Ann, I agree that there's an instinct to survive. But I don't think there's an instinct "to survive in style," as you say. I think anything beyond basic survival needs is conditioned into us by the people and circumstances of our childhood. Remember the significance of "Rosebud" in Citizen Kane? Of course we're also hugely conditioned by our culture and this conditioning, from what I've read, spreads to the remotest corners of the earth via TV, etc. Supposedly Dallas was one of the most popular shows in Saudia Arabia!
I think it's a matter of degree. I would wish for everyone on earth to have their basic needs met and even be comfortable. But I've seen pictures of solid gold doors in Dubai. Does someone really need a solid gold door to their house in order to be comfortable?! I admit I don't understand how such an imbalance continues decade after decade. There are people who collect very expensive cars for a hobby. And there are babies starving to death every day. I don't understand how this continues. On Tuesday, January 21, 2014 8:22 AM, "awoelfleba...@yahoo.com" <awoelfleba...@yahoo.com> wrote: ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Michael Jackson wrote: > >> I'd ride with 'em, I ain't prejudiced agin rich folk. > >Personally, I suspect that the planet would be better off if we managed to get >all 85 of these people on one bus, and then threatened them with driving the >bus off a cliff with them on it unless they signed over all of their money to >the poor people they fucked over to get it. After they signed, then we'd take >the signed papers, get off the bus and push it over the edge anyway, and then >redistribute the funds. I love the "we" part. As if the average human being wouldn't pocket the ransacked money and make off with it themselves. Rich or poor, the basic instinct is to survive and to survive in style. Those who claim they wouldn't love an extra $1,000,000 in the bank are fooling themselves. Granted, many are loathe to cheat and steal their way to accessing this and many would consider a billion dollars a little unnecessary but greed, avarice and the love of the good life is, to some extent, in all of us. Take a guy like Leonardo in his role as the Wolf, take away his gazillions and he'd still be the loan shark, the pimp or the drug dealer clawing his way toward his idea of fame and fortune. You don't have to be rich to embody all sorts of loathsome traits. But that may just be how I feel today, after having been forced to sit through "The Wolf Of Wall Street." I now completely agree with everything said in the open letter written by Christina McDowell, daughter of one of the real-life scumbags who worked with the real-life Jordan Belfort. I think that Martin Scorcese, Leonardo DiCaprio, and all of the other producers who glorified greed and immorality in this film should be sentenced to spend the rest of their lives doing "community service" by making movies about the "little people" these real-life scumbags ripped off, and whose lives they ruined. Those of you who mouth off about misogyny, you really haven't even *seen* misogyny until you've seen this movie. There is not a woman in the film who isn't portrayed as a bimbo, a hooker, and just one more rube to be fucked and fucked over. I literally had to take a shower after watching it. The experience made me rethink Martin Scorcese's work as a whole. Yes, he has made the occasional film that *doesn't* celebrate greed, corruption, and misogyny (although the only ones I can think of right now are "Hugo," "The Last Temptation of Christ," and "Kundun"), but those subjects have been the focus of and the preoccupation of almost *all* of his other films. Only 3 films as a director out of 55 *not* about slimeballs. And his next film is going to be about Frank Sinatra. What a fuckin' waste of creative talents. I could tell this film was worth a big miss by watching 2 minutes of the trailer. It looked like an indulgent mess on everyone's part. > -------------------------------------------- >> On Tue, 1/21/14, TurquoiseB turquoiseb@... wrote: >> >> Subject: [FairfieldLife] New meaning for Kesey's "Are you on the bus or off >> the bus?" >> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com >> Date: Tuesday, January 21, 2014, 8:19 AM >> >> According to a recent >> OXFAM report the 85 people who own *half of the planet's >> wealth* could all fit onto this bus: >> >> http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/17/oxfam-bus-wealth_n_4616103.html >> >
