4 ms·

My sense from reading was that he was upset by what he perceived to be hypocrisy on the part of the wealthy. In that they talked the talk about charity and maki

My sense from reading was that he was upset by what he perceived to be hypocrisy on the part of the wealthy. In that they talked the talk about charity and making the world better, but their actions spoke differently. So liberal words, liberal values being expressed, but pure greed when it mattered.

bluetomcat 8y ago
If they really cared for the poor, they would diversify their investments both geographically and across many sectors of the real economy in order to restructure it for better efficiency. What they do instead is that they boost their PR image and invest it in the "next big thing" like driverless cars, augmented reality, etc., and these endeavours often fail in a few years time, effectively wasting the capital and disproportionally enriching the selected few.
- haney 8y ago
  Reminds me of one of my favorite Biden quotes, “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.”
  - HillaryBriss 8y ago
    good quote. the "it's hard for a rich man to enter heaven" sentiment rewritten in modern language. i don't have access to their balance sheets and P&L statements, but nowadays i assume most of our well-respected thought-leaders, entertainers, politicians and other public figures are fundamentally fakes and frauds, continually perfecting their SJW cover stories. and i think they do it as much to fool themselves as to fool the rest of us.
    - wallflower 8y ago
      Don't forget the environmental "champions" who fly private...
JumpCrisscross 8y ago
I commute between New York and the Bay Area, and am consistently struck by how plutocratic of a city San Francisco has become. Most social functions are held in private venues and heavily segregated by race and class. Leaving a charity event, a millionaire will casually step over a homeless person en route to their apartment. They will talk about poverty in Africa and then vote in NIMBYist politicians. A total gutting of humanity, and I’m saying this as a New Yorker.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  It's a dangerous trend that people with money less and less interact with people with less money. Private schools, super expensive neighborhoods, super expensive gyms, bars and restaurants. These people have the power to influence political decisions but they have no idea how most people live.
  - almost_usual 8y ago
    This is why YIMBY movements will continue to fall flat on their face.
    - JumpCrisscross 8y ago
      > This is why YIMBY movements will continue to fall flat on their face They fall flat on their face because those who are best placed to counter-act the Bay Area's NIMBYism find it fashionable to market their political laziness as cynicism.
  - kikoreis 8y ago
    You have articulated brilliantly something which as a Brazilian disturbs me to no end. I despair seeing cities change their structure to accommodate the desire for segregation.
    - maxxxxx 8y ago
      Speaking of Brazil reminds me of a documentary about Ayrton Senna I watched years ago. He flew his beautiful helicopter to his beautiful skyscraper in Sao Paolo, then to his beautiful beach house and then taking out his beautiful boat. All that with dirty, poor kids and the slums in Sao Paolo in the background. It was a really jarring experience.
matte_black 8y ago
People who pay attention have always known this about high society liberals. They will latch onto populist movements to help raise their image with the public and bask in the prestige that comes with it, but behind the scenes they are not progressive at all. For many, being wealthy is not enough, for they must also be admired by the general public, and you don’t get there by supporting unpopular views. It’s pathetic really. Always say what you mean and mean what you say. It’s better to have a strong connection to a small niche of people, than a shallow connection to the general public.
- le-mark 8y ago
  Always say what you mean and mean what you say. That's a radical notion for almost everyone, not just the rich! Surprisingly difficult in practice too.
  - matte_black 8y ago
    It’s no longer difficult once you drop the mask and stop trying to be who you think people expect you to be.
    - eli_gottlieb 8y ago
      It's not difficult at all when you were simply never good at pretending ;-).
- bilbo0s 8y ago
  "...It’s better to have a strong connection to a small niche of people, than a shallow connection to the general public...." Strong connections to a small group of people is exactly what the article is getting at. It's a members only wealth club effectively, much like what you find in New England. (If I'm being honest, it's EXACTLY like what we've had in New England since our inception.) At any rate, these people already have extremely strong connections to their small group. What we're trying to do is get them to have some, at lest shallow, connections to the rest of us.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> So liberal words, liberal values being expressed, but pure greed when it mattered. But liberalism (both in the modern American sense, and in the classical sense of which both modern American liberalism and mainstream modern American conservatism are subsets) is a system which overtly valorizes greed and the pursuit of personal gain in a facially neutral common market-based environment as both a deontological good and a practical engine of social progress. (Modern American liberalism differs in its expression of this from the modern conservative expression of classical liberalism in favoring modest and limited active correction of the impact of past deviations from the ideal of facial neutrality as a matter of Justice and restoration of the ideal neutral condition whereas the conservative expression of classical liberalism favors studious current facial neutrality.)

