But its a clear demonstration of their private contempt for anyone who isn’t filthy rich.
Could you be more specific about what exactly you would like to be different?
Do you think that despising outgroups is a rare behavior, and we should remove all power from those who do? Do you think it is a frequent but not universal behavior, so we should find those exceptional individuals who don’t have it, and give all power to them? Do you think the attitude is universal, but we should make sure that the powerful people are never allowed to express it, even in privacy (in other words: that the powerful people should have no privacy)? Something else?
Well, its an interesting question. I know that there are rich people who don’t behave this way. So I can conclude that its possible to have a situation where large numbers of the wealthy or powerful don’t have contempt for or outright despise the poor. My ideal would probably be a situation where people who felt/acted this way were an extreme minority. I don’t think it requires exceptional individuals.
This suggest we should research the causes of what makes people behave like they do. Then we could perhaps try to systematically increase the things that contribute to nice behavior.
(By the way, this is where I think most people with egalitarian feelings often fail. They notice that some rich people are abusive somehow, and their reaction is: “punish the rich”. The problem is, the punishment usually applies at least as much to the good ones as to the bad ones; and it may actually decrease the ratio of the prosocial people among the rich. It would be better to think about ways that could increase the ratio, but that is not compatible with the emotions created by outrage e.g. from the linked article.)
By the way, you speak about “rich”, I speak about “powerful”. It correlates in our society, but it’s not the same thing. (For example, a powerful and stupid bureaucrat may be able to harm thousands or millions of people, without putting money into their own pockets; if they truly believe in their wrong ideas and try to do the right thing.) It could be relevant to this topic: maybe power corrupts, but mere money without the feeling of power don’t.
Could you be more specific about what exactly you would like to be different?
Do you think that despising outgroups is a rare behavior, and we should remove all power from those who do? Do you think it is a frequent but not universal behavior, so we should find those exceptional individuals who don’t have it, and give all power to them? Do you think the attitude is universal, but we should make sure that the powerful people are never allowed to express it, even in privacy (in other words: that the powerful people should have no privacy)? Something else?
Well, its an interesting question. I know that there are rich people who don’t behave this way. So I can conclude that its possible to have a situation where large numbers of the wealthy or powerful don’t have contempt for or outright despise the poor. My ideal would probably be a situation where people who felt/acted this way were an extreme minority. I don’t think it requires exceptional individuals.
This suggest we should research the causes of what makes people behave like they do. Then we could perhaps try to systematically increase the things that contribute to nice behavior.
(By the way, this is where I think most people with egalitarian feelings often fail. They notice that some rich people are abusive somehow, and their reaction is: “punish the rich”. The problem is, the punishment usually applies at least as much to the good ones as to the bad ones; and it may actually decrease the ratio of the prosocial people among the rich. It would be better to think about ways that could increase the ratio, but that is not compatible with the emotions created by outrage e.g. from the linked article.)
By the way, you speak about “rich”, I speak about “powerful”. It correlates in our society, but it’s not the same thing. (For example, a powerful and stupid bureaucrat may be able to harm thousands or millions of people, without putting money into their own pockets; if they truly believe in their wrong ideas and try to do the right thing.) It could be relevant to this topic: maybe power corrupts, but mere money without the feeling of power don’t.