Bias

[judecorp]

I think I have a real bias against rich people. Like, really rich people. The kind who flaunt it. These also happen to be the same people who come into contact with my smoochie on a daily basis, because they feel the need to come into stores like Levenger, and Montblanc, and other such ridiculous establishments. I'm still reeling over the guy who was inquiring about ordering 2 diamond-encrusted ballpoint pens from Cartier to the tune of $100K. $100K for 2 ballpoint pens! Is he MAD??!?!

I guess I just find that sort of show of wealth so socially irresponsible. Granted, I'm much more pro-distribution of wealth than probably a majority of the people I know, but even with that aside... couldn't he maybe buy ONE diamond-encrusted pen and give the other $50K to help the world? Does anyone really need TWO? (Especially because he wants them to match his two diamond-encrusted fountain pens or somesuch crap.)

Jen always tells me that this is normal behavior for people with disposable incomes. I guess I don't get it. Part of it, maybe, is that I don't know enough people with disposable incomes, but I know that my grandparents, in my lifetime, have always had enough to do what they want. But they were never terribly showy about it, so that's what I'm used to. Besides, they also support the church and other charities. Heck, both of my grandparents are in clubs (a men's club and a women's club) whose sole purposes are to raise money for a "pet" organization! But I digress.

I can't say I mind having a little extra money for things like high-speed internet or dinner out or to buy Jen a laptop. It's nice to be able to go to the grocery store and know that I can buy everything I need without having to really count it out or put things back or fret about whether I'll be able to gas up the car after. And I know that we are fortunate, even though our combined salaries equal most of our friends' single salaries. We are WAY ahead of a lot of people.

But while I would like to have more income so that we could safely talk about things like baby-raising, I don't think I could get that at the expense of having a job that I feel is helping something. I can wake up in the morning and dislike my actual job but feel good about what I'm doing, that I'm helping the world turn instead of trying to make it crumble down upon itself. What I want is to make more money because society finally gets its head out of its ass and starts valuing the work that I (and others) do.

REVOLUTION.

I used to have a "smash capitalism" armband. HA! I wonder what happened to that. Aaah, my idyllic youth.

Comments

[jucifer.livejournal.com]

I have an unhealthy bias against rich people. I can't help it. :(
Maybe if I ever met a nice rich person.

[jucifer.livejournal.com]

ps. they don't need a fucking pen like that.
is no one humble any more?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

A-fucking-MEN!

Hello, PaperMate. Writes just fine.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Now, see, I pretty much consider my grandparents rich, and they are nice. But they don't LOOK like rich people. So when I think of rich people, I think of Thurston Howell III rich people... and I don't know any of those.

But yeah, maybe if someday there's a Paris Hilton type who is all about saving the world, helping kids, bringing about world peace, etc. I'll be SO there.

[jucifer.livejournal.com]

Well, I used to work in Harvard Square. And I could 'tell' who the rich people were by how they acted and what they wore. Guess what? They left the shittiest tips EVER. I was an AWESOME server and bartender(if I do say so myself. ;)) The professors and the 'regular' people left really nice tips.
Makes me hate 'em more!! :D

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

That inner sense of entitlement really pisses me off, too.

How about a little grace, people??!

[lemur68.livejournal.com]

How do you think they got rich? By squeezing nickels out of pennies is how.

It's a delicious irony that the richest people can also be the biggest tightwads about some things. Arguing over 10-cent library fines and whatnot....

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Man, if being cheap was all it took to make one rich, I'd be SO EFFING RICH right now. :)

[siercia]

I totally get what you're saying.

One one of our trips to NY, Dory hauled Carrie and I into Cartier and Tiffany. While I did enjoy looking at the beautiful pieces, I couldn't help thinking that even if I *could* afford what they were selling, I wouldn't *want* to, because there's SO MANY other ways that $150k could be spent than on decoration that would be SO MUCH better.

There's definitely a line that I don't feel comfortable crossing; sometimes I feel like I do ($150 on a dinner out for two people? Yeah.) and it makes me squirm. I try to avoid that, or do like one woman I know is doing - when she spends "frivolous" money, she donates the same amount to her pet charity. That helps, but still.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

And, you know, there are some purchases where you HAVE to spend money for quality - vehicles, some electronics, safety things, stuff like that. It's not like I don't know that sometimes you have to spend money. (That doesn't mean I like it.) Sometimes you have to go a little wild and have an extravagant dinner. Sometimes you have to tighten the belt so you can get away on a little vacation. Sometimes you spoil your kid with something. You know? It happens.

