“As the new upper class increasingly consists of people who were born into upper-middle-class families and have never lived outside the upper-middle-class bubble, the danger increases that the people who have so much influence on the course of the nation have little direct experience with the lives of ordinary Americans, and make their judgments about what’s good for other people based on their own highly atypical lives.” -Charles Murray, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010

I found that quote—from chapter four of Murray’s book, which is titled “How Thick Is Your Bubble”—via a New York Times blog, and I found that via How to Be Black author Baratunde Thurston’s Twitter feed, so I guess I’m already off to a rather bad start, bubble-wise.

I am one of the people Murray speaks about—born, raised, and lucky to have remained upper-middle-class, with zero lived experience of poverty, rural America, or hand-roughening work. I’ve eaten at an Applebee’s recently only because my sister has kids and lives in the suburbs; I’ve walked a factory floor only because my dad was the boss; I score no points for living in an economically and educationally mixed neighborhood because I am one of the white gentrifiers. I’m friends with a few people who were raised in evangelical Christian families and communities, but they’re all atheists now. (Wait! I was just reminded that one is now a Reform Jew.) I lettered in yearbook, and the only uniform I’ve ever worn was a teal polyester skirt suit required by the bank where I worked for six weeks in 1993, before I quit in tears and admitted to my wealthy, supportive parents that yes, fine, I wanted to go back to college. I have a master’s degree, a professional husband, no kids, and a sense of entitlement a mile wide.

Still, while my Murray-defined bubble is indeed quite thick in some areas (Nascar and military knowledge; “close friendships with people who don’t share my politics,” seeing as how my politics are firmly grounded in how I believe human beings should treat each other), it’s more porous in others (I’ve watched a whole lot of Oprah and Judge Judy, and I walked in my public high school homecoming parade—albeit as a member of Russian Club)—and still more porous in many areas Murray completely ignores in his efforts to paint a picture of “ordinary Americans.”

Murray writes as though being rural, white, Christian, and poor is not its own sort of bubble, as though everyone else in this country is living on the fringes of that center (and voting to spite it). And that’s a load of bullshit even when applied to admittedly privileged and sheltered people like me. Everyday city life, for instance (at least outside the most exclusive enclaves, which tend to be populated by straight-up 1 percenters, not upper-middle-class professionals) comes with a ton of exposure to other people–in good, bad, and chronically irritating ways–and opportunities that simply can’t exist without a certain number of people around to make them worthwhile.

Don’t get me wrong: I am privileged beyond belief, in both the academic and colloquial senses of the word. If I wanted to, I could choose to live in a neighborhood that’s significantly safer, wealthier, and whiter overall than the one I do live in, and I already choose to live in a safer, wealthier, whiter part of this one. My life actually is “highly atypical,” and I am grateful for that.

Nevertheless, here are 25 more questions for Murray and the “ordinary Americans” he speaks for. I can answer “yes” to all of them. If you can’t, how thick is your bubble?

1. Have you ever lived for at least a year in a city with a population greater than 1 million?
2. Have you ever lived without a car for longer than a year?
3. Have you ever lived for at least a year in a municipal area in which more than 10 percent of the population was not white?
4. Have you ever had a close friend of a different race?
5. Have you ever had a close friend who is openly atheist?
6. Have you ever been to a gay wedding?
7. Are any of your close friends gay couples with children?
8. Do you or any of your close friends have more than $50,000 in student loan debt?
9. To your knowledge, have you ever met a transgender person?
10. During the last year, have you attended a free public lecture, reading, performance, or movie screening in your community?
11. Would you and, if applicable, your partner and/or children be able to attend a different free public festival every weekend between Memorial Day and Labor Day, without traveling more than fifteen miles from home?
12. Have you or, if applicable, your partner and/or children ever been to a Planned Parenthood or similar non-profit clinic for affordable contraception, preventative health care, and/or STI testing?
13. Have there been one or more homicides in your neighborhood in the last month?
14. Have you lived for at least a year in a community with a visible homeless population?
15. Do you have a YMCA or YWCA within five miles of your home?
16. If, as an adult, you wanted to play a sport, take a dance class, or learn or a foreign language, would you be able to in your community? Would you have more than one option?
17. In the past five years, have you seen homeless people fishing in your neighborhood?
18. Have you ever patronized a fast food drive-thru that had a revolving window of bullet-proof glass?
19. Do you live within five miles of a mosque?
20. In the last year, have there been one or more newsworthy acts of violence at your local public high school?
21. Is there a public playground within easy walking distance of your home?
22. Can you travel a mile from your home on foot or by wheelchair or mobility scooter without running out of sidewalk?
23. Can you get from your home to a public library without using a car or spending more than $3? (How about an art museum? A sporting event? A beach? A fireworks display?)
24. Choose one. Who was Jane Addams? Or: Have you ever bought a tamale from a man who came by your local bar at 1 a.m.?
25. Does your state receive fewer tax dollars than it contributes?