I HATE rich people...

[RedRockRun]

So you don't hate all rich people, but you still named the thread, "I HATE rich people"?

OT:
I think it's easy to hate rich people - especially if you are in dire straits financially or just wish you had more money. It's natural for envy to turn into bitterness. Also there's the important factor of shame. Seeing the success of others makes you ashamed of your own failures, and since it's easier to externalize rather than internalize failure, hate follows suit. Therein lies my explanation for Occupy Wall Street. It's easier to say that people stole, inherited, or manipulated the system rather than admitting the truth, that some people work very hard for their wealth, often sacrificing their lives to make more money or get a promotion. Of course there is also corruption, but I don't hear any moderate arguments from the Occupy people. They never specify which people or areas in Wall Street; it's just Wall Street and "The Corporations". Honestly, they speak of Wall Street like people in the middle ages spoke of monsters and the Devil. It's just another scapegoat, an easy way of boiling down all the problems of a complicated and chaotic world into one easy villain.

 

[Dizchu]

I don't really understood it, how can rich people harm others then them more then poor people, do poor people not have access to guns, narcotics or just shitty people in general? The only way it makes sense if you have a "captain planet villain" rich guy, who also owns his own company which doesn't necessarily apply to everyone, and even then you can be sure the terrible decisions they did were backed by mid-payed pencil pushers who's just as in fault for ignoring the actions for profit.

Because rich people can afford a lot more guns and narcotics? You never heard of rockstars blowing thousands of dollars on cocaine?

Besides being demeaning for people who worked hard to get far in trying to claim their efforts were "luck", I can give you a good example, people who win the lottery and continue to spend all their fortune, so if you have a lot of money and keep getting money it's not "luck" but really is skill.

It's only demeaning because it's a reality check. Not everyone who works hard is rewarded for it, and people who haven't done a hard day's work in their lives can still have enough money to buy private jets and penthouses. That's the unfortunate reality of it, people who are born into wealth are far more likely to remain rich while those born in poverty are often doomed to remain in poverty.

You know what's really demeaning? Telling the people who work multiple jobs, can't afford to take massive risks with their careers and put the effort into paying for their own education that they aren't working hard enough. Meanwhile you have nutters like Donald Trump who can look at a homeless person and say "that person has $8 billion dollars more than me" (actual quote from Ivanka Trump) because they were in such colossal debt. People like Trump can play fast and loose with their money and suffer little consequences while people struggling to get by can't make the same risks.

Besides why would rich people people help the less fortunate?

Because "the less fortunate" are their workforce.

 

[Something Amyss]

Wouldn't know. Never met one. I have only contempt in my soul for Donald Trump; does that count?

Personally, I think it's unfair to judge any group of human beings just because of similarities to Trump.

 

[cikame]

Where i work i'm amongst lots of people all day long, over 8 and a half years i've learned that people, in general, are bad. Disappointing, stupid, ignorant, self entitled, rude, hiding truths with white lies all day long, putting on airs to fake their status in the world, there are exceptions, but i can't really separate the rich or poor because they all disturb me.

 

[mduncan50]

If a poor person is reckless with their money they mostly harm themselves. If a rich person is reckless with their money it harms those around them

I don't really understood it, how can rich people harm others then them more then poor people, do poor people not have access to guns, narcotics or just shitty people in general? The only way it makes sense if you have a "captain planet villain" rich guy, who also owns his own company which doesn't necessarily apply to everyone, and even then you can be sure the terrible decisions they did were backed by mid-payed pencil pushers who's just as in fault for ignoring the actions for profit.

I don't think it was meant less in terms of actual physical harm. I think if you look at this past recession where shady business dealings and investments of the rich ended up costing the lower class their homes, cars, and jobs, while the rich people in charge were still receiving millions in performance bonuses or buyout options.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

There's nothing inherently wrong with being rich. Although there's a HUGE difference between "15 million dollars" rich and "multi-billionaire" rich.

I mean not to say all multi-billionaires are assholes but anyone who has managed to accumulate money to that obscene extent most likely isn't a "hard worker" and rather has found a system to siphon capital out of the economy at a much higher rate than what it puts back in. AT BEST that's passively harmful just by virtue of its own existence, but in most cases that system probably involves exploiting unfair business practices and tax loopholes, which generally come with the territory of meddling in politics to make sure those things stay around.

 

[Callate]

Sure, rich people can be nice. Anyone can be nice.

The thing is, when a poor person breaks with humanity, they... maybe shoot someone. Hold up a liquor store. Burn down an apartment building. They get shot, they kill themselves, they go to jail.

