Lucre: a discussion.

When bankers get together, they discuss art; when artists get together for dinner, they discuss money.

• Oscar Wilde

Doesn’t matter what your financial status is, we (in the privileged Western world, that is) all do it. There seems to be some sort of innate psychological trigger, if we start throwing numbers around, judgement will follow. If you make too little, you’re incompetent or inferior, if you make too much, you are somehow lazy or undeserving. The Great Fear: Putting numbers to your situation opens the door for specific comparisons that are out of our control.

The problem with this strategy of course, is it keeps pay discrepancies in the workplace going strong, it keeps employers able to underpay their staff and overpay themselves, and it keeps people segregated and lonely dealing with the financial concerns in their private lives. God may be dead, but money is pushing us around more than that invisible bearded man ever did.

So. We're going to tackle it in a discussion, with the following caveats in place:

This is a (probably sometimes challenging) but NON-JUDGEMENTAL dialogue. We will discuss how money affects us in non-material ways. It is not a chance to discuss your clever investment strategies, or to show-and-tell your latest shopping trip to Charlottenburg, nor is it a chance to pull out your paper cup and ask for donations for your latest art project.

Check your privileges AND your motivations before speaking - if you see yourself rising above the group and glowing in a halo of excellence (or wallowing in a self-pitying hole of indigence), chances are you are not speaking objectively about the topic.

Try to embrace being vulnerable. Chances are your concerns and questions about money are shared by SOMEONE else in the world, and they will learn from you asking them.

Be transparent for a change, goddammit. People will love you for it. (no, really.)

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Please note the 'No flakeyness' policy on the 'about this group' page will be in full effect regarding RSVPs and attendance.

Obwohl diese Veranstaltungen wahrscheinlich auf Englisch stattfinden werden, könntet ihr sehr gern Deutsch sprechen, wir übersetzen für euch! Wenn alle Anwesenden sowieso Deutsche sprechen, wechseln wir auch gern Sprachen.