The Richer you are, the more easily you suffer (apparently)

[KurtNYC]

At least according to the news media...

TV journalists seem determined to convince us that the rich suffer more often and more easily than the rest of us. I'll show you what I mean. On Sunday, some rich people went hiking on Mt. Hood. Their lives are apparently so devoid of problems that they are bored and go out and create problems for themselves. Problems they generally have control over like how high up a mountain one climbs, what time of year one chooses to do so, how many tracking devices and cell phones to take with you, and how many $500 sleeping bags to carry. These rich people slid down one side of the mountain, turned on their rescue beacons, had a little food, got into their fancy sleeping bags and went to sleep. They took turns having a dog provide extra warmth for them. In the morning they were picked up by taxpayer-funded rescue crews (read: low/middle income people) who have to put their own life and limb at risk whenever rich people choose to "defy death" by getting out of their Range Rovers. To many of us this may not seem like a big deal but I just checked with CNN and NBC and they say these people are inspiring heroes who endured incredible hardship (for 8 hours). Further "they were brave" and their dog is not a hostage to their folly but rather is also a hero and "was key to their survival."

Compare that to how little poor people suffer, according to news reports, under similar circumstances. In NYC over 3,000 people spent the last 3 frigid weeks sleeping in refrigerator boxes on the streets, not for 8 hours but 24/7. None of them will be making the rounds of the morning talk shows to talk about how they "feel fully alive now that they have cheated death." In fact, according to the news, these people "refuse to go to shelters." (If the homeless would only activate their rescue beacons...)

But wait.. when you add fame to wealth it is even easier to experience suffering! This is, apparently, like the psychological version of the hemophilia which legendarily runs in Royal families. And while the slightest cut can bleed profusely and may even prove lethal among the idlely famous Old-Money types, a haircut can be major crisis for some of the rich and famous. Take for instance poor Brittany Spears--she "did not have a childhood" ! Yes, incredible isn't it?! Doesn't seem possible. In fact it seems more possible that she never had an adulthood but who am I to argue with the fine professional journalists on our cable news stations. Brittany was apparently born with all the maturity and problems that usually only confront adults. Perhaps at the age of 5 she was enduring parenthood, house payments, career decisions and the like. By age 10 she was felt a deep sense of ennui as she confronted her own mortality and dealt with the deeply personal spiritual questions around this. All that maturity and responsibility apparently eclipsed her childhood.. how do we know this? Because she cut her hair of course. Matt Lauer just expressed anxiety about "which celebrity will melt down next?"

Perhaps we should station rescue teams near hair salons. If a celeb shows up, counsel them. Try and talk them out of it. Rush them to the nearest Chuckie Cheese and get their belated childhood going. Surely they have acted like responsible adults long enough and deserve our sympathy and concern.

Or not.

[Callalily]

1. The rich have

absolutely no concept of how regular people live. They could never survive if they had to follow a budget, go into work on a regular basis, juggle work and family without nannies and housekeepers, etc., etc., etc.

[dropkickpa]

2. Those poor climbers

who had to spend 8 hour in warm sleeping bags!!

But this was nothing - 1 adult 6 children die in fire caused by space heater (temps had been frigid for two weeks), gas shut off last year. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07049/763072-85.stm

[Pierre.Suave]

20. thats so sad.

I just don't have words to use right now.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. "Which celebrity will melt down next?" I hope it's Matt "I'm too sexy for myself" Lauer.

:puke:

[Caoimhe]

4. Doh

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=252468&mesg_id=252468

[ThomCat]

5. Didn't you learn?

Rich people are better people than the rest of us.
They are more altruistic too.
And they have earned, and deserve all of their wealth.
They deserve our admiration.
And most of all, when anything bad happens to them, we need to rally and make sure they're okay.

After all, if you can't show compassion for rich people you must be some kind of a monster.
:eyes:

:P

[lukasahero]

6. What - this post didn't get pummelled enough in GD you decided

to try it here?

LIE #1 - "On Sunday, some rich people went hiking on Mt. Hood."
TRUTH - "On Sunday," some TEACHERS "went hiking on Mt. Hood."

'Nuff said.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

9. Jesus, they were teachers? Oh yeah, those are some rich people right there.

:eyes:

I also don't understand where people think it's okay if rich people suffer, but not if other people suffer. They're all fucking people.

