Comment by Andrew_nenakhov | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Andrew_nenakhov | Hacker News Reader

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Andrew_nenakhov

There are hardly black people deep in the Ural mountains, where I happen live, near the Siberian border.

Anyway. Affinity to classical music (or classical poetry, for that matter) comes not from cultural background, but from a certain level of intellectual sophistication. I don't buy the thesis that some people are born into an oppressed class and can't escape it. In our age education is easily accessible to anyone who has internet. One can learn any language for free, become a developer or a musician or a photographer, all it takes is some will to make yourself learn some marketable skills.

Of course, now you'll likely say that some people are oppressed and conditioned to be unable to escape their caste, but it's just nonsense.

"I don't buy the thesis that some people are born into an oppressed class and can't escape it."

How does this match with the economist that determined that climbing out of poverty requires 20 years of nothing going wrong on average? [0][1]

0. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/economi...

1. HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16794514

Of course you can escape, but it is much harder. Love of music style is learned, and you learn it from your immediate social environment.

I recommend to read "Distinction : A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste" by Pierre Bourdieu.

of course the music is learned from an immediate social environment! Precisely because of it, people who are capable to overcome their learned tastes and learn something else are way more valuable to any business.

You see, very few people these days are taught to like Beethoven, most just find him on his own. That is a sign of a capability to think independently, which comes from higher intelligence.

People who grew up with classical music don't need to jump through that hoop. Or do you require them to acquire a taste for Hip Hop?

If not, then it is exactly as I pointed out before: the bar is much higher if you come from the 'wrong' cultural background.

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