Jason Jones of The Daily Show looks at a firm that specializes in counseling rich people for the psychological problems associated with having great wealth. It turns out that some of the one percenters can’t handle the fact that they are not universally loved.
(This clip appeared on September 26, 2012. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post.)
Paging Dr Robespierre, Paging Dr Robespierre -- Ci-devant Marie Antoinette is has a chill!
Once again Douglas Adams was ahead of his time. Although, in the ‘Guide, There’s a type of prostitute whose job it is to tell rich men that it’s ok to be rich.
Ayn Rand made a good living by telling rich people that it is morally laudable to be rich and selfish.
This somewhat supports my idea that part of privilege is the need to be admired. The 80s and 90s looked to the wealthy as heros, but those heros were Gates, Buffet, Branson, etc… People who produced their wealth with innovation and moxy. The current generator of wealth is userous inside trading and cheap tricks moving money from one place to another… Fucking parasites. How utterly out of touch the super-rich must be to not know how their complaining sounds. Bring on the hate is what I say. Let them know how vapid and contemptuous we think they are… Those for whom too much is never enough.
I am no therapist, but before someone goes on whining about how people don’t love them, perhaps a good question a therapist should pose is “why should they?” A therapist isn’t paid to say what you want them to say, and sometimes they should be saying things that you need to hear when you don’t want to.
Imagine a man coming in saying “my wife doesn’t love me anymore. O, by the way, I’m cheating on her, hit her yesterday, and killed her dog. Now, please, tell me that my wife is unreasonable.” No therapist should go along with that. I don’t see the case of the rich as much different.