Not at all construed as disparagement! I was responding to what I perceived as an outsider’s view on Americans’ treatment of class, specifically the invisible barriers of class. I think it may be more openly acknowledged in cultures abroad. To your point, there is the American folklore celebrating dreamers and the potential for upward mobility. There are plenty of elites who will own their perceived superiority only among others with a similar class access pass; publicly, they will performatively promote a more access-for-all view. Ours is such a large and diverse country that there are many ways people think about, and correspondingly act with respect to, class and class divisions. I’ve been in closed rooms among privileged elites here whose behaviors echo what your anecdote describes.