When a really rich person breaks with humanity, they can destroy thousands of people's lives. They can devastate whole countries. They run legal and political systems into the ground.

...And all too often, they can walk away and do it again.

There's also the nature of wealth: many people who get to positions of extreme wealth either inherit it- and barely have to connect or develop empathy with anyone of a lower status- or claw their way over people to get it. Poverty is a lot less selective. You will unquestionably find a lot more sociopathy in a random drawing of a hundred CEOs than a hundred people who work a cash register.

Rich people can be honest, upstanding, decent people. Organizations like the Gates Foundation do a lot of good work, and I was genuinely impressed that Warren Buffett promised to give his fortune to charity.

But, y'know, most grizzly bears don't mess with people. It's just that they're a lot scarier than the field mice when they do.

 

[Queen Michael]

I like rich people. We're great. There are no words for how awesome we are.

Seriously though, people complain that rich people don't give their money to those who really need it, but that's true about anybody who ever bought a McDonald's meal instead of eating leftovers and donating the price of a Big Mac to charity. That money could have saved somebody's life, but no, you wanted that Big Mac.

 

[Vigormortis]

I didn't know they make 1.5 million dollar cars. That's absurd.

Oh, there are more expensive vehicles out there that can be bought and owned by the general masses. $1.5 mil isn't the top.

I like rich people. We're great. There are no words for how awesome we are.

Seriously though, people complain that rich people don't give their money to those who really need it, but that's true about anybody who ever bought a McDonald's meal instead of eating leftovers and donating the price of a Big Mac to charity. That money could have saved somebody's life, but no, you wanted that Big Mac.

I sincerely hope this is some sort of satirical joke. I'm having a hard time accepting the notion that someone could legitimately conflate the ills of buying an overly expensive sports car with buying sustenance.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

...Man, you ever just want to go on an aside about the usage of language, but also know that this just isn't the website to do it? Oh, the conundrum.

Anyway, ignoring the contexts of why people say 'I hate Rich People' (No, don't even think about it), I... don't have any problem with Rich People as a whole? Sure, there's a lot of dick-whistles in 'em, they've got a bad habit of being pretty ignorant of what poor people deal with (especially if their wealth is inherited) and it's really annoying that Politicians earn so god damn much for doing fuck-all (but that's an Australian thing), but... yeah, ain't going to hate a guy for having more money than me.

Will hate someone for thinking that because I'm poor I can't have nice things though. Like, fuck off mate, I saved up for my fancy phone and Computer over six months, don't go thinking I'm the asshole because I shouldn't have nice things. Besides, it's super easy to get 'fancy' electronics these days (and also kinda a necessity given how online-centric everything is becoming) through a variety of means. Playing the judgement card on someone having a fancier phone than they 'should' have is just a dick move, and one that Richer folk tend to do far too often (also poor folk, which is really recursive. Though understandable if you know of the 'Crab Mentality' thing).

Though at least nobody here is making the McDonalds argument -

I like rich people. We're great. There are no words for how awesome we are.

Seriously though, people complain that rich people don't give their money to those who really need it, but that's true about anybody who ever bought a McDonald's meal instead of eating leftovers and donating the price of a Big Mac to charity. That money could have saved somebody's life, but no, you wanted that Big Mac.

oh god dammit. Can't I eat my burger without someone getting fucking offended about it, just once?

 

[Queen Michael]

I like rich people. We're great. There are no words for how awesome we are.

Seriously though, people complain that rich people don't give their money to those who really need it, but that's true about anybody who ever bought a McDonald's meal instead of eating leftovers and donating the price of a Big Mac to charity. That money could have saved somebody's life, but no, you wanted that Big Mac.

oh god dammit. Can't I eat my burger without someone getting fucking offended about it, just once?

I'm not offended by you having a burger. What offends me is when people act like only the super-rich could save lives by sacrificing pleasures they don't actually need anyway.

 

[MHR]

Rich people are a mixed bag like everyone else. There are lots of poor people that suck too. Many more so, because far more people are poor than rich.

 

[Fox12]

Mostly I just want to be them.

I don't hate rich people. I just hate assholes.

Really? Because there's literally no appeal to money.

-Learning to cook nice food is both fun, and eliminates the appeal of fancy restaurants.
-Why would anyone buy a big house? Unless you live with a lot of people, having a large house is literally just a recipe for depression. You can't feel anymore isolated than when you're alone in a large house.
-Sports cars are pointless. You can't drive them anywhere in case they get stolen, scratched, dented etc. You can't transport anything or anyone in them since they're so fucking small. And you can't even drive fast since most of us live in places where there's nowhere to do it.
-Jewelry ends up being bullshit after a while. A $100'000 diamond ring has about the same value as a $1'000 ring in material and craftsmanship. The only difference usually ends up being something bullshit, like branding.
-Clothes is the same as Jewelry.

