I reacted a little to the travel thing, too

I find that i can enjoy Garden State and LMS for what they are- somewhat entertaining comedies whose main weak point is that they're taken way too seriously by some people. And "some people" may well include the creators of said movies.

People who can't appreciate the amusement value of reading US Weekly at the gym, or even at home, probably take themselves way too seriously for me.

I think this gets back to my main dealbreaker when it comes to class issues: once a person has satisfied the values we were raised to believe makes you a "good person"- moral center, generous, love of learning, not materialistic, regular reader, values education (and I like to think that I satisfy these things) - then it's ok to be able to indulge one's shallow side every now and again without receiving moral condemnation for it.. while also acknowledging that one's shallow side is not something meant to be taken seriously.

Also, I'll chime in and say that I've never met a libertarian who didn't think they lived in some special little 'bootstrap' fantasy world. Including one of my former MAGNET SCHOOL classmates. Thus, it is impossible that asserting such a thing would be equivalent to claiming that feminists are man-haters, since I've never actually met a feminist who hated men.

I reacted a bit when I saw the "must have travelled" but I also reacted when I read that "paragon of egalitarianism" thing. Being egalitarian and non-sexist/racist/homophobic/classist is a great goal, but it seems a bit much to expect anyone to be a paragon of anything. But it's your deal-breaker, not mine, so have at it.

Keep in mind that there's social class on the one hand, and economic class on the other. There's some correlation, but a lot of wiggle room, too. For example, I recently dated a very cultured woman who had been a practising physician in her home country. But due to her recent immigrant status, she was working class in this country.

I date outside both my family's and my own economic class, but honestly it's easier to date within my own general social class. While I'm very uninterested in getting involved with someone from my particular social background, a few common touchstones resulting from a similar social class usually help ease the way.

Matters of taste as described in the NYT article are another matter entirely. I'm a book person, so I'll admit to scanning bookshelves (assuming she has them) to get an idea of someone's literary taste for my own info. But the only time doing that has truly brought me up short is when the books clearly indicate one of the deal-breakers I mentioned above.