bluetomcat 8y ago

If they really cared for the poor, they would diversify their investments both geographically and across many sectors of the real economy in order to restructure it for better efficiency. What they do instead is that they boost their PR image and invest it in the "next big thing" like driverless cars, augmented reality, etc., and these endeavours often fail in a few years time, effectively wasting the capital and disproportionally enriching the selected few.

haney 8y ago
Reminds me of one of my favorite Biden quotes, “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.”
- HillaryBriss 8y ago
  good quote. the "it's hard for a rich man to enter heaven" sentiment rewritten in modern language. i don't have access to their balance sheets and P&L statements, but nowadays i assume most of our well-respected thought-leaders, entertainers, politicians and other public figures are fundamentally fakes and frauds, continually perfecting their SJW cover stories. and i think they do it as much to fool themselves as to fool the rest of us.
  - wallflower 8y ago
    Don't forget the environmental "champions" who fly private...

JumpCrisscross 8y ago

I commute between New York and the Bay Area, and am consistently struck by how plutocratic of a city San Francisco has become. Most social functions are held in private venues and heavily segregated by race and class. Leaving a charity event, a millionaire will casually step over a homeless person en route to their apartment. They will talk about poverty in Africa and then vote in NIMBYist politicians. A total gutting of humanity, and I’m saying this as a New Yorker.

maxxxxx 8y ago
It's a dangerous trend that people with money less and less interact with people with less money. Private schools, super expensive neighborhoods, super expensive gyms, bars and restaurants. These people have the power to influence political decisions but they have no idea how most people live.
- almost_usual 8y ago
  This is why YIMBY movements will continue to fall flat on their face.
  - JumpCrisscross 8y ago
    > This is why YIMBY movements will continue to fall flat on their face They fall flat on their face because those who are best placed to counter-act the Bay Area's NIMBYism find it fashionable to market their political laziness as cynicism.
- kikoreis 8y ago
  You have articulated brilliantly something which as a Brazilian disturbs me to no end. I despair seeing cities change their structure to accommodate the desire for segregation.
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    Speaking of Brazil reminds me of a documentary about Ayrton Senna I watched years ago. He flew his beautiful helicopter to his beautiful skyscraper in Sao Paolo, then to his beautiful beach house and then taking out his beautiful boat. All that with dirty, poor kids and the slums in Sao Paolo in the background. It was a really jarring experience.

matte_black 8y ago

People who pay attention have always known this about high society liberals. They will latch onto populist movements to help raise their image with the public and bask in the prestige that comes with it, but behind the scenes they are not progressive at all. For many, being wealthy is not enough, for they must also be admired by the general public, and you don’t get there by supporting unpopular views. It’s pathetic really. Always say what you mean and mean what you say. It’s better to have a strong connection to a small niche of people, than a shallow connection to the general public.

le-mark 8y ago
Always say what you mean and mean what you say. That's a radical notion for almost everyone, not just the rich! Surprisingly difficult in practice too.
- matte_black 8y ago
  It’s no longer difficult once you drop the mask and stop trying to be who you think people expect you to be.
  - eli_gottlieb 8y ago
    It's not difficult at all when you were simply never good at pretending ;-).
bilbo0s 8y ago
"...It’s better to have a strong connection to a small niche of people, than a shallow connection to the general public...." Strong connections to a small group of people is exactly what the article is getting at. It's a members only wealth club effectively, much like what you find in New England. (If I'm being honest, it's EXACTLY like what we've had in New England since our inception.) At any rate, these people already have extremely strong connections to their small group. What we're trying to do is get them to have some, at lest shallow, connections to the rest of us.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> So liberal words, liberal values being expressed, but pure greed when it mattered. But liberalism (both in the modern American sense, and in the classical sense of which both modern American liberalism and mainstream modern American conservatism are subsets) is a system which overtly valorizes greed and the pursuit of personal gain in a facially neutral common market-based environment as both a deontological good and a practical engine of social progress. (Modern American liberalism differs in its expression of this from the modern conservative expression of classical liberalism in favoring modest and limited active correction of the impact of past deviations from the ideal of facial neutrality as a matter of Justice and restoration of the ideal neutral condition whereas the conservative expression of classical liberalism favors studious current facial neutrality.)