Do you resent rich people?

[SpeedoGuy]

Resent the rich? Not automatically.

But the way they got rich? Now that's a potential gold mine of resentment.

 

[Empathizer]

My grandfather is a landlord in L.A. now, but he started out so poor that he and all his eleven older brothers had to run out to the railroad tracks at 4:30 am to collect the coal that fell off of trains so their mama would be able to feel her fingers to mend their workshirts, heat water for soup and baths (you had to wash your own shirt at the same time as you bathed to save water and coal), etc. This was Lower East Side Jewish New York for you!

But the best I feel about myself is when Grandpa tells me I remind him of his mother. It means to me that being upper middle class hasn't made me into a bad person. He says that of all his grandchildren, I am the one who most reminds him of his mother and of her smile and strength. If I heard that I had to give away all my comforts tomorrow or I'd be like the typical media depiction of a young Jewish female from the bourgeois classes (my father is a doctor), and Grandpa would stop telling me I was like his mother, I would die of sadness. I think having a sense of history, social perspective, and some sort of family, whether chosen or biological or both, is needed to be a truly good person. I think that's what makes us good or bad.

After all, people so often misquote that Bible quote about money. It's not "Money is the root of all evil." It's "The love of money is the root of all evil." Having it is fine if parting with it isn't your all-time #1 fear and potential heartbreak. Love should be reserved for people, animals, and sentimentally-valuable things like fathers' pocket watches, photos, pressed flowers, family rosaries/bibles/hijab pins/prayer rugs, etc.

If you're in love with an object, and it isn't because that object is attached to your struggle against inhumanity -- your own or that of you fellow man -- maybe you need a refresher course on what "love" really means...?

 

[Krusader]

If they got rich through good old hard work i've got no complain but if they get their riches through ripping off their fellow man (example Enron, Worldcom), then i've got a bone to pick

 

[tripod]

Rich people definitely know how to spend money... middle class and poor people always try and nickle and dime you at every turn. Most rich people just break out the checkbook.

I'm in the wedding business and the bitchiest most problem brides are the local middle and lower middle class brides who drive us up the fucking wall with their bullshit. The upper middle class brides we get are dignified and treat us like we are professionals.

 

[thadjock]

just the ones that drop coins in my coffee when i'm out wearing jeans and tshirts with holes in them

 

[Ethyl]

I resent people who feel such a grandiose sense of entitlement they'll do anything to get what they want even if that means screwing over other people. No demographic or social class is immune.

 

[D_Amyntas Lillydong]

i agree with the previous poster.

 

[Drifterwood]

Rather than resent the rich, I find it depressing how endemic the structure of real poverty is. Behind institutionalised poverty, you will normally find a politician or a theology.

 

[Northland]

The times I have trouble with rich people is when they wave their wealth about like some sort of handkerchief-especially bothersome when it's wealth they inherited or is in their stinking rustfund. Of course the nice thing is when their rustfund runs dry:biggrin1:. I know of 2 persons who pulled that nearly impossible deed off. One is now centered and attends DA, the other is hooked up to tubes in the hospital because they couldn't cope-or suicide correctly. Sad, I feel bad for him and hope he can recover.

Then there are those who stare down their noses and indicate how low you are-forgetting the good luck that got them to where they are.


In general though I do not resent the people, I just can't stand their 'my shit don't smell' attitude. Appreciate the fact that wealth is a gift and temporary and I'll have no problem with you.

 

[cock23]

To be honest it's pretty pointless resenting rich people. It's never done anything good for society historically-it spawned Communism for a start!

Resentment and jealousy are useless emotions anyway. What can one achieve by being jelous and resentful of someone else? It's much better to forget about what everyone else is doing and focus on how one's personal situation can be improved. Sitting there and focusing on resentment of something or somebody hasn't ever gotten anyone anywhere.

 

[D_Maurice Mountlilly]

I resent people who feel such a grandiose sense of entitlement they'll do anything to get what they want even if that means screwing over other people. No demographic or social class is immune.

took the words right outta my mouth......

 

[BIGBULL29]

To be honest it's pretty pointless resenting rich people. It's never done anything good for society historically-it spawned Communism for a start!

Resentment and jealousy are useless emotions anyway. What can one achieve by being jelous and resentful of someone else? It's much better to forget about what everyone else is doing and focus on how one's personal situation can be improved. Sitting there and focusing on resentment of something or somebody hasn't ever gotten anyone anywhere.

