Semi-Charmed Life

Cool to be “Poor,” But I Wish I Was Rich

I was reading an article in the latest issue of Details magazine about a growing class of people in America known as the "poorgeoisie." People who disdain the excessiveness of wealth in America displayed by individuals who flaunt it with corporate expense accounts, private jets, etc, but indulge in expensive luxuries themselves, albeit more understated.

"If people find the culture loathsome, they solve the problem by just buying different stuff. Even in the sixties, products were sold as a way of dealing with the anomie of consumer society—things like Volkswagens that were seen as nonconformist," says Thomas Frank, who's written about alternative marketing in The Conquest of Cool and about modern conservatism in The Wrecking Crew. "There will always be consumerism as a form of rebellion against consumerism."

Loosely translated: Just because the cultural moment is dominated by bloodlust for the heads of AIG executives doesn't mean public sentiment has turned against the accumulation of material possessions—it's just that the material in question is likely to be double-brushed flannel. And that's the advantage guys who look like Devendra Banhart have over guys who look like Patrick Bateman: The poorgeois are in cultural camouflage, blending in perfectly with a landscape full of genuine privation. The fact that their accoutrements may cost more than many suits is their secret pride.

You can read the full article here.

What I hate about these hipsters is that they are full of shit. They snub their noses at the rich, but in order to cultivate their bohemian lifestyle it requires them to spend just as much money as the people they despise.

My rant is not about hipsters really, but the growing disdain the population at large has for the rich. Calling this growing sentiment "populist outrage" is a fancy way of saying: HATER.

If you're broke as fuck and nobody knows who you are, well tough luck! Stop directing your frustrations onto the rich. Just because things have worked out for other people but you haven't fully capitalized on capitalism doesn't mean the system is fucked up.

What bothers me the most is that these people who hate on the rich are all too ready to embrace the rich and hedonistic lifestyles they're supposedly against.

There is no escaping hypocrisy.