The only appeal I can think of is travelling? If I were stupidly rich, I'd probably just spend it on hotels and first class flights. Other than that, why do I need the money? I feel like it'd be better off given to people who need it more. Fuck knows that my mum needs some cash, and I know that a lot of my friends do as well.

I don't really see the appeal in being an asshole who just stockpiles money without putting it back into the economy.

Honestly, if I were rich, I wouldn't live too much differently then I do now. I'd probably buy a three hundred thousand dollar house, an average car, and live in peace. So why would I need the money?

Well, I like what Kevin O'leary says about it. The guys an asshole, but he makes a point. What money really buys is freedom. It allows you to emancipate yourself from debt and worry, and allows you to focus on the things you want to do. In my case I could be a full time writer, while looking after my family. I could travel during the rather short time I have here. I'm not one for glitz and glamour, but I can certainly see the appeal that security brings.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

I like rich people. We're great. There are no words for how awesome we are.

Seriously though, people complain that rich people don't give their money to those who really need it, but that's true about anybody who ever bought a McDonald's meal instead of eating leftovers and donating the price of a Big Mac to charity. That money could have saved somebody's life, but no, you wanted that Big Mac.

oh god dammit. Can't I eat my burger without someone getting fucking offended about it, just once?

I'm not offended by you having a burger. What offends me is when people act like only the super-rich could save lives by sacrificing pleasures they don't actually need anyway.

Which is still weird, since... rich people have more, and can sacrifice more? Like, shit, I can donate that 5 bucks to charity and not have my burger, but a rich dude dumping 1.5 million dollars into charity instead of burning it on a car has infinitesimally greater impact.

I dunno. Big difference between a poor person not donating to charity and a rich person not donating to charity. If we're going to be guilt-tripping people for not donating to charity, then I know who I'm going to guilt-trip the hardest. And it's not the asshole desperate for some secret sauce.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Well ... define rich? I don't have to work anymore, because I never bought that expensive apartment, had a family, or even bought a new motorcycle. My current bike I've kept in great condition for 11 years. She's gone around the clock for the 4th time recently. Still purrs when I hit the ignition. There are other perks, Australia is fairly well-to-do, and there was a time when there was always military service, which gave you options to cheap housing and didn't pay like arse, as well as provide cheap, if not free, tertiary education. So I live a Spartan lifestyle afforded by monies saved because of a whole lot of hard work and fortunate conditions. Like any person independantly wealthy who definitively occupies that idea of the 'noveau riche' (which I'm not rich, unless you consider 'rich' simply not having to work to afford a lifestyle beyond welfare and uncertainty ... which you may very well have a right to if you work 60 hours in Walmart and live hand to mouth).

Requires a certain degree of luck, and collectedness, so frankly when I hear rich people who have ALWAYS been wealthy say the poor are lazy, frankly I just hope they get hit by a bus. Plenty of people don't have a shot simply because they enter the ridiculous gaols-as-mental-health-institutions cycle, even here. Or simply because of intergenerational poverty is mechanically more likely to persist than not.

Now, I don't begrudge rich people. As long as they worked to get to where they are. But rich dynasties I think are monumentally evil constructions of society. As a landed gentry class beyond all want and need, and syphoining the potential of other people, has never gone well for a country. The problem is, there's no easy solution in this world of global movement of people. The Murdochs and Rockefellers of this world will always have more money and more power, even if their registered addresses are in Calcutta so it's a bit hard to collect death taxes on their estates.

I think certain independantly wealthy people do have a guilt complex. I know doctor better off than I am. The difference is I could spend the next 10 years at uni, live frugally, and still aspire to live as lower middle class with 6 degrees. I contribute nothing to society beyond my volunteer efforts. Certainly less so than that doctor who works 12 hours a day healing the sick.

The difference is the money I spend on going to uni I could afford 'luxury' (ish). Luxury doesn't interest me however. For the same reason the gentry in Victorian English society flung themselves into mosquito ridden campsites on the Nile, trying to find adventure and meaning. While ridiculous, many of the number of gentry who listed 'explorer' or 'scholar' as their occupation, despite never writing a book in their damn lives. With the reduction of religious crimes in law, there's a reason why you had the rise of occultists and parapsychologists amidst wealthy gentry in the late 19th and turn of the 20th centuries. The gentry were bored of the genteel and took on fanciful duties for themselves.

