Oh yes. I worked as an executive assistant to a series of more and more wealthy people, each of whom at some point said to me some variation of "I just don't understand where the money goes...I mean, I don't live extravagantly!" When I made the mistake of pointing out to one of them that their electricity bill would cover my rent, the face she made was priceless--as if that had anything to do with anything!

i think the whole rod blagojevich train wreck we're dealing with here in the states atm goes quite a long way towards proving this theory. :P

I have just spent a large part of this evening reading that entire thing, tyvm.

And suggested a topic; namely the American white tendency to use "illegal immigrants" to blanket cover people of Mexican or Hispanic ethnicity, as if there are no other kinds of illegal immigrants in the world ever; news programs are a prime offender in this-- every time they claim to talk about the 'immigration issue', their focus is, of course, on the U.S./Mexico border, as if American doesn't have another major border to its North.

Here in Australia, "illegal immigrant" is frequently code for "Middle Eastern refugee", although of course it's absolutely legal for people to seek asylum. Although the largest single group of illegal immigrants here in Australia are visa overstayers from the United States, lol.

I figure if the US didn't want all these people turning up from Mexico, they ought not to have pinched quite so much of it.

I can't help but be occasionally horrified at the insane levels of xenophobia from the now-dominant masses in countries that were initially 'stolen' from their original owners in the first place.

When I bring up my status in response to such racist comments, there's always the inevitable backtracking of, "Oh, well you're married to a U.S. citizen," (I wonder what the stats are on legal US citizens being in the same circumstances with spouses of illegal/grey area status), or the classic, "Oh, well, you speak English as a first language," when they really should just say, "You're obviously an educated white girl, so that's an automatic pass."

Ngggh. BIG hot button topic for me.

edited for moar gud speling

Edited at 2009-01-26 12:25 pm (UTC)

I'm flypaper for grumbling racist strangers. Must be the red hair.

Although the largest single group of illegal immigrants here in Australia are visa overstayers from the United States, lol.

Really? I thought it was British backpackers. Who don't normally end up in detention centres.

Out of curiosity, how many illegal Canadian immigrants are there in the US? For some reason I had an idea that it was similar to the whole Australia/New Zealand thing, where you could cross borders and work pretty easily.

Dunno - trying to Google the details gives you either OMG DARKIES crap, or pages admitting they have no idea how many illegal immigrants there actually are in the US. (Blimey, do Canadians have to go through the whole fingerprint and photo thing?)

i don't even hear people say "illegal immigrants;" i usually hear "illegal alien." they're not even human anymore (like said white people's immigrant grandparents) they're an entirely hostile species that are coming to take over and change our way of life.

i had a rant about that at one point; the number of purely inflammatory headlines like "illegal aliens: are they affecting the vote?" was incredible, and i don't think most people even noticed the bombardment, but they were definitely picking up the message.

the number of purely inflammatory headlines like "illegal aliens: are they affecting the vote?" was incredible,

That's scary. And how would they be affecting the vote if they're illegal?

with their L33T alien H4XX0R skills, apparently, as it never seemed like these questions were ever answered satisfactorily; they were just thrown out there to attract/keep viewers and readers, i guess. yet, post-election, there was some whining about illegals stealing the vote. (unfortunately i'm stuck in the middle of the only republican county in all of new jersey, altho that trend appears to be shifting).

BRUJERÍA

There is an excellent gag in the first episode of Middleman along these lines, in which Wendys hopeless film school soon-to-be-ex boyfriend is breaking up with her because he needs 'pain in his life' for a film school project

This is painful for me, too, you know? I am the victim here. My dad is a lawyer. We have money. I’ve never worked for anything. No pain in my life. The professor stood me up in front of the class and he said that. You have any idea how that stings, to know that you have no hurt on the inside?

More seriously, relatively wealthy and privileged people (often, but not always, white) greatly freaking out when things just aren't working the way they want them too is pretty much my wifes standard working life (she is an Emergency Department doctor), and pretty much explains why she enjoyed working in Alice Springs so much by contrast.

You've got your own sitcom there.

with the economy going bust, the displays of entitlement and crying are ridiculous. there's some overlap in age/experience--like, i couldn't imagine some of my scottish and italian inlaws whining the way a lot of the younger boomers and gen-xers do, even those within their families--i hear my mother-in-law growling "suck it up!" to people an awful lot. *laughing*

i also think there's a lot to do with class (as much as people try to ignore that), but yeah, this is one of those places where zie privilege really, really shows.

I like your mother in law.

I still remember as a kid us being so poor while dad was between jobs that the only bill we paid while dad was out of work was the gas bill. That way, we could sit around the oven to keep warm, and play cards by the light. And we saw that as a nuisance, as opposed to a hardship.

It's funny the way life sculpts our attitudes. If I had to give up my private jet, I'd be overjoyed that that was all I had to give up!

What can I say? Wealth insulates, and isolates.

Rrgh. Rewriting my comment here.

I think for some people it's more subtle than just fear of losing control, or fear of losing unnecessary luxuries. I think what they aren't equipped to cope with is fear.

When you've lived well all your life, and suddenly you have less than you used to, it's scary because you wonder how much farther down you can go. You see other people in your own social class suddenly penniless, and wonder if it could happen to you.

Hell, how many of us here, talking about "the rich" as some kind of alien culture, have ever really been poor? I haven't. My current job was very comfortable when it was full-time. Now that my hours have been cut in half, I'm still more comfortable than I was when I did temp work after university. I haven't had to change my lifestyle due to the sudden drop in income, but it makes me realise that things could get a lot worse (and I mean that in the literal sense of wondering what will happen in the near future, rather than the "I'm glad I'm not those other people" sense).

I feel guilty to even talk about the fact that I'm afraid, because I know a lot of people are worried about whether they will have three meals tomorrow or a heated house.

I reckon your compassion does you credit. You could be right that the private jet is really a symbol of safety and stability. OTOH, its owner might just be spoilt rotten!

There's probably also a tendency for people to feel this fear of instability, and have it manifest as spoiltness (?) because they aren't sure what they're afraid of. The most obvious thing is losing the lifestyle that you like and have (probably) worked hard to get, but the fear is deeper than that, and people don't understand it.

Also, compassion for the rich made me LOL. But I was just trying to think of myself as "the rich" -- there are some people replying here who talk about having been genuinely poor, and I've never been there myself. Hence, I'm one of the rich in this particular financial crisis. My post was an answer based on what I'm thinking about my own situation. Maybe it applies to the private jet guy, and maybe he really is just spoilt.