It’s not clear to me that the other person really was “born on the other side of IQ tracks”. (Unless you just mean that she’s female and black, I guess?) I mean, she did a PhD in pure mathematics. Some of the things she says about it and about her experience in mathematics are certainly … such as might incline the cynical to think that she actually just isn’t very good at mathematics and is trying some passive-aggressive thing where she half-admits it and half-blames it on The Kyriarchy. But getting to the point at which anyone is willing to consider letting you do a mathematics PhD (incidental note: her supervisor is a very, very good mathematician) implies, I think, a pretty decent IQ.
For the avoidance of doubt, I am not myself endorsing the cynic’s position above. I haven’t looked at her thesis, which may in fact make it clear that she’s a very good mathematician indeed. In which case her difficulties might in fact be the result of The Kyriarchy, or might be the result of oversensitivity on her part, or any combination thereof. Or in fact might simply be a useful rhetorical invention.
Ah, I didn’t follow the link to Piper’s blog so my expression was misguided—I take it back.
In this case, I think, her complaint reflects the status game mismatch—either she’s playing it and her conversation partner isn’t, or vice versa, she is not and he is. It’s hard to tell what is the case.
It’s not clear to me that the other person really was “born on the other side of IQ tracks”. (Unless you just mean that she’s female and black, I guess?) I mean, she did a PhD in pure mathematics. Some of the things she says about it and about her experience in mathematics are certainly … such as might incline the cynical to think that she actually just isn’t very good at mathematics and is trying some passive-aggressive thing where she half-admits it and half-blames it on The Kyriarchy. But getting to the point at which anyone is willing to consider letting you do a mathematics PhD (incidental note: her supervisor is a very, very good mathematician) implies, I think, a pretty decent IQ.
For the avoidance of doubt, I am not myself endorsing the cynic’s position above. I haven’t looked at her thesis, which may in fact make it clear that she’s a very good mathematician indeed. In which case her difficulties might in fact be the result of The Kyriarchy, or might be the result of oversensitivity on her part, or any combination thereof. Or in fact might simply be a useful rhetorical invention.
Ah, I didn’t follow the link to Piper’s blog so my expression was misguided—I take it back.
In this case, I think, her complaint reflects the status game mismatch—either she’s playing it and her conversation partner isn’t, or vice versa, she is not and he is. It’s hard to tell what is the case.
Do try to.
Since writing the above, I have. It’s … extremely unusual.