So there is an argument about 'What type of rich?' As only an idiot has a whole lot of money sitting around, uninvested or unattached to some form of fostering social power. Sure that doctor won't go out of a job, but neither will I... and they certainly don't match my capacity for international mobility. Simply measuring their money inflow does not take into account something far more precious, time.

My standard Winter fair is denim shorts, tights, loafers and a simple tunic top. Still not part of the unwashed masses. Wealth is not 2 dimensional. As I'm a bigger social problem than that wealthy doctor.

 

[Queen Michael]

I like rich people. We're great. There are no words for how awesome we are.

Seriously though, people complain that rich people don't give their money to those who really need it, but that's true about anybody who ever bought a McDonald's meal instead of eating leftovers and donating the price of a Big Mac to charity. That money could have saved somebody's life, but no, you wanted that Big Mac.

oh god dammit. Can't I eat my burger without someone getting fucking offended about it, just once?

I'm not offended by you having a burger. What offends me is when people act like only the super-rich could save lives by sacrificing pleasures they don't actually need anyway.

Which is still weird, since... rich people have more, and can sacrifice more? Like, shit, I can donate that 5 bucks to charity and not have my burger, but a rich dude dumping 1.5 million dollars into charity instead of burning it on a car has infinitesimally greater impact.

I dunno. Big difference between a poor person not donating to charity and a rich person not donating to charity. If we're going to be guilt-tripping people for not donating to charity, then I know who I'm going to guilt-trip the hardest. And it's not the asshole desperate for some secret sauce.

Guilt-tripping rich people more is fair, but not guit-tripping people who are okay off at all is going too far. Anyone who's well off enough that the money they don't need could save a life is rich enough to be guilt-tripped, IMO.

 

[The Enquirer]

I run a maintenance crew for a pool company. Some of the houses we service are just fucking ridiculously huge. The pools are basically the size of my house. And they're some of the nicest people I've ever met. Then there's other middle class people who are total fucking assholes.

Years ago I volunteered at a soup kitchen and helped feed people who couldn't afford to eat. Some were total jerks and others were in tears because of how nice we were.

Some rich people are nice and try to help, others are asshats. Don't equate money with behavior is the end of it.

 

[Phasmal]

I find certain rich people are lacking in empathy in a way poorer people generally aren't.
But, really, you'd have to define 'rich'. To me someone is rich if they can afford two cars. When I was growing up I thought someone was rich if they could afford to always have food and power at their house. It's all a matter of perspective.

I guess I have a certain amount of dislike towards rich people, but mostly because I want them to give me all their money.

EDIT: Also, if you know a rich person and don't like them, an unfailing way I have found to piss them off is to get really excited about some midrange, average thing and keep calling it 'fancy'. They will lose their fucking minds. Hahahaha. (I discovered this by accident, because I think everything is fancy).

 

[Dalisclock]

I don't begrudge people for being rich or poor. However, it's hard to hear rich people talk about how the poor are lazy or just "don't want it enough", or that the rich pay too much in taxes, or that the rich don't have enough say in how the country is run, or that the rich are somehow getting a shitty deal in general without wanting to smack said person across the face.

Hearing Donald Trump go on and on about how he's not "part of the establishment" would be laughable if so many people didn't sincerely believe it. And then there's people who run large Corporations and makes plenty of profit, who talk about how they can't afford to provide health insurance or raise the minimum wage for their employees.

 

[mduncan50]

If a poor person is reckless with their money they mostly harm themselves. If a rich person is reckless with their money it harms those around them

I don't really understood it, how can rich people harm others then them more then poor people, do poor people not have access to guns, narcotics or just shitty people in general? The only way it makes sense if you have a "captain planet villain" rich guy, who also owns his own company which doesn't necessarily apply to everyone, and even then you can be sure the terrible decisions they did were backed by mid-payed pencil pushers who's just as in fault for ignoring the actions for profit.

I don't think it was meant less in terms of actual physical harm. I think if you look at this past recession where shady business dealings and investments of the rich ended up costing the lower class their homes, cars, and jobs, while the rich people in charge were still receiving millions in performance bonuses or buyout options.

If we talk about the recession it always grind my gears that people white washed themselves of it, one of the prime reasons for it was a huge amount of people who took loans they could not afford in any way, yeah invididually they didn't do much but collectively they are just as in fault.

Absolutely that was one contribution factor to the housing part of that breakdown, however you also need to understand that they were made to believe they could afford it by wealthy people who were playing speculatory games with people's mortgages.