"I don’t hate rich people – I hate selfish coldhearted assholes."

[Better Believe It]

Do Progressives Hate Rich People?
By: Eli
December 14, 2010

Roger Simon looks at the Congressional Democrats trying to block the Obama-McConnell tax-cut-extensions-for-everybody-whether-they-need-them-or-not bill, and draws the only possible conclusion: Democrats hate rich people, and want everyone else to hate them too.

I have absolutely nothing against rich people in general, and I like and admire many of them. But I do hate rich people who believe that they are so valuable and important that they deserve to be rewarded with even more money just for being rich, even if it’s at the expense of someone who needs it far more than they do. Or those who complain that they’re some kind of persecuted minority because they might lose a tax cut that’s more than most Americans earn in an entire year. Maybe a million dollars doesn’t go as far as it used to, but it still goes a hell of a lot farther than an unemployment check… or no check at all.

And this kind of narcissistic greed is even harder to stomach when it emanates from someone who didn’t accumulate their wealth by building or creating something of value, but rather by inheriting it, or by gaming the financial system, or through outright fraud and predation. Or from those who make their living by injecting lies and poison, or lazy Beltway hackery, into the American bloodstream.

So no, I don’t hate rich people – I hate selfish coldhearted assholes. Hey, here’s an idea: Instead of babbling about why Democrats shouldn’t hate the rich, maybe Roger Simon should be asking why Republicans hate everyone else.

Read the full article at:

http://firedoglake.com/2010/12/14/do-progressives-hate-rich-people/

[Luminous Animal]

1. K&R and this is an excellent line...

"Hey, here’s an idea: Instead of babbling about why Democrats shouldn’t hate the rich, maybe Roger Simon should be asking why Republicans hate everyone else."

[blondeatlast]

4. That's a keeper; I can't wait for the liberal media to pick it up and run with it!

Oops, wait--um, nevermind; I was daydreaming.

[Pacifist Patriot]

21. I was on my way over to take your temperature.

[thunder rising]

2. When children go hungry for lack of programs and people are dying for lack of access to care?

And still the wealthy will pick the last nickel out of your pocket as you fall to your knees.

The class war is coming. Let the wingers think they are they sooooo prepared.

[lonestarnot]

5. Yeah let em!

[glitch]

3. Speaks for me.

and to the Greedheads: Seek Help.

[reformist2]

6. If we taxed wealth instead of income, we wouldn't have to tax at such high percentages.

And much of the nonsense about Democrats wanting to "punish hard work" or "soaking the rich" would go away.

[handmade34]

7. all excessive wealth

is accumulated at the expense (exploitation) of natural resources, someone else's labor, manipulation of money, etc...

It is illusion to think that anyone deserves, because of their hard work or great intellect, exessive wealth...
our exploitive capitalistic system, ruled by the already wealthy, allows this to happen

[The Magistrate]

8. Hear Hear, Sir!

[leftstreet]

9. Hate Capitalism, not people

[mentalsolstice]

10. Yep, I don't hate them, just tax them at higher rate...

they'll still be rich. I have no problem with that.

[doc03]

11. You don't have to be rich to be a selfish coldhearted asshole

I know gazillions of those, you know the middle class that rant and rave about people on food stamps and welfare. The ones I really hate are the retired middle class on SS and Medicare that rant and rave about other people getting health insurance, unemployment or any other type of help. The typical Teabagger type.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

14. True

But the consequences are worse when the rich are such assholes because they hold the most power and influence in this country.

[Better Believe It]

19. But they are the ones who hold economic and political power! That's the difference.

[applegrove]

12. We should call them the wealthy assholes. I think that is precise enough.

[Newest Reality]

13. I no longer see or feel the value of hatred other than

as emotional reaction to someone or something.

While hatred can influence behavior in detrimental ways, rarely does it function as a motivation for effectively solving problems or effecting the kind of change a problem requires. Hatred can be considered an emotional barometer, generally speaking, and rather than denying it, considering what generates our response may be all that is useful concerning intense states of reaction.

