The Scourge of White Wealth and Power

The Pathology of the Rich White Family

Posted on May 17, 2015

By Chris Hedges

The pathology of the rich white family is the most dangerous pathology in America. The rich white family is cursed with too much money and privilege. It is devoid of empathy, the result of lifetimes of entitlement. It has little sense of loyalty and lacks the capacity for self-sacrifice. Its definition of friendship is reduced to “What can you do for me?” It is possessed by an insatiable lust to increase its fortunes and power. It believes that wealth and privilege confer to it a superior intelligence and virtue. It is infused with an unchecked hedonism and narcissism. And because of all this, it interprets reality through a lens of self-adulation and greed that renders it delusional. The rich white family is a menace. The pathologies of the poor, when set against the pathologies of rich white people, are like a candle set beside the sun.

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Michael Kraus, Paul Piff and Dacher Keltner, social scientists at the University of California, did research that led them to conclude that the poor have more empathy than the rich. The poor, they argued, do not have the ability to dominate their environments. They must build relationships with others to survive. This requires that they be able to read the emotions of those around them and respond. It demands that they look after each other. And this makes them more empathetic. The rich, who can control their environments, do not need to bother with the concerns or emotions of others. They are in charge. What they want gets done. And the longer they live at the center of their own universe, the more callous, insensitive and cruel they become.

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HisServant said:

Yeah, its a study based on racism to begin with... and it paints with too broad of a stroke and stereotypes people.

If the same article had come out about people of color, there would be riots.

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PureX said:

I stumbled on this essay today, and thought it was interesting.

It was interesting because on the one hand, it is clearly a biased assessment of "rich white families". And yet on the other hand, much of the judgment being leveled, here, is right 'on the money', so to speak. So it brings up an odd question: is bias really biased when it happens to be accurate, too?

Anyway, I know most of you won't read past a sentence or two because you have the attention span of gnats. And many of you won't read it because you don't want to know about anything that challenges your own bias. But for the two or three TOL members that actually will read this, I think you'll find it interesting.

Here's the opening paragraph:

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The Berean said:

One piece of advice PureX. If you want people to read the article and actually engage in fruitful discussion don't insult your audience and tone down your self-righteousness and arrogance. There is nothing new in the article. The "rich" have always sought power and control throughout human history. This is not new. And it's not only rich white people. The history of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East is the same, powerful elite wealthy people of color controlling their respective masses of their nations. The article seems to blame try ALL the social ills of black people on rich white people.

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Granite said:

Was my impression Hedges's focus was on the West and the U.S. in particular. And out of curiosity, what global ills do you see being caused these days by powerful, rich black people?:think:

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The Berean said:

I have a more global and international perspective. Off the top of head I was thinking of The Sudan and especially Equatorial Guinea. Places like these rarely get any press here in the US. But rich people dominating over the rest of the people is not just a white people problem, it's a global people problem. In the article in the OP I noticed that the author offers no solutions whatsoever.The question I have is what do we do about thr wealthy elite's control over us?

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Caledvwlch said:

That's a good question. What to do, besides just being angry about it.

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The Berean said:

I have a more global and international perspective. Off the top of head I was thinking of The Sudan and especially Equatorial Guinea. Places like these rarely get any press here in the US. But rich people dominating over the rest of the people is not just a white people problem, it's a global people problem. In the article in the OP I noticed that the author offers no solutions whatsoever.The question I have is what do we do about thr wealthy elite's control over us?

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Caledvwlch said:

That's a good question. What to do, besides just being angry about it.

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Granite said:

Guillotines strike me as about right.

More practically? Not really sure.

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And what happened in that historical example?

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Granite said:

A good start that got out of hand. Lessons learned. Doesn't stop the fact that you can only screw the people for so long before there's a reaction. There is no other way to deal with robber barons.

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TomO said:

:AMR: ITT Granite thinks that humanity learns "lessons". :chuckle:

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Granite said:

A good start that got out of hand. Lessons learned. Doesn't stop the fact that you can only screw the people for so long before there's a reaction. There is no other way to deal with robber barons.

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Granite said:

Here and there. And hey, if history has to echo--or even rhyme--I've got little problem with it in this case.

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