Rich White Kid Asks How Reddit Not To Gentrify Brooklyn

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — How does a rich white kid whose mom pays his rent avoid being an a-hole in Brooklyn?

Reddit user "GOATHEAD" posed the question – or at least one very similar – on Reddit. Not surprisingly, advice was freely offered.

“I want to be totally up front about my situation, I'm a wealthy white recent college graduate whose parents will be helping him pay for his rent,” wrote GOATHEAD on the Brooklyn subreddit.

“I'd like to live in a neighborhood that has a good amount of diversity and is fun but I don't want to contribute to the gentrification.”

“Your position boils down to ‘I want to have all the privilege and act like a d--- but I don't [want] anyone to think I actually am a d---,’” wrote yallcat.

“You came to this sub with the ‘problem’ that your parents are paying your rent and they want you to be 100% safe, but you don't want to live in too nice of a neighborhood,” added empirestateofmind. “It's obnoxious.”

It wouldn’t be Reddit without some healthy debate, so GOATHEAD — who said he'll let his mom pay for a nice apartment so she won't worry about him living near drug dealers — had his defenders.

“I guarantee you everyone complaining about you here is in the top 1% of the world,” wrote Clark1984. “Just go live your life and enjoy it. By doing that you're going to be helping people out around you way more than you realize.”

“What bothers me is that nearly everyone posting here is being an unnecessary a-hole,” Duyogurt added. “Send me a PM. I'll help ya rich white kid. Happy to, actually.”

The finger-pointing subsided into an honest conversation about what it means to be a gentrifier and which neighborhoods make for good starter-homes — the crowd recommended Sunset Park, Bay Ridge and Park Slope as mom-friendly hoods.

Several people told the kid to move where he liked but try to frequent local businesses, get to know his neighbors and attend community board meetings.

“Become politically active. As a white male you have power,” said liminalcreature, who identified herself as a "white queer woman." “My world is safer because my white male friends insist I be treated like a person, and defend my rights.”

“Go out and explore for yourself and answer a few questions for yourself,” wrote cuhpanyuh. "What will you contribute to the community you live in? Will you get to know your neighbors regardless of ethnicity, age, profession, socioeconomic status, gender.”

“Move to nyc and be a good person, that's all you can hope to do,” said Jamakiss. “Patronize a range of businesses, take the time to be a real person to your neighbors, explore different neighborhoods and scenes.”

The debate came to an abrupt end on Tuesday when one user discovered GOATHEAD didn’t have much of a Reddit history. GOATHEAD admitted he had recently been banned for using a homophobic slur.

“I was immature and a bit of a dumbass,” wrote GOATHEAD. "I'll own up to that completely."

“If calling someone a ‘f--’ is a regular part of your lexicon,” replied loratliff, “NYC might not be the place for you.”

GOATHEAD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Image via MsSaraKelly/Flickr