Do rich people and their immense privilege bother you?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only rich/wealthy people who annoy me are the ones who believe everyone could have what they have if they just "worked hard enough". That type of lack of nuanced thinking bothers me in anyone though.

What about the people that did make it themselves? Came from nothing, worked for it, and succeeded? Why can’t they feel that way, it worked for them, it can work for others.

Those are few and far in between. Basically the myth of rags-to-riches is dead because if you don't have superior upbringing and schooling in terms of access to the best schools, tutors, and connections the door to immense wealth is already closed. Bygone are the days of striking it out on your own and making something out of nothing.

And here come the excuses....

Plenty of people that grew up poor, and did not go to college make it. Most small business owners seem to have figured it out. You think every person that owns a restaurant/dry cleaner/car dealership/whatever grew up privileged?

And you think all those people are rich?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:No. In high school I was friends with three girls named Allison, Stephanie and Heather.

Heather was beautiful and had the coolest clothes, everyone wanted to be friends with her, she was tough, her mom was pretty and cool, and had a gorgeous older boyfriend who sent her flowers at school. I became friends with Heather and found out that her father killed himself when she was a baby, when she tried to talk to her mom her mom ignored her for the mom's boyfriend, she felt stupid and her boyfriend was abusive.

Allison was very rich. She lived on the same street as Howard Stern, she had a housekeeper, she had a lovely life. Then one day Allison started crying in health when we were talking about eating disorders. She cried so hard the teacher excused her, and then excused me and another friend to go help her. Allison told us her mom had an eating disorder and she was scared her mom was going to die.

Stephanie was also very rich. She lived in the Hampton in a mansion. She had every single thing I ever even thought about wanting, let alone asked for. Stephanie's mom overdosed on cocaine and died. Stephanie's dad gave her mom the coke. Stephanie still lived with her dad.

My best friend in high school was Jen, who shared a room with her sister. Their older brother lived on the couch, and Jen's mom was a school custodian. Every single time I went over there, there was a lot of laughter and food. Once we had to go outside and help push Jen's mom's car down the block because it had died. I asked why they didn't just call AAA. They couldn't afford it.

So no, I'm not resentful of rich people getting expensive things. Objects don't mean everything. These people don't all have glamorous perfect lives just because we see them in pretty dresses smiling. I know that they might go home and get beaten or cry themselves to sleep because they're worried about a family member or missing a parent or whatever other problems are plaguing them. Beats headphones won't solve those problems.

Poor and middle class people also deal with dysfunctional families, abuse, eating disorders, drug problems, etc. The only difference is that wealthy people have more resources to deal with their problem (i.e. therapy, rehab, etc). And if they screw up as a result of their problems, it has less of an impact on their lives.

+1 I really hate this "oh rich people have miserable lives behind closed doors" trope that some people love to trot out. It's almost as bad as the "the popular kids in high school all became diner waitresses who never left their hometown."

I think it may be comforting for some people to think this is the case. Because, let’s face it, more than a few rich people are selfish, arrogant, out of touch, and absolutely hateable.

Have you ever volunteered as a teacher in poor neighborhoods? Have you ever spent years working to help people in one of the world’s poorest countries? A lot of poor people are selfish, arrogant, out of touch and absolutely hateable.

What does my volunteer service have to do with haughty attitudes of some rich people? And nice deflection throwing shade on the poor with whom you spend so much time volunteering. But hey, whatever it takes to assuage your privileged person guilt. They are all jerks who don’t deserve anything, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. In high school I was friends with three girls named Allison, Stephanie and Heather.

Heather was beautiful and had the coolest clothes, everyone wanted to be friends with her, she was tough, her mom was pretty and cool, and had a gorgeous older boyfriend who sent her flowers at school. I became friends with Heather and found out that her father killed himself when she was a baby, when she tried to talk to her mom her mom ignored her for the mom's boyfriend, she felt stupid and her boyfriend was abusive.

Allison was very rich. She lived on the same street as Howard Stern, she had a housekeeper, she had a lovely life. Then one day Allison started crying in health when we were talking about eating disorders. She cried so hard the teacher excused her, and then excused me and another friend to go help her. Allison told us her mom had an eating disorder and she was scared her mom was going to die.

Stephanie was also very rich. She lived in the Hampton in a mansion. She had every single thing I ever even thought about wanting, let alone asked for. Stephanie's mom overdosed on cocaine and died. Stephanie's dad gave her mom the coke. Stephanie still lived with her dad.

My best friend in high school was Jen, who shared a room with her sister. Their older brother lived on the couch, and Jen's mom was a school custodian. Every single time I went over there, there was a lot of laughter and food. Once we had to go outside and help push Jen's mom's car down the block because it had died. I asked why they didn't just call AAA. They couldn't afford it.

So no, I'm not resentful of rich people getting expensive things. Objects don't mean everything. These people don't all have glamorous perfect lives just because we see them in pretty dresses smiling. I know that they might go home and get beaten or cry themselves to sleep because they're worried about a family member or missing a parent or whatever other problems are plaguing them. Beats headphones won't solve those problems.

Poor and middle class people also deal with dysfunctional families, abuse, eating disorders, drug problems, etc. The only difference is that wealthy people have more resources to deal with their problem (i.e. therapy, rehab, etc). And if they screw up as a result of their problems, it has less of an impact on their lives.

+1 I really hate this "oh rich people have miserable lives behind closed doors" trope that some people love to trot out. It's almost as bad as the "the popular kids in high school all became diner waitresses who never left their hometown."

I think it may be comforting for some people to think this is the case. Because, let’s face it, more than a few rich people are selfish, arrogant, out of touch, and absolutely hateable.

Have you ever volunteered as a teacher in poor neighborhoods? Have you ever spent years working to help people in one of the world’s poorest countries? A lot of poor people are selfish, arrogant, out of touch and absolutely hateable.

What does my volunteer service have to do with haughty attitudes of some rich people? And nice deflection throwing shade on the poor with whom you spend so much time volunteering. But hey, whatever it takes to assuage your privileged person guilt. They are all jerks who don’t deserve anything, right?

What makes you think I’m privileged? So it’s OK to say that the privileged are selfish, arrogant, out of touch and absolutely hateable, but we cannot say the same thing about poor people in poor counties where we volunteer who frequently kill and rape other poor people because they are from different tribes? We cannot say that about poor students where we volunteer who kill each other because they are from different gangs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rich snots entitled WASPs, yes they bother me.
Talented celebrities/artist, no. Thank and appreciate them for bringing beauty to the world. They can have all the goody bags and more.
Kim Kardasian, she is excepted. Bothers me. No talent.

Kim kardashian may not have a talent but that family did have smart business sense and did something extraordinary.

Agreed. Hating on the Kardashians is like looking at Modern Art and saying “I could do that”. Great, but you didn’t. Doing what they did isn’t the hard part. It was having the idea first and actually doing it.