Rich people. They aren't like the rest of us. A study in the journal Psychological Science indicates that the more affluent have trouble detecting the emotions of other people. The Huffington Post article where I found this info, says, "Rich people don't choose to be rude. They simply can't help it." I'm not willing to go that far, although I've been convinced for a while that the plane of operations for the wealthy doesn't in the least way resemble the one the rest of us play on, so it's really two foreign countries we're talking about.
The fact is, the rich are desensitized emotionally from the concerns of all the "little people" who don't share their level of security and comfort. Maybe this explains why the millionaires in Congress are so oblivious to the real suffering of countless people. I'm thinking in particular of the adamant refusal of the Republicans in the lame duck Congress to even consider extending unemployment until the wealthiest two percent of the people in America were guaranteed a tax cut. The notion is just outrageous, utterly indefensible . . . and yet, it has come to pass.
This is just another piece of evidence that the wealthy people in American society (a generalization of course, there are always exceptions) don't give a tinker's damn about the rest of us. What is the most amazing thing to me is how the pronounced majority of the American people still believe that anybody in this country can become fabulously wealthy. What a crock! I need to look this up so I can present it here, but I know that of the super super rich, probably not one in ten has actually earned their fortune. It's mostly inheritance. And yet, the national myth that Republicans never cease trumpeting, everybody who has money has it because they worked for it, continues to mesmerize the millions upon millions of suckers who will never have money but who willingly lick the boots of people who would just as soon flush them down a toilet as look at them. Only in America.
2 comments:
Good piece. The Rich perform no function in society. The old notion that their investment created jobs is nonsense on any meaningful scale.
So, Robespierre, will it play out like when the aristocracy was discovered to have no real function and their perks were torn from them?
2011 will tell us a lot.
So far none of the rich and powerful have not shown any desire to shoulder any of the burden at all.
It will be interesting. Just what I wanted: another interesting year!
I think both of us fear a fearful retribution that will descend upon us all, guilty or not, as a result of this callous national policy. I hope that 2011 remains in the "interesting" category and doesn't escalate to "fateful" or "murderous."
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