Do you hate all rich people?

[Nye Bevan]

37 votes, 5 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	YES. The Kochs, Lloyd Blankfein, Alan Grayson, the Kennedys, JK Rowling, Derek Jeter..... I hate 'em all.
	4 (11%)
	NO. I judge people by the content of their character, not the size of their bank balance.
	33 (89%)
	5 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. SMH/nt

[JaneyVee]

2. Only the douchebags.

[flamingdem]

90. +1

[louis-t]

3. I don't mind someone getting rich, I just don't want them

stepping on my neck while they're doing it.

[cali]

4. No.

but I know that the majority of them are truly oblivious- even the dems.

I grew up as a 1%er and with 1%er. Nice enough people, many of them, as long as you're part of their milieu.

[hfojvt]

21. Howard Fast mentioned this in his autobiography

He relates the story of how he was having dinner with this rich guy who was their socialist (or communist) candidate for some office (mayor or governor) and they were discussing things after dinner and there was this big dish of ice cream that was their dessert sitting on the table, melting. And Howard asks the guy "shouldn't you put that away before it melts?" and the guy waves his hand "oh, somebody will clean that up, don't worry about it."

To Fast, this was ice cream, a rare and precious treat that you don't just nonchalantly let goto waste.

He concluded by saying this made him realize that no matter how sympathetic some richer people were to the cause of working people (which this guy certainly was, in Fast's eyes) they don't see things the way we do. The don't really understand our point of view.

[cali]

23. that's a great story.

I know this is true because I grew up as a 1%er who's parents were dems.

and that encapsulates much of how I grew up. It's a really insulated world.

[kenny blankenship]

5. No, and I don't hate sharks or rattlesnakes either

But I know what they are, and I don't forget it.

[LittleBlue]

6. I try to judge everyone individually no matter

what group they belong to. It's a bad habit I've tried to kick.

[pipi_k]

7. So, I thought about this and...

realized that, to perhaps 90% of the rest of the world, even my modest little home and what money I have in the bank, and my cars and all the other neat stuff I have probably makes me unbelievably rich in their eyes.

Would I want them to hate me because of what I have? No. I'd want them to judge me by my character.

So why would it make sense for me to hate someone else because of what they have and what I don't?

No. I give them the same benefit I would want for myself.

[99Forever]

8. I'll pass on the loaded question flamebait.

It's so very special.

[liberal_at_heart]

22. me too. This thread is getting trashed.

[SammyWinstonJack]

35. ..

[NoGOPZone]

39. +1 nt

[laundry_queen]

66. Yep, yet so unsurprising nt

[Mass]

9. No, as long as they contribute their fair share to society.

[BainsBane]

10. I hate the system that generates tremendous inequality.

[arely staircase]

13. ah looks like you beat me by three minutes

I can usually count on you to get it right.

[BainsBane]

17. Aw. That's nice of you to say.

[Agschmid]

18. +1

[socialist_n_TN]

46. Yep. To paraphrase......

I hate the game not the playa.

However, I will say that something about a lot of money (more than you'll ever need for one lifetime) SEEMS to turn a lot of folks into outright assholes. But once again, the system is what encourages that, IMO.

[arely staircase]

11. I said no

but I do hate a the fact that the poor are systematically exploited through tax laws and low wages.

[treestar]

12. one does not have to hate them personally to want a better redistribution

[Nye Bevan]

16. Fully agree.

Many of the rich happily advocate for higher taxes on themselves. Warren Buffet for example.

[DiverDave]

14. People that paint with a broad brush always get some

on themselves.
It's also pretty stupid to believe that all of ANY group is the same.
That being said, I have met some sorry excuses for human beings that are very wealthy.
Not crossing the street to put out their hair on fire comes to mind.

[struggle4progress]

15. Nope. But I do think class analysis can provide very useful practical insights

into the structure and dynamics of our society

[OutNow]

19. No, but I hate the capitalist system

[Beringia]

20. Certainly not hate

But I do think many people with money isolate themselves as best they can from anyone who they consider not in their class, and do not try to improve society.

[LeftishBrit]

24. Of course not.

But expecting people, who can afford it, to pay more for the upkeep of their country is not 'hatred'.

[BlueJazz]

25. You know, if I were extremely wealthy, I would "Get Off" on making the world a better place..

..through interference with the regular flow of fate. The idea that I could screw the sons-a-bitches who try to cause suffering and misfortune would make me a very happy man.
(Ok...I'm still happy now but ....)

[Warren Stupidity]

26. I used to like them fileted and broiled, but I'm vegan now.

[uponit7771]

27. Can we have more meaningful questions than this?!?!? regards

[Nye Bevan]

76. Sure can. You are a donor too, so you can post polls just as easily as I can (nt)

[Warpy]

28. It's easy to despise new money like the Walton heirs and hedge fund parasites

New money hasn't yet learned that it needs to be generous. It is desperate to join the "club" of old money and old bloodlines and tries by ostentation. It only succeeds in pissing everyone off but the old money crowd who get a big laugh out of it. Old money lives with threadbare inherited furniture and drives Toyotas once they're out of college and more sensible.