Truly enlightened folks would not resent rich people (perhaps feel sorry for them and show compassion), but you can't expect average people to not feel jealousy or anger. It's only human nature like getting a boner. It's a natural emotion, but it won't get you anywhere; that's where elightenment comes in. All that said, you surely can't expect a person in abject poverty to not resent the rich?

 

[Principessa]

Rich people definitely know how to spend money... middle class and poor people always try and nickle and dime you at every turn. Most rich people just break out the checkbook.

I'm in the wedding business and the bitchiest most problem brides are the local middle and lower middle class brides who drive us up the fucking wall with their bullshit. The upper middle class brides we get are dignified and treat us like we are professionals.

I blame that on shows like Bridezillas. For some reason, some women think that just because they are getting married they have a right to treat everyone around them like shit. They don't. It's more a matter of breeding and manners. I know people reared on welfare who have better manners and diction than the hot messes you see on Bridezillas and shows of that ilk.

 

[Gillette]

I don't know about "resent" but I sure want this guy's numbers.

 

[vince]

I don't know about "resent" but I sure want this guy's numbers.

Well now how unfair is that eh? Unbelievable.

Gary Troll (his real name), the owner of Troll's restaurant in West Vancouver has won multiple times as well. The second win was over 10 million and he was already semi-rich from the restaurant.

 

[Nrets]

Yes. Yes I do.

 

[D_William Henry Hairyson]

i don't resent them since i haven't had a particularly "hard life" but sure would like to do as Roman Abramovich at Nello's: Russian Billionaire Blows $52,000 on Lunch!!!!!! | TMZ.com

 

[2322]

There are some real unconscious assholes out there. This summer I met a Russian that was bragging about how he had put new engines in his yacht (it's an ugly piece of .... btw) and now he can cruise to St. Tropez doing 50mph and burns 4000 liters of diesel per hour. He was crying about the fuel in a comic "poor me" way, but really he was just bragging in the most crass way possible. I didn't resent him. I wanted to kick him in the nuts.

You deal with the superrich -- unlike most of us who come into contact with the merely wealthy. I tend to find the Russian billionaire types to be the epitome of new money: boorish, selfish, and no taste. I'm glad to know that there is compensation enough to have to deal with these sorts.

What is interesting is that I often find (outside of the aforementioned) that the rich have a great appreciation for craftsmanship and artistry. Certainly many of them buy such works because it's expected of them, but a disproportionate number seem to truly admire and respect people who create things of beauty or precision. Perhaps it's because they feel a kinship with people who do what they do with expertise or because they wish they could create things of beauty and importance, rather than just generate money. It's an interesting relationship.

I only resent rich people who think that they're better than everyone else just because they have money. Money can't buy class and manners. There are many rich people who have neither.

There are indeed and I think that attitude is growing here in the US. The sense of understatement and noblesse oblige has been replaced by, as I've said before, "fuck you, I've got mine." That sort of attitude is demonstrated amply on such shows as American Housewives. Despite being absolute train wrecks, the modern Madame Bovarys on these shows have legions of fans who aspire to be just like them.

Why would I confine my resentment to rich people ? There are plenty of poor arseholes around too.

Far too true! Sometimes I'd like to think that poverty made people assholes yet I've known many wonderful poor people with immeasurable dignity and graciousness. I don't equate being rich with being rude or obnoxious or even rapaciousness. I've seen a great deal of all of these at every end of the economic spectrum.

Those who deride the so called politics of envy, claiming we need the rich are the boot lickers of our culture. Money is good, it is the way we share wealth within our society. The love of money and adulation of those who love money (filthy lucre as it used to be called) is getting worse. It isn't poor people who finance terrorism, though the rich will coerce them into carrying out the crimes. Note how the American dollar financed the atrocities in Ireland, and American politicians who now hob nob and support the terrorist leaders in their positions of devolved political power. The trickle down effect philosophy is a red herring. Money made honestly enhances society, money grabbed dishonorably from the poor, be it in rural America or exploited Asia and Africa, is a scourge which debauches us all.

