To be sick of inverted snobbery

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Why do people think it is fine to make derogatory and sweeping statements about the 'wealthy' that they wouldn't dream of making about people of more modest means? For some people, wealth = greed.

People are individuals, some rich individuals are probably horrible and mean, but some that I have got to know through my work are nice and quietly philanthropic - they are just people at the end of the day. They eat, sleep and worry about things just like anyone else.

I am an ordinary working mum so I won't be making the sunday times rich list any time soon btw .

hmm... i am also pretty ordinary but DHs family have some pretty loaded friends. they are all lovely and generous, yes and extremely philanthropic, so are not the traditional 'greedy' types. but i still can't get over the fact that being that rich gives you the wherewithal to absent yourself from democracy if you want to - eg, get someone to do everything they can to save you from tax, and then give your money where you think it should go instead - which makes me very uncomfortable. perhaps if they paid their full tax they wouldn't NEED to be philanthropic? ie the public sector would be better funded... also they all fly around the world like buggery, so much for carbon footprints.

i should add that i also completely accept i am an inverted snob! and that also makes me uncomfortable as somebody who believes in equality... which should include the rich.

i think it is fine. inverted snobbery is fine because it is by the weak and directed at the strong - that is the difference. yes, some rich people are the greatest socialists of all time, but some rich people have spent their lives trying to amass money, usually at the expense of others, usually involving the exploitation of others. There is a finite amount of money - if someone has far more than they need, someone else has far less. See those footballers with three houses and a boat? See that mum living in a shanty town with open sewers with her three children? One exists because the other exists. That is why inverted snobbery is ok.

Is that all you have to worry about?

It is like robin hoodery. A noble thing indeed!

rocknstroll i like your style. i guess that's another issue there - perhaps if the really wealthy people had been more worried about philanthrophy and selflessness when they were attaining their money, they'd have made less but other people might have more... although if you inherited your money i guess that's slightly different.

it's very embarrassing though, i get very uncomfortable being around these hugely rich people at social events, don't know what to do with myself... and don't get me started on the friend who is a conservative MP! who apparently does great charitable things in Rwanda. the cynic in me wonders whether that's because it's much easier to make an impact in three months in a completely impoverished nation than it is down the road in a sink estate in, hmm, your CONSTITUENCY

omaoma I think you have summed up what I was thinking in a nutshell. If we say we believe in equality, it's pretty meaningless to then say that it doesn't apply to people that have money. It's like free speech, everyone should be entitled to it, even people that we don't really want to hear.

omaoma

but can I ask... In spite of being aware that wealthy people can be nice and , you post also assumes that ALL wealthy people use accountants etc to reduce tax bill.
Some people don't. Some of us just pay our tax- don't set up funds, don't shove money off shore, don't pay family memvbers salary.

You post, in itself, makes assumptions that all people of a certain income behave in a set and pre determined way. To suggest that all people of low income or middle income are just a big mass of people who always behave the same, are similarly motivated etc would be rude and daft - but as soon as the conversation is wealthy people that grouping becomes accepted. It is odd
And kind of proves OPs point

Did I touch a nerve there expat?

Why is it okay to make sweeping statements about the rich, but not the poor? If I started a thread about chavs on benefits, I would be (rightly) flamed for it.

I wish I was wealthy. You could be as derogatory about me as you liked. I probably wouldn't be able to hear you over the humming of my private chopper.

I've just told you why it is ok - see above re footballers and children being raised beside open sewers. IT is ok because the rick are ok, usually at the expense of others.

well pagwatch that is good to hear - simply because i've never heard it before. my assumption was based on my knowledge of what usually happens but yes, you're right,i was making sweeping assumptions. i'm glad to hear some people buck the trend.

tbh i made that assumption because i know i am only human (see previous comment about equality/inverted snobbery) and prone to weakness and thus wouldn't be surprised if rich people were the same way. and just because i think rich people can be shits doesn't mean i don't think poor people can be as well!

How rich are we talking here? There must be a tiny amount of (hugely) rich people who are so because they exploit poor people.

I dunno, I consider myself and my family rich but this has just been achieved by working hard, making good decisions and to a certain extent, being lucky. No exploitation involved but i'm/we're not super rich so might not be the demographic you're talking about.

how is there a finite amount of money rocknstroll?

msrisotto - in my gloomier moments i find myself confronted by the fact that ther eis no such thing as 'no exploitation involved'... unless everything in your life/home/wardrobe is completely fairtrade, environmentally friendly and ethically approved, you own no cars, take no flights and travel everywhere by bicycle, work for a co-op which is entirely fitted out with secondhand/ethical goods, invest all your money with Triodos, use only the amount of water used in a third-world country each day, avoid computers... then i'm afraid somebody somewhere is suffering because of you. god that's a bit dark sorry. i did say in my gloomier moments!

I just don't let it bother me tbf and if someone gives me grief over my accent/postcode/class (which happens a fair bit on the football pitch) I just laugh and give it right back. I's very rewarding to see someone else blowing their top over something they started while you remain calm because they don't like being stereotyped.
Away from the pitch it doesn't happen to often but I have no problem responding in kind to someone who has a chip on their shoulder and wants to start flinging insults because of their perceived notions about me.

Well then no one in the UK is exempt from it so it doesn't really count in this little debate about snobbery?

OP I completely agree with you.

You get honest rich people and honest poor people.

You get benefit cheats and people who hide money offshore.

rocknstroll that is a ridiculous answer.

yes you're prob right. i guess really inverted snobbery is like any other prejudice, and is a way of externalising all the things we know/fear are bad about ourselves. i know that i live a 'bad faith' life and am very unlikely to do much about it because it's so difficult, so that gets externalised in my dislike of very rich people who i perceive as actively being able to do something about it... of course no matter how much money you have, you always feel poor - isn't that the truism?

I thoroughly approve of people who have got rich by working hard, creating a company, creating wealth and creating jobs. They pay company tax and personal tax and their employees pay tax.

This energy and vision is surely to be welcomed and encouraged.

I just wish I had the energy and/or the vision. But I don't so I will never be on a rich list.

YANBU

Why should anyone have the right to make derogatory comments about someone just because they have more money?

And why can you just assume that you know what they do with their money and that they "play the system".

I don't know if that is a truism but I don't feel poor.....never have. I don't liev in a stately home but I can pay my bills no problem and am hoping to save for a foreign holiday this or next year. I couldn't justify anyone feeling poor in my situation.

The really really rich people who own companies who use slave labour or who behave irresponsibly to chase a profit can do something about it but I don't really see the impact the less rich but certainly not poor people can do (apart from boycotting said companies but again, this isn't an individual effort).

Anyway, what alibaba said.

omaoma
I don't feel poor.

But the real truism is that money can only make you happy if you are happy to begin with. And it can even out lifes difficulties and stop some bad things but not to the extent that I would have imagined when I was poor.

Having money means you don't have to worry about the bills.But it does not give you a lifefree from grief, sadness, hardship, depression etc etc.
It is surprising how often people think it can.

Also people seem to think that having moeney means you no longer have any history or entrenched belief system - that everything you grew up with in terms of family, financial difficulties, hard times etc are just gone and you emerge suddenly devoid of all compasion or empathy. Its odd.

pag, guess the richies i know seem to have been born with the money but that could be one of my famous assumptions! perhaps i should stop feeling uncomfortable and ask some questions...

My mum whispers when she talks about money

I am pretty uptight too really. Can't bear conversations about how much people earn or what things cost. It is very British isn't it?