- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Maybe it's just human nature

In Reply to: Americentrism? posted by Quincunx on October 28, 1999 at 01:04:55:

Are Americans the only ones who admire, or are taught to admire, the wealthy? Wealth is power, after all, and when you look at other social animals, such as wolves, you find the same obeisance to the powerful.
This is not to say that we don't criticize the wealthy or claim to hate them, but maybe deep down in our heart of hearts, part of us believes that they ARE better than us.

That's cynical theory #1. Number 2 is, it's just a result of thousands of years of conditioning. Ever since the first muscle-bound jerk declared himself king, we have been told that the rich deserve to be rich and are obviously superior to the rest of us poor slobs. With enough brainwashing, even a slave can be raised to believe that his master is superior to him. Now, with mass communications and propaganda techniques which have been refined to a brilliant science, what chance we stand against the wealthy and their ad men? Who do you think people will listen to: an earnest Marxist pontificating in dense prose for half an hour, or a 30 second commercial depicting a busty blond cooing over a rich shmuck like Donald Trump?

Sigh.

Follow Ups:

• Marketing borg November 05 1999 (0)