Polo, the elite and mysoginy

[CrackersAndMarmite]

So I sat down to watch the new Haggs and Merry Netflix show 'Polo'. I managed about 25 minutes I think before I was sooooo bored I had to turn it off.

Anyway, when watching it all I kept thinking about was how mysoginy is just so massively perpetuated by the elite. The programme was all about the rich male oligarch/oil tycoon/CEO types. No women's team represented - future episodes seem only focussed on male teams too from my brief look at what's to come.

The men all have their picture perfect little blonde wifey's who look after the babies and children and home and are expected to fawn over these men's (not as nice as they think) bodies. Meanwhile, these men pour millions into a sport that seems to be about appearances more than actual passion. They use horses as their play thing.

I just felt a bit sick watching this programme as it really made me think about how the upper classes/elite are everything that is wrong with the world, yet they run it. The mysoginy, the arrogance, the splashing of millions on a sport when there are people starving, the expensive cars and private jets guzzling fuel and gushing out pollutants.

I don't often give much thought to the super rich, but watching this made me feel really really angry. While millions of people around the world are suffering famine, war, death, cost of living crises, homelessness, struggling to put food on the table, these rich men are prancing about spending millions on simply having fun, while wifey attends to their every whim and they do what the hell they like regardless of climate concerns, animal welfare concerns etc..

AIBU to think the elite are everything that is wrong with the world. If they could use their millions to support homelessness, support those undergoing war and famine, raise awareness of women's rights (instead of walking about with the trophy wife attached to their arm leading us back to the 50s), and take action on climate change, the world would be a far far far better place. ...

(Sorry I don't know if I spelt mysoginy right!)

I might give it a watch though may not be able to stomach it!

I see what you r saying, but it is the super rich that fund the governments, lobby the governments and bribe the governments and ultimately ensure their interests are served before those of the rest of us. The super rich yield a significant amount of power both politically and otherwise. With power comes responsibility.

I'm pretty sure it's well known that richest .5% of the world could end poverty for the rest of the world if they chose to spend their money in the interests of humanity not greed and gluttony.

I used to go to the polo a lot. Grew up in a tiny Sussex village where the estate owner is useless at farming and this was one of the many things he decided to dabble in. I worked in the village pub and was practically the only state school educated teenager in the area. I wasn’t interested in horses and was disgusted by fox hunting. Every year there was a fresh influx of polo grooms and players and I made friends with them and went to a lot of parties and matches. It was funny when the company I worked for (high end travel) sponsored a match that King Charles played at - my boss was surprised that I seemed to know so many people.😂

The posh girls would absolutely throw themselves at the good looking Argentinians and were properly annoyed at common little me being friends (ok, sometimes more) with them. My Spanish improved immensely and I even went travelling around Argentina for a few months. Had some really good times.

I remember the ridiculous wealth though. People would rent enormous houses and import and house housekeepers, vets, grooms, players and ponies - not to mention the specialist saddlery industry that grew up around it.

If you’ve read Jilly Cooper Polo, I’d suggest it’s very well researched.

I find it odd that Harry and Meghan have picked this as one of their things - it’s so obviously a wealthy thing to do (note for sure grass roots etc etc - but is is an elite lifestyle being presented)

it fascinates me how this blends with their other branding as being all about world peace blah blah blah

i think it summarises the dissonance of their brand - it purports to be about achieving equality but its actually about being wealthy and elite

Absolutely.

...and seeing the cringe-ness around the women fawning over the men, and the mysoginy of it all made me question the company H&M keep and how progressive they actually are Vs how progressive they say they are. I just thought the whole thing was steeped in sexism and out of date constructs around climate, women's rights, animal rights and equality

flaunting wealth is uncomfortable for most people other than a few - I have had the fortune to grow up with a privileged background, but what is interesting about that is how there are different layers in the groups often seen as a single layer... there is a lot of spending wealth to show you can, but for a lot of people in that world it is still frowned upon - no issue with spending to get something special (a top pony in the polo world would be seen as reasonable much as buying a top violin for a concert violinist, or buying a high-end yacht for an olympic sailor etc. - tools of the trade, you would want the best) - but a lot of the flaunting type of spending - new ferrari because someone else has the same as you and you need to go one better - or DRC (top burgandy) to then drink it mixed with coke - that would be frowned on by most of that society...

