Reading into the Diddy case, I at least understand a lot of why leftists hate the rich, even if most of it is way too over-exaggerated. Don't agree with them at all, but it at least makes me think about what causes those feelings to begin with.

posted 40 days ago by redman012 40 days ago by redman012 +67 / -2

The main reason I'm posting this is because I actually learned that there is a name for the phenomenon of people getting used to something, and having to do more and more extreme variants of the same thing in order to get the same reaction they used to get out of the less extreme variant: hedonic adaptation.

It comes to mind because it just seems that a lot of people in Hollywood fall victim to this, and a lot of the rich as a whole as well, or that the wealthy simply see the common person as lesser, hence the 'own nothing and be happy' group, but to bring this back to Diddy, all the crazy sex parties, all the drugs, the power tripping, abuse, etc just makes it clear that something in Hollywood just makes the majority of people who live in it do insane shit, and the exceptions are for whatever reason I don't know.

I don't hate the rich, I hate rich people who are active detriments to society, ala the 'own nothing and be happy' group, or people like John Fisher, owner of the Oakland Athletics, who has failed in every endeavor he has taken in his entire life and the only reason he can exist the way he does is because his parents founded GAP and Old Navy, as examples.

Are leftists right about rich people as a whole? Not at all. I do however understand them from the perspective of 'the vast majority of wealthy individuals are completely out of touch with the common person and have no idea how they behave'. It seems like as an overall group, only athletes have any idea how the average person lives because without sports, they'd be the average person and many athletes are self-aware about that.

59 comments

59 comments share save hide report block hide replies

You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.

Comments (59)

sorted by:

▲ 37 ▼

– BandageBandolier 37 points 40 days ago +37 / -0

Being rich isn't inherently wrong. But being extremely rich is far more often about socio-economic leverage than individual work output, just because individual output can realistically only vary so far above the norm, but social leverage can just keep scaling up and up. The more broken and amoral behavior a society permits without punishment, then the better suited broken, amoral people are to applying that kind social leverage successfully. And because being a cunt is a highly heritable trait, the kids of the ones who make it tend to be better suited to applying both social and economic leverage.

Looking at the society we have, it's no surprise when the majority of the top 1% are turning out to be unchecked evil cunts.

Until people who cross the line to, say, ship in thousands of illegal Haitians and destroy a small town's community just to depress wages at the factory they own. Until they start mysteriously disappearing in the night and the whole town knowingly shrugs, like with Ken Rex McElroy, you can expect a disproportionate amount of rich people to be deeply deserving of scorn.

permalink save report block reply

▲ 14 ▼

– CarmenOfSandiego 14 points 40 days ago +14 / -0

Ken Rex McElroy

McElroy was shot to death in broad daylight as he sat with his wife Trena in his pickup truck on Skidmore's main street. He was struck by bullets from at least two different firearms, in front of a crowd of people estimated as numbering between 30 and 46. To date, no one has been charged in connection with McElroy's death.

lol, amazing.

Edit:

McElroy fathered more than 10 children with different women. He met his last wife, Trena McCloud (1957–2012), when she was 12 years old and in eighth grade and he was 35. He raped McCloud repeatedly. McCloud's parents initially opposed the relationship, but after McElroy burned their house down and shot the family dog, they begrudgingly agreed to the marriage

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

She became pregnant when she was fourteen, dropped out of school in the ninth grade, and went to live with McElroy and his second wife Alice. McElroy divorced Alice and married Trena in order to escape charges of statutory rape, to which she was the only witness. Sixteen days after Trena gave birth, she and Alice fled to Trena's parents' house. According to court records, McElroy tracked them down and brought them back. When Trena's parents were away, McElroy went to their home, where once again he burned the house down and shot the McClouds' new dog.

Because burning down one house and shooting one dog clearly wasn't enough.

In 1980, one of McElroy's children got into an argument with a clerk, Evelyn Sumy, in a local grocery store owned by 70-year-old Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp and his wife Lois, allegedly because the young McElroy child tried to steal some candy.

Apple not falling far from the tree.

McElroy began stalking the Bowenkamp family, and eventually threatened Bo Bowenkamp in the back of his store with a shotgun in hand. In the ensuing confrontation, McElroy shot Bowenkamp in the neck; Bowenkamp survived, and McElroy was arrested and charged with attempted murder. McElroy was convicted at trial of assault, but freed on bail pending his appeal. Immediately after being released at a post-trial hearing, McElroy went to the D&G Tavern, a local bar, with an M1 Garand rifle with a bayonet attached, and made graphic threats about what he would do to Bo Bowenkamp. This led to several patrons deciding to see what they could legally do to prevent McElroy from harming anyone else.

Considering the nature of this story it's quite clear how those attempts went.

McElroy's appeal hearing was again delayed. On the morning of July 10, 1981, townspeople met at the Legion Hall in the center of town with Nodaway County sheriff Dan Estes to discuss how to protect themselves. During the meeting, McElroy arrived at the D&G Tavern with Trena. As he sat drinking at the bar, word got back to the men at the Legion Hall that he was in town. Sheriff Estes instructed the assembled group not to get into a direct confrontation with McElroy, but instead seriously consider forming a neighborhood watch program. Estes then drove out of town in his police cruiser. The citizens at the meeting decided to go to the tavern en masse; the bar soon filled completely. After McElroy finished his drinks, he purchased a six pack of beer, left the bar, and entered his pickup truck.

I wonder how clear the sheriff made it that he was going to drive out of town.

While sitting in his truck, McElroy was shot at several times but hit only twice—once by a centerfire rifle and once by a .22 rimfire rifle.

I'm sure both those rifles suffered terrible boating accidents and were never found.

In all, there were 46 potential witnesses to the shooting, including Trena McElroy, who was in the truck with her husband when he was shot. Nobody called for an ambulance. Only Trena claimed to identify a gunman; every other witness was either unable to name an assailant or claimed not to have seen who fired the fatal shots. The DA declined to press charges, and an extensive federal investigation did not lead to any charges either. Missouri-based journalist Steve Booher described the attitude of some townspeople as "he needed killing."

You could jokingly label this as the 46 potential witnesses all claiming they "dindu nothing", except everyone else also went along with it for the same reason. However many of the witnesses being at the bar may have also worked in their favour as any number of them could claim to have been UTI and therefore incapable of making a proper ID. Anyone dumb enough to try and challenge that would destroy any and all foundations for prosecuting drink drivers in the process.

The 70s and 80s were a different time.

permalink parent save report block reply

▲ 9 ▼

– Kienan 9 points 40 days ago +9 / -0

Well, that whole thing was a ride.

Also, it's a very small town. 46 witnesses means...ten fucking percent of the town saw that shit and said...what? I didn't see anything.

Also, although the whole thing is terrible, I can't help but laugh that he burned down the same family's home, and shot their dog...twice. It's awful, and I'm glad the prick got murdered...but holy shit, that's amazing.

Not sure who did the dead, but whoever it was did the town a favor, and did what needed to be done. I agree with the witnesses, as described by local journalist: "he needed killing."

permalink parent save report block reply