But there are some things I just don't "get." And maybe it has something to do with always being the opposite of your parents or whatever, but I just don't really get collections. Okay, so you like the way a fountain pen writes, and you drop a couple hundred dollars on a nice fountain pen. Sure. But FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR A BALLPOINT COVERED IN DIAMONDS??!?! WTF is up with that?

I just know that the companies that are making these luxury items are just laughing their asses off at the people who are buying them. Kind of like, "What else can we make these people give us money for?" Heck, look at all of those blingbling necklaces a lot of hip hop stars wear. I'm waiting for one of them to have a solid gold TOASTER around his neck!

Ugh. Why do we make our lives so complicated with nonsense in the guise of making things "easier"?

[hope-persists.livejournal.com]

i remember seeing a magazine article some christmas that was about the ridiculous things that rich people will buy, and there was, i shit you not, a diamond encrusted mr. potato head.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Now, I love Mr. Potato Head as much as the next guy, but CRAP!!

Here's to hating frivolous spending

[eight.livejournal.com]

What's funny is that I believe the only way for America to save itself from this present path is revolution.

My wealthy republican grandparents and father and stepmother, far right anti-liberal ists, also believe that America needs a revolution. I guess it's becoming a nonpartisan common ground. : )

Also, I freely admit that my biggest judgment is rich people. I hate people who flaunt wealth they did not work hard for.

Re: Here's to hating frivolous spending

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I guess I just don't like flaunted money, period. I'm just a simple person who has some things. Sometimes I think even *I* have too much frivolous stuff. Do I need a wine rack? Do I need two rice/vegetable steamers? Do I need DVDs? I tend to be pretty minimalist in what I have but I always feel like I could get rid of more. (That reminds me, you and Lisa still need to come over.)

All I want is a little land to plant a garden, so I can grow some of my own vegetables and make my own baby food, carry my baby in a sling and be a crunchy earth mama. I just wish that sort of dream didn't take MONEY, dammit!

But you're right - it is a pretty non-partisan issue right now - both sides seem to think that global overhaul is the only way to go. I wonder what people in the middle think? Maybe our time right now is just ripe with revolution, regardless of where you are in the playing field. Maybe it's just been too long.

*shrug*

[folkyboy.livejournal.com]

i know the reason i am not rich is because i would totally be like Mary-Kate & Ashley Olson with my money. taking jets to foreign countries everyday for no reason...

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Naw, you would just build a house out of CDs!

[thatpatti.livejournal.com]

i'm with ya. $100 on a pen when you have more money than you know what to do with is tolerable. i mean, if you've got a pen thing, and that's what you want to spend your money on, fine.

but $50,000 for something to write with? completely ridiculous. people should be EMBARASSED to spend that kind of money on something so stupid. i sure as hell would be.

i mean, would you really feel better about spending 50 grand on a pen than if you gave it to a non-profit?

but i also think that some people who grew up with that kind of money and that kind of living don't really think about it. i'm not excusing it, i'm just saying that they haven't been put in a position that's really brought them face to face with something that's given them a social conscience.

you know, like the news. ;)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I mostly agree. I mean, if people are working hard and making money, and they want some expensive shoes for a party or a fancy pen or some game system doo-dad, well, hey, I can't say much about that just because I wouldn't do it. Especially if they take good care of their stuff. Because I get so irked when people have so much stuff that they don't take care of it. Argh.

I just can't even imagine going anywhere and saying I would like to buy a $50,000 ANYTHING. Maybe that's part of the problem. I would buy my grandfather a fancy $300 pen maybe or something if I thought he would like it. Heck, Jen and I dropped $200 last summer to buy scalped tickets to a Red Sox game for Father's Day. So yeah, money gets spent. But not that much!!

I can't even IMAGINE the amount of money that goes into her store every day. It makes me kind of sick to my stomach. $1000 for an office chair. AN OFFICE CHAIR! I think mine cost $10 at Staples and it is coated with cat hair and used as a scratching post. (For Ralph, not me.)

But you're right, for some people that's just the way it is. Although, wouldn't they be embarrassed? Even a little bit? Ugh.

