Heh. Funny thing is, that seems to work all the way up and down the income ladder. Even with the rich, it's always the ones who inherited their money, skip out on their bills when they can and don't tip that will be the loudest about how it's all about meritocracy and think the rest of us should pay more taxes to make up for their privilege to be deadbeats and sock more away in the Caiman Isl . . . uh, create jobs. The ones that genuinely did get somewhere with smarts, like Buffett, are more likely to be willing to pull their freight.
Oh boy! If that doesn't say it all. I guess I am a member of the lazy, feckless 47% so tellingly described in a recent U.S. presidential campaign (although, strangely enough, some of the virtuous, hardworking 53% apparently didn't vote for their champion, as seen by the results of the election). For perhaps the most telling portrayal of the sense of entitlement of the "privileged class," one should read John Dickson Carr's 1950 novel, "The Bride of Newgate." Although set among the upper class during the English Regency period, it isn't a fluffy romance about blushing debutantes and wealthy bishounen peers living their "deserved" idyllic life of passion. It has a lot information on the misery that allows the wealthy to pursue their conspicuous consumption, pay for their multi-million dollar weddings, establish private clubs above Johnstown Dams, and buy politicians to their heart's content.
The entertainment media is a complicit ally of the rich and entitled, as wedding shows and rich lifestyle shows, as well as many serials and movies glorify the "good life" of huge parties, gambling (being a "high roller" is soooo sexy), $100,000 cars, insanely luxurious vacation, et cetera ad nauseam. Mass market publishing (i.e. Harlequin type stuff) promulgate the idea to the (semi) literate that passion with a septillionaire is the greatest thing life can hold. The rich and entitled use other venues to create a popular base to back their schemes to stay at the status quo of inequality, such as religion, patriotism, individual rights (I still have trouble understanding how someone on a fixed income, living in a trailer park thinks supporting the super wealthy helps them with their rights), and any other schtick their PR legions can think up.
Of course, convincing the poor or relatively poor to support the plutocrats is nothing new. In the Roman Republic, the senatorial (patrician) class convinced the urban poor to be complicit and actively aid in the murders of the Brothers Gracchi. They pretty much used the bread and circuses carrot to do this. The great political crime of these brothers was to try and limit how much land a single person could own, since a handful of patricians owned nearly all the arable land in Italy. In this day and age, it seems like a certain proportion of the poor and the economic middle class don't even have to be bribed by bread and circuses. It seems as though there are people who can barely feed their families who grieve over the tragic fate of Bernie Madhoff and Kenny Lay, thinking they were victims of President Obama's secret communism, and continue to hero-worship and politically support someone whose monthly cigar bill would feed a family of four for a year.
Of course, keeping a populace ignorant is the goal of anyone who wants to keep a grossly unequal power/economic system in a stasis. If you teach them to disregard science because the Bible says earth was created less than 10,000 years ago (it doesn't) or global warming doesn't exist because Congressman Pantzarov and Senator Ben Dover DePage says so, with a bunch of gee-whiz graphs and visual aids to "prove" it, you will have a populace whose critical thinking skills are nil, and go through life as the perfect mark for home shopping networks, ponzi schemes, crooked credit brokers, and the wonderful "entitled" rich people who want to remain that way if it takes the sweat, health, blood, and destruction of the "common" people.
The foregoing diatribe does not mean that I am a communist, pure socialist, or disciple of Maximillian Robespierre. I think that people like Warren Buffet, Dave Thomas, and even Bill Gates (I am not a fan-boy, disapprove of much of his methodology, and continue to use Mac products) contribute far more to our society and to humanity as a whole than 99% of the entitled "golden boys" of our civilization. I do not despise family or inheritance, but I have seen "entitled" people sweep serious crimes under the rug, be forgiven for any and all transgressions, and given "opportunities to excel" that peon schmucks, no matter their qualifications and hard work, don't get. As a serviceman (and an officer, at times), I noticed general's sons arrive at a military unit. The red carpet was rolled out for these "shave-tail" 2nd lieutenants, and field grade officers a good twenty years older than them spoke deferentially to them as though they were the crown prince of the country. Most of us "peons" who rose up from the enlisted ranks (although not all, as there are plenty of aristocracy wannabe bootlickers for this type) referred to them as 2nd lieutenants deep selected for four stars. In the military, the phenomena was referred to (by us loser, maverick types) as the "Bubba Club." You played by their rules, and you got ahead. (Please don't take this as a blanket indictment of the US military, they have a mission I generally agree with, and it is, for the most part, a good learning experience for young men and women [exceptions to this can be found in many places].) Getting out of the military (at 45) I assumed I would find a workplace dominated by the evil profit motive, where efficiency, hard work, and intelligence would triumph. To quote my sister, "Haw, haw! What a chump!" A civilian "Bubba Club," nepotism, and fear of clever people permeated this world as well. I had thought that "work harder and you rock the boat" was limited to the former Soviet regime. (Time for a chorus of "Haw, haw! What a chump!) It ain't a metitocracy out there! If I had to give it a name, I'd call it a "stasisocracy." Even in mid-level businesses, they want it to stay the same, with people who don't work hard, but continue to bring in OK profits. It's kind of like having purveyors of whatever to the aristos on the eve of the French Revolution. As a result, many of these "mom and pop" medium level companies will fold, while holding to the principles of the "entitled" type. At "upper-middle-class," they have no more critical thinking abilities than the "trailer trash" (not my appellation) who support the super rich as role models and heroes.
That is what I like about this manga. It supports the fact that the system is broken and changing. Not that many companies have huge retirement plans and benefits anymore (except for senior management), and while the company these two "presidents" run doesn't have these things, they are willing to let the "peonage" know, and educate them. The manga is a pretty decent wake up call about our society and its' business practices, and how the worker bees are left in ignorance until the axe falls on them, whether through illness (no decent health plan, or it isn't in effect if you miss xxx days of work), economic downturn (our company, with its' wonderful benefits just shut its' door, and our pension, health benefits and 401K we've been paying into isn't worth anything), or just outright fraud from someone (the retirement plan you've been paying into is gone, and was cashed by the former CEO who is now living in a palace in Burkina Faso). I especially like the mangaka's decision to not give the two presidents a butt load of charisma, a quality I mistrust, almost to hating it. They come across as cold, confrontative, and zero-tolerance (they aren't, just critical, which is a quality really needed [in its' purest sense] in our workplace today). Yet, they are willing to educate people, albeit in a rather tough love sort of way, which is far more than than I ever heard from most of the "hearty, bluff, and PR developed 'buddy' technique" executives I have come across. In the military, the finest Commanding Officers I ever served under did not have "charisma" to any great extent (I spent 22 years doing it). The ones who possessed real charisma, as well as the ones who worked at being "hail fellow well met," were almost always only concerned with their own careers and advancing themselves. The ones who really cared about their subordinates, their job, and the Marine Corps mission, were somewhat introverted, came across as slightly cold, bookish, calculating, and clumsy in dealing with others. They were not loved by their subordinates while they commanded (remember, most of this was in peacetime). They were, however, appreciated and greatly missed when the "hail fellow well met" extrovert ruined the unit when his "everyone's friend" image was found out to be all image and no substance.
Uh, I guess that I am a diatribalist after all. For some reason, this manga, combined with the great comments it generates, got me up onto a soapbox. Hope I don't annoy someone into accusing me of dredging up the stone age again!
-inzaratha- I started this comment before yours was posted, and read it after I hit "post." You too hit the nail on the head like PLG. Sorry my comment/diatribe is so verbose!!
Edited by Comadrin, 20 January 2013 - 06:13 AM.
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