There are options to indulging in hatred and getting stuck in anger, especially when they are a product of beliefs and expectations that we hold about the behaviors of others. With flexibility and reflection, there is the choice of focusing on detrimental behaviors/actions. When I say, "Mary is a fool!" that statement is erroneous in many ways. You may or may not know which Mary, so it is not specific in this case. My declaration suggests that Mary, at the level of her identity, may be nothing more than a fool and that deletes a substantial amount of important information. So, you may hate fools and, thanks to the presuppositions of my brief remark, you may, without knowing her, generalize with me and hate Mary.

What could be true about that statement? Well, some specific questions about it could reveal that. Perhaps Mary Smith did something, (or tends to do something) that I believe is foolish. She may appear to be foolish to me because I tend to look for foolish behavior and criticize it. There may be other people who perceive her as rather sensible and capable. It is very relative and yet, we were dealing primarily with behavior, not identity, Mary's abilities, skills, values and beliefs.

Hating the rich is a generalization, as we all may know. It accomplishes little and the prejudice can create more problems and confusion. Removing the blinders of generalized hatred, (which supports bigotry, etc.) does not, in anyway justify or support the behaviors that have brought us to this systemic crises and its impact on our lives.

We might benefit far more by focusing on what the rich do with their wealth and inquire more into the values and beliefs that motivate and support their behavior. This seems to have more potential for change than negative emotional responses that are fast and cheap indulgences that more often serve to distort our perspective, drain our energy and impact our health in the process. We are in a system of processes that require our attention and understanding in order that we can enrich ourselves with choices and adaptability. Being primarily anchored to strong feelings can keep us from getting where we wanted to go in the first place. Once that process can be seen, a lot more can be accomplished on many levels.

[Better Believe It]

20. I hate rich assholes more than the writer. They have power and are screwing us.

We need to become angry .... very angry with them and what they are doing to us.

[JoseGaspar]

15. This article is a fountain of confusion...

The author feels the need to correct Roger Simon on the subject of hating rich people. The author claims that it is not rich people he hates but "selfish assholes". Two possibilities thereby exist:

A. The author does in fact hate "selfish assholes", there is no correlation between "selfish assholes" and the rich, and therefore the authors statement is about as germane as claiming that the author does not hate rich people but does hate people who put mustard on their cheeseburgers.

OR....

B. The author may in fact hate "selfish assholes" but believes that there is a positive correlation between rich people and "selfish assholes", i.e. that most/many/lots of rich people are in fact "selfish assholes". In this case, there is a positive implication that it is the social role (rather than a personal trait) of rich people which produces "selfish assholes" and the fact that the author does not hate some rich people is because they "don't act like rich people". In this case, refuting Simon is moot.

The article screams "B" but with the obsequious and unending need felt by some "progressives" to continuously curry favor with authority: "I don't real hate rich people; I hate rich behavior."

Why bother?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

18. No, there's a third option:

Roughly the same percentage of rich and poor are assholes, but the availability of more resources makes the rich assholes' assholity exponentially more destructive.

[formercia]

16. Assholes are always fair game.

Nothing like a bunch of whiny assholes to ruin it for everyone else.

I say let the tax cuts expire and use the revenue to fund social safety nets. It's the only fair thing to do.

[ClassWarrior]

17. When anyone tries to say I'm "anti-business," I say, I am...

...only against corrupt, immoral, unethical and criminal businesses.

Then I watch 'em sputter and try to figure out if they're going to defend that.

NGU.

[EC]

22. I just hate people unwilling to be the ones to help a dieing nation

that they live in when they are capable of doing so with no change in their life or lifestyle, while asking those whose life and lifestyle would be noticeably degraded to pony up.

[texshelters]

23. I dislike selfish bastards

that want tax breaks on their wealth, roads for their companies, money to ship plants overseas, cheap or free land to build plant on in the US, companies that pay zero in taxes but use the infrastructure the rest of us pay for and then say they need more tax cuts after giving millions of dollars in bonuses to their CEOs after being bailed out.

I don't hate all rich people, just the assholes running our economy into the ground with their selfishness and their acomplices in the Republican party. (Most of the Blue Dog acoplices are out now, yea!)

Peace,
Tex Shelters