Economic Equality (A Goal),  World Affairs

A Worst Person

I recently heard in the radio that a study revealed that people who watched the Kardashian show became “worst people”.  The reasons included the wealthy disdain for the poor and the casual attitude about wealth and its advantages.  Of course it included exposure to all of the luxury items along with price tags and winning smiles.  Apparently, the more you watch these shows, the more “anti-welfare” you become.  As if, by being exposed to this world you become disdainful of the more ordinary world of the poverty stricken.

Keeping Up With the Kardashians can make you less sympathetic to the plight of the poor. 

The researchers found that even 60 seconds of exposure to materialistic media ― content that “glamorizes fame, luxury, and wealth” ― was enough to significantly increase anti-welfare beliefs.”

(From L) Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kris Jenner and Corey Gamble attend the Off-white 2017 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show, on September 29, 2016 in Paris. / AFP / ALAIN JOCARD (Photo credit should read ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/Getty Images)
(From L) Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kris Jenner and Corey Gamble attend the Off-white 2017 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show, on September 29, 2016 in Paris. / AFP / ALAIN JOCARD (Photo credit should read ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/Getty Images)

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/keeping-up-with-the-kardashians-may-make-you-a-worse-person_us_5b7b38d2e4b018b93e96bbbc

This concern with the poor is new.  This is a significant change in our cultural belief systems.  I survived the 80s and the 90s when cash was king.  It didn’t matter how you got the cash, those who had cash were revered and admired.  You may have been an officer in a drug cartel, your drugs may have caused thousands of deaths, yet still, you were admired because of your access to cash.

This is not a subtle change.  This is a huge change.  Perhaps, though it is a huge change, it has not been embraced by the mainstream yet?

Why isn’t anyone noticing that we are finally getting to what is important for humanity?  The care and concern for others?  Having disdain and negative beliefs for those that have less is nothing more than an attempt to justify one’s own position in the world.  There is NO reason that some people should have none and some people should have all.  There is just no justifiable reason for America to be this way: loving the rich while abusing the poor.

This is an important moment for America.  The moment we begin understanding what it is that makes us a “bad person” that is a moment when we are better.  That is a moment when America can move forward and become a humane world leader.

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