I have been so otherwise engaged these past few weeks that much of my usual reading has been thrown in a pile.
I watched an interview this morning with Chrystia Freeland. It concerned her newest article in The Atlantic. I will get to it. That is one of the magazines in my pile.
According to the interview her article focuses on the ultra-wealthy. However, the most salient points she makes are also pertinent in understanding various other communities.
She points out that the wealthiest one-tenth of one percent, or so, the ones who actually own most of the governments of the world, have more in common with each other than with you and me, or even most of the members of their country clubs. These people are constantly seeing each other at meetings in Hong Kong, Biarritz, St. Barts or Wal-Mart. However far-flung their primary residences, they see more of each other than of their fellow PTA members.
On the surface one might not see the commonality. Here we have the latest senior member of generational European wealth. There we have the newest of the new; the winners of the transition resulting from the fall of the Soviet Union.
Do they really have so much in common? Yes. They have more houses than they can use. They have more yachts than they remember. They have multiple private jets. Yet, they still have money; tons of it.
What can they do with all of that money? Is it useless? Hush yo’ mouth.
Money can be converted into power. Even the most jaded scion of title and fortune can get enthusiastic about power. They have the two most powerful aphrodisiacs. How much more do they need to have in common?
Back in my salad days, I would frequently have reason to associate with another special community. It is the diplomatic corps. Diplomats from the US and Libya have much more in common with each other than either shares with those they represent: Moammar Gadhafi or the people of the US.
They speak a common argot. They attended the same schools. They have the same interests. They are a community.
Then we have the most obvious: politicians. You may see differences in Republicans and Democrats in Washington that don’t really exist. You may see them excoriate each other on C-SPAN or on the cable channels. You don’t get to see the parties they attend most evenings. The speak a common language. It’s one you think you understand. It isn’t.
They smooze the same bagmen. They feed from the same trough. They are a special community.
None of these communities understands your daily commute, your car payments, how much an illness in the family will cost you in financial and emotional stress. They can’t relate to the trauma caused by a layoff, actual or potential.
Neither do they care.
Most people don’t know the people in their own neighborhood, other than to say hello when putting out the garbage or bringing in the mail. You have some sort of community but it is unlikely to be based on the block on which you live. Community has changed. This isn’t Mayberry any more.
Some of these communities, such as the diplomatic corps, just don’t have you on their radar. Others do. They are looking for ways to use you or otherwise screw you.
You may think of various dangers represented by various communities. It could be argued quite easily that the oligarchs, the Wall Street parasites and the politicians have done us more harm than the terrorists. I wish we had a system where the politicians were a part of our communities, instead of apart from them.
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