Which is one of the reasons I shudder when I hear people parrot back whatever it is that Limbaugh and his ilk vomit forth into their microphones and word processors. People believe that if they think the way they are told by these rich people, who merely serve the superrich themselves, that they'll get rich themselves or, at least, be acting honorably. It's rather like the simpering attitude of the British middle classes during the empire where everyone had their place and to reach above one's station was rude and disrespectful not only to one's, "betters," but one's own class! And anybody who figured out this was complete bullshit propagated by the mouthpieces (mainstream politicians, the church, and media) of the superrich was immediately labeled an unpatriotic anarchist. The objective of FOX and its minions (most blatantly though certainly not alone), is to give those who are very rich a platform from which to tell the not-rich how to think and live. If you can't have a lot of money then at least you can be self-righteous and moral, sharing the ideals of the superrich, being like them, being a supporter of the system that made them rich and placed them in power. When I think of how many are duped into believing all that which is, economically and socially, just plain bad for them is best, my head just spins with pitiful amazement.

America's going through the same sort of thing today. As economic class-crossing becomes more difficult due to the policies enacted by the political flunkies of the superrich, it becomes ever more important to assure the relatively poor masses that their aspirations, whether by hard work or the lottery, are noble and that if they do what the superrich tell them, they'll always have hope (or at least be righteous in their relative poverty). And if you can't be rich, at least you can occasionally buy something from a status brand to make you feel rich.

Americans may have helped financed PIRA, but the Irish and British themselves supported terrorists and continue to do so. Americans aren't pulling the levers for McGuinness and Adams (and certainly not for Paisley). Americans aren't hiding para arms caches in their root cellars and Americans didn't impose a policy of indefinite detention or the horrendous Diplock courts. The Troubles required a large and diverse cast and America may have been a supporting player, but we weren't a lead.

This is the most ridiculous post I've seen on here yet! "Do you resent rich people"

I think a more appropriate title should have been "how many of you are angry at the world because the world doesn't give you enough free shit"

ANYONE in this country, and I mean ANYONE, can work hard and make money. The key words being "work hard". Some people will make it, others won't but that's life.

Hard work has nothing to do with it and never has. What matters is exploiting an economic opportunity to the degree that it makes you financially independent and having the opportunity to do so. Both of those opportunities are shrinking in the United States where class-crossing has become more difficult than at any other time in its history due to income inequality, failing public education, health care policy, restrictive business and trade laws, lack of capital, and disproportionate taxation. You stand a better chance of success starting a business in Denmark or New Zealand than the United States.

So long as you choose the right lottery numbers or invest in the right stock or exploit the right trend at the right time, very little work is required to become rich.

However, I do have my issues with people who are so desperate to make money that they'll destroy the lives of others to get it.

QFT

Rather than resent the rich, I find it depressing how endemic the structure of real poverty is. Behind institutionalised poverty, you will normally find a politician or a theology.

Very true. Poor people who aren't actively trying to increase their economic situation frequently adopt an attitude that what they have and who they are is good enough and invent or buy into the myth that poverty is somehow virtuous to make themselves feel better. Amazing how those myths are exploited by those with power to gain even more power and wealth at the expense of the poor.

I resent people who feel such a grandiose sense of entitlement they'll do anything to get what they want even if that means screwing over other people. No demographic or social class is immune.

Ditto. I can tell these Masters of the Universe types a mile away. They cut in front of you in traffic, in lines, and treat people who show them courtesy as if they were contemptible doormats for doing so. It's astonishing the number of these people though I tend to think urban areas harbor more of them so perhaps my interactions are disproportionate to their true number.

I tend to think there are more of them now because of how our media glorifies such behavior (think reality shows e.g. Bridezillas) where before media and religious organizations (which fewer people attend) and schools (which don't dare to teach ethics or manners to kids any more) taught that it was contemptible.

 

[MalakingTiti]

Even before I became wealthy myself I didn't resent rich people. Becoming rich and/or remaining so is mostly a matter of discipline and choices. Luck while certainly a factor, has a lot less to do with it than most think. In my view, those who resent the rich most, are usually the ones who lack the education, motivation, and ingenuity to do anything beyond being a simple worker be.

 

[nudeyorker]

I have been thinking about this thread for a few days to gather my thoughts. I don't consider myself rich or wealthy; I consider myself comfortable. The money that I have is about 30% of working my ass off for the last 40 years and 70% inherited. While I don't resent anyone who has more money than I do and I certainly don't think that I am a better person or more entitled than someone who has less money than I.
However I do resent people who think that what I have came easy and without a price to pay. I have worked very hard all of my life and I certainly wish that my mother and father were still alive to spend their money.
On the other hand I know a very very wealthy couple. I think that are most likely one of the wealthiest couples in NYC because I found out recently that they are the third most wealthy couple from their country of origin. Do I resent them? No. Do I feel sorry for them sometimes? Yes...they are the most unhappy neurotic people I know.