[juliann.livejournal.com]

-the uber wheelchair (iBot) is about 40K. I'd buy it in a second if I could afford it!

of course, you are probably right about that guy, but what if he'd already given 100K to charity? Does that make his pen thing more tolerable? What if the pens were for a charity auction in which 80K would go to charity and he'd donate the 50K pens?

My uncle is a multi-millionaire but you'd never know it. And yes, pretty much ALL of his money goes to charity (or paying his mom's medical expenses) -- he quit work and is a missionary. He does drive a merc but he only buys a new one every 10 years or so. (I want his charity money to go to ME but I think my mother would die before she'd let me ask him!!)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Somehow I don't see the uber-wheelchair in the same category as a diamond-encrusted pen. Now if you were going to drop an extra million to get a diamond-encrusted uber-wheelchair, we'd have to talk.

And you're right, the guy /could/ be secretly donating billions of dollars to charity, but he told Jen that he was going to be using his parents' money to buy these pens (if they would let him) to match the two diamond-encrusted fountain pens they gave him in the past.

I'm totally cool with rich people who really /are/ out there helping charities in a big way and not just in a token way.

[sunshyne72.livejournal.com]

As much as I hate the rich for spending carelessly, I wonder if I would do the same, now I don't think I'd buy pens with my cash, but I would buy what others may deem dumb or stupid, etc.

I have a love/hate relationship with it.

I think my dream is to have a ranch in colorado or northern california with horses and a small garden to grow veggies. I wouldn't raise cattle or chickens or anything. Of course all of that takes money to have. On top of that I'd want a studio and a house on the beach so I could paint and be a photographer and basically just do what I want without "working for the man."

And... just to be comfortable. Of course, if I had a lot of expendable cash, I'd soooo be feeding people and trying to get them housing.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I dunno... if I had more money I'm sure we would buy a few more things here and there but not to any kind of crazy extent, mostly because I don't really like accumulating "things." I wish we had more money, but so we could own a home and have a bunch of kids, not so we could coat all of our possessions with diamonds.

It's just all so frustrating to me.

[dch4.livejournal.com]

You're also making an assumption that those people aren't also already donating a large amount of money to charity. In most cases, I'd be willing to bet that they are.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Most cases? I don't know about most cases but I will definitely concede that some are. I just don't think Paris Hilton is running around feeding the poor on a regular basis, you know?

[poopsmoothie.livejournal.com]

OR... we could destroy the money system altogether (which inevitably leads to class division and the rich exploiting the poor, no matter how philanthropic they are) and instead have a mutual aid-based economy characterized by direct democracy and decentralization.

Just, you know, puttin' it out there. :)

[smurfbrother.livejournal.com]

If only my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle.

[poopsmoothie.livejournal.com]

she could get them. they have surgeries now. ;)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

We /could/... but I don't think that will work, either. I think it can work on the small-scale with little communal groups, but a whole country or a large group of people? Naaah, not going to happen.

Get yourself an island nation and have at it!

[poopsmoothie.livejournal.com]

Well, no one's really suggesting that we try to run the country as one giant anarchist society. That clearly wouldn't work. We're talking about direct democracy on a neighborhood scale. Many tiny groups, you know? See anything by Peter Kropotkin, Mikhail Bakunin, Errico Malatesta, Subcommandante Marcos, Murray Bookchin, Janet Biehl... basically any anarcho-communist or anarcho-syndicalist riter.

[(Anonymous)]

uh... writer.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Right, but if we have all of these anarcho-syndicalist "neighborhoods," I really believe people would lose out - especially those people who are less able to help themselves.

I think communal groups/neighborhoods/homes work best when everyone has something valuable to contribute or barter, but the truth is that there are people who are not going to fall into those categories... and those people rely on our government to take care of them.

Sure, it would be nice if those people's loved ones would step up and provide that responsibility. But I guess I don't have a lot of faith in that happening across the board.

I think if little groups want to run themselves and show the greater society how it's done, HAVE AT IT! My coworker just moved his family into a communal property where everyone owns a little piece of this complex, and it is a great experience for all of them. But they are selective, as most of these communal groups are selective. So some people will always be left out. Which makes them an underclass.

