harsh, negative and unjustified. You deliberately mounted an attack without evidence. Without evidence you shouldn't attack anyone, with only an opinion all you can do is share it in a friendly manner.

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