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Luxury Beliefs

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 1:04 am
by Vonz90

Re: Luxury Beliefs

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 12:32 pm
by Old Grafton
Good explanation of what's going on--confirms my crabby old-man bitching to a considerable extent

Re: Luxury Beliefs

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:20 pm
by randy
Confirms my belief that "Politically Fashionable" is a more accurate term than "Politically Correct".

Re: Luxury Beliefs

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 9:07 pm
by g-man
Reaffirms the concept of 'more money than sense'...

Re: Luxury Beliefs

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:50 am
by Vonz90
g-man wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 9:07 pm Reaffirms the concept of 'more money than sense'...
I am not sure I agree. The idea is (as is mentioned in the article) is that the beliefs serve as a signal of status, and thus procure status for the believer at least as long as they have the financial and social resources to transcend them. Status has a lot of value for people (seriously, look how much time and money people will pay for it) and this is probably a low cost means of getting it. Not so low cost for the poor who emulate it, but still.

Re: Luxury Beliefs

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2019 1:42 am
by D5CAV
He is completely off the mark. He needs to read more history.

The rich are not so stupid or so shallow. Their support of socialist policies is purely self-serving.

The rich figured out a long time ago that the best way to stay rich is to make sure the peasants are happy. Even better if they don't have to pay and the peasants pay for it themselves.

If there is any unhappiness among the peasants, the rich need to make sure the blame is deflected away from them, hence the socialist rhetoric.

Warren Buffett and Jeff Bezos both talk about how their tax rate is too low, but do either voluntarily pay more? Talk is cheap.

The earliest proponents of communism/socialism were from the aristocracy. Later adherents were all comfortably upper middle-class.

Fabian socialists of England - all from top universities and aristocracy.
Communists in Russia, Lenin, Trotsky, etc. - all wealthy upper middle-class
Communists in China, Mao, etc. - all wealthy upper middle-class

Socialism is merely "Feudalism 2.0". It is a reboot of the old order. Unfortunately, Feudalism/Socialism is a system that has been with us since Mesopotamia and cuneiform tablets for 99% of the population and for 99% of history. A small aristocracy (1% communist party members in China, 1% ivy league in US, etc.) gets 99% of the wealth and power, and the 99% are slaves to the 1%.

Yes there are a few exceptions for brief shining moments in history, or for an insignificant portion of the population: e.g. Iceland - population of 300,000 for 1,000 years; Switzerland - population of 8 million for 500 years (ending soon); USA - population of 100 million for 100 years (you think we haven't been socialist for 100 years?). For the 99% of the world population? Boot to the face.

Bismarck, of the Prussian Junker class, was one of the first "Socialists". He realized that the genie of John Locke's "Rights of Man" was not going to be put back in the bottle without lots of bloodshed (mostly of the aristocracy, like it happened in France). He proposed to Wilhelm how to bait the field to get the peasantry to voluntarily return to the plantation - old age pensions and universal medical insurance. Wilhelm balked when he did the math on how many months it would take for his treasury to be depleted, but Bismarck sagely told him, "Don't worry, I will get them to pay it themselves" with the first income tax.

It's an old story. Someone promises more "free stuff" in return for letting him be "king, president, etc." and the people eagerly give up their birthright for a bowl of pottage. Go read 1 Samuel 8.

Re: Luxury Beliefs

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2019 2:37 am
by g-man
I disagree. This article’s discussion is of the status seeking efforts of these twerp kids, and I reaffirm that they have more money than sense. They are the 1st percentile of the 99th percentile, bucking to be higher. People in the 99h percentile are wealthy. People in the 90th percentile of that 1% have POWER. They’ll be fine, or are more likely to be fine come the eventual sportiness (whether civil war 2.0, French Revolution, Bosnia x Rwanda, or anywhere in between). These idiot kids in$800 jackets? They’ll gladly spout the nonsense to gain wasta amongst their idiot peer group, while the real smart rich kids keep their damn mouths shut and hedge on 2nd and 3rd order consequences, a la D5CAV’s observation.

Re: Luxury Beliefs

Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2019 3:26 pm
by BDK
What is ascribed to avarice, in many cases, is only trying to tread water.

The 0.1% may be different. The 1% are desperately trying to pay the 40% death tax to keep their family farms/businesses/try to give their children the lifestyle they had.

They are the field n*((&s of the West. Maybe down to the 5% are little more than chattel.

Re: Luxury Beliefs

Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2019 3:28 pm
by BDK
The 0.1% have gone socialist, because socialism allowed them to make their money/they intend to use their connections and leverage to get more.

The Clintons were the most notorious forefront of this.

Re: Luxury Beliefs

Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2019 5:49 pm
by Weetabix
Vonz90 wrote: Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:50 am
g-man wrote: Mon Nov 18, 2019 9:07 pm Reaffirms the concept of 'more money than sense'...
I am not sure I agree. The idea is (as is mentioned in the article) is that the beliefs serve as a signal of status, and thus procure status for the believer at least as long as they have the financial and social resources to transcend them. Status has a lot of value for people (seriously, look how much time and money people will pay for it) and this is probably a low cost means of getting it. Not so low cost for the poor who emulate it, but still.
That's what makes sociology so fascinating. There's room for both of your opinions in here.

More money than sense: the $900 jackets demonstrate that they're not using fiscal sense. The preponderance of North Face fleece a few years ago was the same thing in the midwest.

BUT... that they are also signaling power doesn't disprove the "no sense" issue. Many motivators in human psychology operate subconsciously. Just not always.

Skinner can operate on people. But not always.

Maslow's hierarchy operates. But not always. The hoi polloi are working on levels 1,2, & 3, while the 1% are working on 4.

I think the luxury beliefs crowd has thrown Kohlberg out the window.

And, I'm betting there's a lot of cognitive dissonance going on in that crowd, with "I'm a good person, so people who don't believe what I believe must be bad people" going on as well.

Most people operate in a stew of the above with some ingredients being more or less of the recipe. The fun part is figuring out which cause predominates.

Also, I have to love any article that cites both Durkheim and Sowell.

Edit to add: I'm sharing this article with my family.