So, yes there are some like that, but most are not - when you get to know people at the elite end of a sport they tend to be focused on the sport, not on coming across as a rich idiot... and sure, that isn't to say that they are not wealthy in terms of the average person, though not all are (many are funded by the uber-wealthy but are good at the sport) but a world will always have some wealthy and some not - it is I think the attitude which is important... and to generalise based on one perspective is perhaps unfair for others in that same sport...

the other thing to remember is that for a society to function - and lets be honest: democratic / socialist / dictator, prime-minister, president or monarch - all societies have their wealthy and their poor... you want the rich to spend their money - if they keep it in a bank account they take that money out of circulation - if they spend it then it does trickle down - the bentley they buy pays people at the dealership / at the factory / someone who details / cleans the car - the fuel consumption pays more people at petrol stations, the tanker drivers that deliver the fuel /etc. etc. etc. if no-one bought bentleys the rich would still be rich, but a lot of people would be out of a job!

You can’t expect the United Kingdom
to start fixing global problems lol you can’t even fix your domestic issues. I would not watch programming that triggers you so.

Remember, China produces more emissions in two weeks than you do for an entire year.

They aren’t gonna stop because you asked nicely. They are gonna get even richer while you get poorer. Polo hobbyists notwithstanding

Thanks.

I agree with a lot of your post. However, if instead of dropping 250k on a 6th supercar, the rich could spend that money on things or services to help those in society most in need, that would still provide jobs but also provide support to those that need it.

I remember feeling a bit ill when I was a lecturer at graduation. The venue for the graduation was next to where the city had a big homeless problem. Seeing everyone walk about in the expensive gowns and drink champagne when people were literally starving and freezing outside didn't feel right. However, for most of the students this was a well deserved, special and rare day and I had to give my head a wobble and try and enjoy it all. However, there are super rich people that wear incredibly expensive clothes, drink expensive wine, drop thousands on a meal etc.. day in day out. I have no idea how they can emotionally detach enough not to feel unbelievable guilt at the gluttony of it all.

The worst thing is that many of the super rich (I guess I'm thinking the likes of megs and harry here, but also the likes of people like Rishi Sunak) will lecture us on the importance of climate change, helping each other etc... while they will happily sip 10k champagne in a restaurant in central London with a homeless person sitting just outside. I can't bare the hypocrisy and the cruel emotional detachment that allows such behaviour.

It's similar with women's rights, feminism etc.. People like Meghan Markle lecturing on feminism, womens rights, championing women. At the same time seeming to want to look pretty, flutter eyelashes, hang off the arms and suck up to the powerful men .. I just find it all weird, hypocritical, tasteless, heartless and lacking in humanity.

Oh I know. That's something that pees me off no end!! My DH and I often discuss the pointlessness of paper straws and recycling our carrier bags while China is firing up the coal powered stations and chucking out gallons and gallons of emissions like there's no tomorrow!

I hate it all!! China's emissions and how noone does anything about it, Netenyahu's genocide, corruption in all of politics world wide, famine and war perpetuated, started and prolonged by the rich, the poor sent to slaughter each other in pointless wars that benefit only very few, millions left to starve in various parts of the globe facing famine and natural disaster.

I guess the common thread is human greed and gluttony. Those in power all over the world, whether that be China, North Korea, Russia, USA, UK or elsewhere - they want to keep their wealth and get wealthier. Greed wins over humanity for the very rich and powerful. And that is so very sad.

(And it's one thing doing it in private, but it's a whole other level of narcissism and psychopathy flaunting it to the very people you trample on. Like burning the £50 note in front of the homeless man. Netflix's 'Polo' is kind of 'see we are powerful, rich and dont give a shit' produced by the people who profess to be charitable eco warriors ...)

The problem is that you are right - but most of the super-rich don't want the inconvenience of admitting it as it would mean they have to personally do something about it... I guess I am just trying to add a small balancing view in that the vast majority of the 'wealthy / upper-class' set are actually not wastrels with money and are often doing a lot of good things in the background - I know so many examples where there is very quiet / useful spend of money which is not shouted about but geared at supporting communities / people / charities etc. - i agree though the comparison sometimes is very uncomfortable...

As for feminism - I am a man, but am probably more feminist than my wife because I hate inequality (she is a very successful surgeon) - I do though see that a lot of women in positions of power don't feel a need to be actively feminist because they have already achieved their power and they forget what it must be like for the average women in a world geared against her...

it is also worth noting that it is easy to spend on that kind of lifestyle without feeling awkward as long as you surround yourself with others doing the same - because then it feels normal. It is why so many of the rich avoid the poor because they don't like to be reminded of the inequality...

Thanks. Your posts are very interesting.

I am curious - what do you think these v rich people feel when they walk through central London (or wherever) and past a homeless person, into a restaurant. Do they just detach from the fact that they are wearing a warm fur coat that could save the life of the the person outside? Do that have guilt eating their 3 course meals and probably leaving some because they are so full?