[poopsmoothie.livejournal.com]

The problem that always arises in these discussions is that people assume that other than the specific changes in question, our society will be exactly the same. If that's true, then clearly direct democracy wouldn't work very well (although I doubt it would be worse than our current system). But we're talking about transformative change, about creating a society in which everyone's talents and abilities are able to be expressed. There are very, very few people who have nothing to give back... and when everyone has equal access to resources, along with equal responsibility, taking care of those very few will be much less of a burden. I do not believe that people as a whole are fundamentally shitty... and even if they, anarchism comes with checks and balances,

And it is a) impossible and b) elitist to try to have tiny anarchist societies right now, at least for most people. The Zapatistas are doing it fairly ell, just in order to survive. Most anarchists form flawed but worthwhile communities in the cities they live in, and mine has made my life better than I ever could have imagined. But to retreat from the world and everything it needs and all the work to be done so we can be free(-er)?
As APOC said about CrimethInc., because what, white suburban kids need MORE privilege? No one is free while others are oppressed.

[poopsmoothie.livejournal.com]

sorry, I meant 'and even if they are'. My keyboard is kind of shitty.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I think there are many more people than you think who will have very little to give back. I think it sounds great in a utopian sort of way but in reality, people are independent and like to do things for themselves - especially the easy things. When it comes to what they want help with, they want help with the stuff they can't do themselves. This really cuts the number of people who have something vital to give.

If everyone has to contribute something, there will always be people who have to, for whatever reason, repeatedly do things they don't want to. And that means there's always room for a little civil unrest.

[carina-s.livejournal.com]

I don't get it, either.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

That's why I love you!

[rizzo41.livejournal.com]

I am bitter towards rich people, but only because I'm not rich, too. I would love to have money to throw around on frivolous things and I probably would. Well, I do already, but I can only afford middle class frivolity. I didn't have to buy Swarovski crystals to glue to my mp3 player, phone, and glasses case. I probably could have found a lesser equality equivalent, but Swarovskis are the best. I just laid down more money on a camera (that I don't know how to use) than I have ever put down on any electronics in my life. Combined. Does this justify the homeless man to hate me because I have a sparkly phone and a fancy camera, but I didn't buy the homeless newspaper? To them I may as well be a millionaire.

Do you know Diamond Pen Man's story? Maybe he's given 10 million to charity this year. Maybe he plays Santa Claus every Christmas at the orphanage. Maybe there's a wing of some hospital named after him because he paid to have a new cancer center built. Maybe his mantle is crowded up with the pictures of the foster kids he's taken in over the years. Would that justify him wasting money on something sparkly? Sure, one of those pens cost as much as I make in a year, but it's his money that he (likely) earned and can do with as he pleases. If I had that kind of money I may gag over dropping that kind of cash on anything, but I wouldn't mind trying to get used to it. Then again, my mom gags if I spend $50 on sneakers.

It's also entirely possible that this guy is a complete waste of human life who deserves to be covered in grape jelly and buried in an ant hill. But we don't know his story.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

All I know about Diamond Pen Man is that he has 2 diamond-encrusted fountain pens given to him by his parents, and he wants to use their money to get 2 ballpoint pens to match. (This is what he told Jen, anyway.) So I pretty much consider him a waste of space.

And yes, I concede that there are some wealthy people who are out to make the world a better place - I just don't see too many of them.

You raise a valid point about the homeless people. I don't think that they see you as a millionaire, and I also imagine they see you differently than the uber-rich. You seem to actually be thinking of them instead of stepping on them.

[jeffholton.livejournal.com]

Whether your bank account has a penny or a billion, it is wise to be wise with what you have.

Spending $100K on two diamond-encrusted pens is a lot wiser than, say, buying a boat.

Boats depreciate.

Diamonds don't.

If I *had* a spare $100K burning a hole in my pocket, I might do the same thing.

Unfortunately, all I have in my pocket at the moment is...a spare hole.

Ooh! Wait...I actually just checked! I have $3! I can buy a cornflake-encrusted papermate pen!! :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I should totally make you a cornflake-encrusted ballpoint pen. That would be hysterical.

And I agree that diamonds depreciate far less than a boat or a car or whatever. True. But bank accounts work, too! I mean, do you think he's really going to cash in his blingbling pen someday?

[jeffholton.livejournal.com]

When the United States government inevitably collapses, a diamond-encrusted pen will be worth a hell of a lot more than a piece of paper that says you have 10 billion "things" in the bank, that is, dollars that mean nothing anymore.

Cash it in someday? Sure. Maybe not this lifetime, but eventually.