[Karenca]

12. Thank you, Haruka.

and Happy Birthday! :party:

[Danger Mouse]

17. They're all fucking people? Really? Which people are they fucking?

Sigh. I'm sorry.
That was terrible.

[eyepaddle]

7. Hang on a second, `

Do we know those climbers were well off? Of all the outdoor'extreme sports enthusisasts as a group I find climbers the most tiresome (usually a lot of chest thumpin' I'm that great-kinda talk) but not many that I have known had all that much cash. It seems to me like they were solidly prepared to deal with the consequences of their hobby. Anything less is foolhardy.

And yes, for the rcord I'm being tongue in cheek with that shot. Tweakin' my pals who climb!

I know I persoanlly have at least 5k sunk into kayaks and related gear and completely meet the definition for lower middle class. And I just hit that this last year.

Personally I think we can both do more to help the homeless and other poor people, but still get off our collective asses and get out there and LIVE life and see what the planet has to offer.

I remember the contemptous flames over the last batch of lost climbers who were castigated for NOT having their beacons on them--should they shoestring it and wind up on an epsiode of "I shuoldn't be Alive" or should we all just stay home?

I forget the Attirbution (I think Confucius, but may be wrong):
The virtous find delight in mountains, the wise find it in rivers.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Those damn public school teachers lording over us...

what with their alpine excursions and their fancy sports cars.

[Gormy Cuss]

10. The OP made a good point that got ignored in GD because of the word "rich"

The lost Mt. Hood hikers weren't rich, but their story of a night in the cold is receiving lots of attention while people of no means, who are not engaging in recreational activity, are braving the cold streets of the city all winter without shelter.

On the issue of obsession with every move of celebs in distress, that's of course because media perceives that the public prefers to hear and see that sort of 'news' than depressing stories like the deplorable ways we are treating (and not treating) our service personnel who were injured in Iraq. Perhaps if more people deflected water cooler talk of Britney and instead tried to engage coworkers, peers, neighbors, and family on something more substantial the media would spend more time on weightier issues.

Just my two American pennies.

[Deja Q]

11. We also like to give Britney Spears and Anna Nicole Smith tv time...

while people of infinitely superior character are blissfully ignored.

[Xithras]

13. You have to be rich to climb mountains?

News to me. I seem to recall climbing quite a few mountains back when I was 18, broke, and practically homeless. NONE of the people I know today, who still climb, are rich either.

FYI, you'll never hear about a rich guy being stranded on a mountain like this. Real rich guys hire guides to lead them, porters to carry their equipment, and take enough stuff with them to survive a month on a mountaintop in a raging blizzard. You don't hear about THEM getting stuck, because it doesn't happen to them. It's the poor schmoes who can't afford that kind of luxury that get stuck on the mountain and need rescuing.

[Caoimhe]

15. Your post reminds me

My sister in law keeps wanting me to visit China. She is from Taiwan, she has loads of money. She talks about a Western province (maybe near Tibet?) where you could have these wage slave type guys carry you on a pagoda to the top of the mountain. I told her that was not a luxury I wanted to indulge in. I seriously would feel so uncomfortable... argh.

Having money always affords special things. Usually those things are in direct AVOIDANCE of physical expenditure. Its why the babes of old were on the hefty side. Body fat, sedentary is the luxury of the rich. That is why this issue has intrigued me. We aren't talking about millionaires from California getting lost on a mountain in Nepal. We are talking about average joe's with a lust for challenge. They did everything right, I'm not understanding the hate. Is it a blue state/red state thing?

I've always lived in places where hiking on foot up steep trails was a routine, careful, yet inspiring activity.

[Karenca]

14. When I read these posts about "rich" people,

I never could understand all the hostility.
Some DU'er was very nasty to me on another thread, but he did open my eyes.
Now I understand that it's jealousy. And it's very ugly.

[Danger Mouse]

16. Look, I'm just warning ya.

This thread is gonna get real ugly, real fast.
It's going to hit GD-levels of shitstorm, I tell you.
You've missed the point, bro.
Mo' money, mo' problems, what can I say?

[Redstone]

18. How do you know they drive a Range Rover?

Redstone

[Democrats_win]

19. Correct question: Why try Mt. Hood after people famously died there a few weeks ago?

People will be very interested in what these climbers say. Clearly they aren't heros.