I appreciate that there will be many wealthy people who quietly put aside money to support various charities etc.. That is good. But it does feel like there is so much wealth that not enough of the super rich are helping enough.

The money spent on a high end yacht could probably end rough sleeping in my city by providing more affordable and safe hostels and staff to walk the streets guiding people to secure accomodation for the night. If I knew I could do that for people, I would do that and not buy the yacht.

Rishi Sunak used to annoy me because he and his wife have literally billions. I don't know how he could lead a country, knowing his people are sleeping rough, kids are living in poverty, and yet he didn't spend an ounce of his own money on helping them. If I led a country and had billions in the bank, I would use some of my wealth to provide services and support to my people. He could easily have opened a homeless shelter, built childrens centres etc.. but instead he lectured us all on what we should do, while he sipped the whisky and rolled around in his millions.

I think to become super rich you must have to also become heartless and cut off. Like you say, I guess if you mix with others with wealth you can kind of cut off from and forget the poor exist and live in your own bubble without the guilt. But that seems like a rather inhuman way to live, to me...

I think that the mega rich probably deal with the cognitive dissonance quite easily - not thinking about it much but if they do they tell themselves that their wealth alone can't solve the world's problems anyway, in such a dangerous and unequal world, it makes most sense to preserve the wealth for their own descendants. They likely give a bit to charitable causes and pat themselves on the back for it.

I eat meat but love animals. I use cognitive dissonance to live with myself. I think it's part of the human condition.

Yeah you are probably right. I don't think I like the human design. I can't really see the point in humans if it's all about self preservation and greed.

I'm not religious, but as a child I was raised in religion and used to hear stories about how we should all be good, kind, helpful to others etc.. I took that all as given, as facets not of religion but of humanity. As what it means to be human. But as an adult I realise it's all nonsense. Humans are, it would seem, mostly all about selfishness and survival of the fittest mentality. The more rich and powerful, the less 'human' people are and the more they seem able to commit acts the rest of us might find unimaginable, or at least live in blissful ignorance.

The sad thing is, while people try and cling on to their millions, those millions don't make them happier than anyone else. Just maybe less human.

I'm sure the super rich deal with the comparison between their own lives and the destitute in much the same way that you do OP.

Your own circumstances are fantastic compared to theirs aren't they. You do and give what you are comfortable with but you don't give away everything you have do you?

Those wealthier than you are the same - it's only the scale that's different. You have absolutely NO idea what any individual does and gives from their own wealth to charity. They don't give away everything - but nor do you!

You are making judgements blindly and with prejudice. Perhaps stop doing that for starters if you want to make a difference.

I’m not very interested in polo or the Sussexes. So I won’t be watching.

It sounds from the silly nicknames like you actively dislike them,

What motivated you to watch? Are you very interested in polo?

The more rich and powerful, the less 'human' people are and the more they seem able to commit acts the rest of us might find unimaginable, or at least live in blissful ignorance.

WTF. Are you seriously trying to claim that poor people are somehow more "human" and less able to commit outrageous and terrible atrocities?

Don't be so bloody ignorant.

The money spent on a high end yacht could probably end rough sleeping in my city by providing more affordable and safe hostels and staff to walk the streets guiding people to secure accomodation for the night

The problem here is that you think money is the root of these issues. No amount of money is going to end rough sleeping. Look at California spending 20 billion on ending homelessness and the problem only gets worse.

Money alone solves very little. So you stripping money from a small amount
of people accomplishes nothing.

The funny (not really) thing is that it is usually the rich who are blamed for things and mercilessly exterminated: Jews in Europe, Chinese in SEA, kulaks in Russia, Armenians in Turkey, French aristocracy ….

And who do you think is buying all the goods that fuels China's huge manufacturing emissions. It's called 'exported emissions'.

I think OP is not long out of puberty. If that old.

based on past performance, the chances of Meghan and Harry producing anything interesting or engaging I'd assess as very low.

they are out of touch and desperately clawing to stay in the public eye to generate money. so it's no surprise to me that they are making a documentary that is elitist and misogynistic.

It fits with the criticism of them in this German documentary that has had a lot of publicity:

Russell Myers told the documentary: "If you're going to places like Nigeria, like Colombia, which have huge socio-economic problems, some of the world's poorest communities in these countries, and you're turning up wearing tens of thousands of pounds worth of designer clothes - it really doesn't send the right message."

https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1985944/royal-family-live-prince-harry-meghan-markle-hypocrisy