fOOLS
Eat the rich.
Impose a wealth tax.
The 1%.
The 1% will never understand you, the 99%, and you will never understand them. If they, by chance, began this life as you, they will surely forget who they were in a desperate attempt to hold onto their new reality. Shaping themselves in the fashion of their new class. Unless, of course, dusting off their humble past somehow brings them an advantage. To bring this into modern vernacular: “I’m still Jenny from the block” only exists in a song. And that song’s purpose is to be profitable.
Our dystopian futures are opulent. We will watch them unfold from behind a screen as we sit at desks ignoring our unsatisfying day jobs, as we take public transit through cityscapes, and as we try to find a moment’s peace in our modest homes built like matchsticks on top of each other.
We will watch the Kardashians’ new special on Hulu, scroll through images of Ivy Getty’s wedding, and generally nurture our personal brand of lifestyle envy. We will read articles about taxing the shit out of the 1% of the 1%. Hey, that’s a great idea, we’ll think. Lofty plans from the four corners of the internet will wax poetic on using inherited wealth to fix aging infrastructure, to expand affordable housing initiatives, fund public libraries (what are those), guarantee a quality education for all American children, and even to fund reparations for every demographic of our population that has ever been wronged. It’s a terribly long list, Robinhood better get busy.
I always think of two things when this argument is made. First, is that tenaciously famous quote from King Lear: “When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools.” In other words, babies cry because they are brought into a cruel world full of hypocrisy. Lear is saying, the people who punish others for their sins are sinners themselves.
The second, is a moment in West World when Dolores enters the real world. I don’t remember the exact quote, but early in season 3, she steals money from a wealthy former guest who had his way with her when she was a toy for violent delights in West World. She states very bluntly that she’s only spent a short time in our (human) world and she already knows she doesn’t want to be in it without money.
So that’s it really. Being in this world sucks without money and every single one of us is a hypocrite. I don’t know how to fix that problem, because if you ever experience both ends of the spectrum, I can guarantee you will protect your comfortable place in life with every fiber of your accountant’s being.
Wealth has always been sold as an aspirational goal in the United States of America. It’s where dreams happen. Where anything is possible. And we vehemently defend our right to achieve great wealth while toiling away in the shrinking middle class. It’s where this dream thrives. It’s the tiny voice inside convincing us someday is a real destination. Even when that dream floats further and further out of reach, it refuses to die.
What a fabulous con.
So and so made it, didn’t you know? My mother’s father was born a poor farmer, went to a one room schoolhouse, and died a wealthy businessman. My father’s father started out repossessing cars for the local bank, and he retired as an executive vice president. My great-great grandmother immigrated to America alone, built her house with her own two hands, started a dairy farm, and had a novel written about her life. Her character was turned into a man, but she made it!
Chewing on the cud of historical success is our greatest American pastime. It’s why we can’t see the game has changed.
I often think about how I am achieving my own American dream: through student loan debt. The first generation in my family to acquire such a debt. My story isn’t rags to riches. It’s a story about maintenance. As I make my monthly payment, I think about the family burial plot. Or more pointedly, how I can have a fully funded place to die for myself, and future generations, while still needing to acquire debt to finance an education. I am the daughter of the American Dream. I am in maintenance mode.