My mother came from old money, lost in the Depression. I grew up with a lot of the crazy thinking, most of which I've managed to discard since it didn't fit the penury the lack of access to health insurance forced on me.

I got to know some of the generous old money when I was young and cute and had a reputation as a wit. They are willing to share a great deal unless someone has the audacity to tell them what they need instead of what the old money wishes to share, a faux pas I knew better than to commit, thanks Ma. They are affable and decent people who are simply incurious about what goes on beyond their comfortable lives. I might want to shake some sense into them but I don't hate them.

So no, I don't hate rich folks.

[JI7]

29. i know many in the middle class who bash poor people far more than the wealthy

[PragmaticLiberal]

30. I've found this to be the case as well.

[Incitatus]

40. Do you know more middle class people

than wealthy people?

[JI7]

41. of course, you may have read what i said wrong, i wasn't saying middle class attacks poor people

more than wealthy attack poor people.

i was saying the middle class bashes poor people more than they bash wealthy people.

[Incitatus]

42. Yes, I read that wrong.

The amount of middle class that have been tricked into blaming the poor is a very big problem.

[bigwillq]

31. No (nt)

[TBF]

32. Nope, I hate capitalism -

what do you expect folks to do when the system encourages greed and hoarding at the top? People are going to behave according to how they are rewarded. Simple psychology. Change the rewards and you might see a change in behavior.

[b.durruti]

55. +1 i hate the fuck out of capitalism. ~nt~

[TBF]

81. Good signature line --

[WillyT]

33. Bo... Just The Selfish Pricks Among Them...

[Violet_Crumble]

34. No. And anyone who does and is proud of it revolts me n/t

[rrneck]

36. No.

But the characteristics that I most hate in people seem to be in rich people.

[Logical]

37. The yes voters are no better than the GOP supporters

[Incitatus]

43. I would like to see some of them explain their reasoning. nt

[Logical]

50. Because they are stupid like GOP supporters. HATING Alan Grayson because he has money? Really? n-t

[ForgoTheConsequence]

52. My reasoning is that it's a stupid question.

And it deserved a stupid answer. Good enough for you?

[Incitatus]

91. Yes.

Thank you.

[WinkyDink]

38. That's kind of a doofus question. I DO abominate excessive wealth, the kind that buys governments.

[bhikkhu]

44. Of course not. People are basically good,

and the small percentage of people who aren't doesn't center on any category of wealth.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

53. I don't know about that.

Wealthy Selfies: How Being Rich Increases Narcissism

Earlier this year, statistics on charitable giving revealed that while the wealthy donate about 1.3% of their income to charity, the poorest actually give more than twice as much as a proportion of their earnings — 3.2%.

In five different experiments involving several hundred undergraduates and 100 adults recruited from online communities, the researchers found higher levels of both narcissism and entitlement among those of higher income and social class.

The wealthier participants were also more likely to agree with statements like “I honestly feel I’m just more deserving than other people” and place themselves higher on a self-assessed “class ladder” that indicated increasing levels of income, education and job prestige.

http://healthland.time.com/2013/08/20/wealthy-selfies-how-being-rich-increases-narcissism/


There are assholes all around but, however there seems to be a direct correlation between being wealthy and being a piece of shit.

[bhikkhu]

64. Wealth naturally decreases interdependence

When you are poor, you rely pretty heavily on other people, and you tend to naturally give and receive. When you don't depend on other people so much, the whole equation is different, and looking at it as a percentage of income doesn't say much about an actual mental state.

Just saying from experience, I've known many wealthy people over the years (in spite of being generally lower income myself), and I don't think any of them were assholes or pieces of shit. Very often, wealth comes from connections, and connections arise from being personable and helpful. In another way, financial security can begin with social skills; people succeed when other people want them to succeed. Making friends, being likeable, being someone who can be trusted and relied on, etc. Being along in years myself, I've watched it over and over again, though its not a trick I ever managed myself - I was always the guy off in the corner with a book, wondering what it would be like to always know the right thing to say, or how to talk to people.

[pintobean]

45. I don't hate anyone

Hate is a very destructive force.

[Ranchemp.]

67. ^^^THIS^^^

[el_bryanto]

47. I have to know someone before I can hate them

That said I can be concerned about the amount of power the wealthy have in our society without hating them.

Bryant

[bhikkhu]

63. That's a very good policy

I've always thought it somewhat sociopathic for people to talk about hating people they've never met, whether its the president, or Justin Bieber, or anybody.

You can hate a behavior, with or without a good reason, but hating a person is an entirely different thing.

[HarveyDarkey]

48. Not at all

Some of them are pretty tasty

[haele]

49. I don't hate them, but I am mindful of their personal motivations -

Just as I am mindful of poor people's motivations.

It's not cynical to assume that no matter how considerate, well wishing, ethical a person may be, rich or poor, there is something within them that will always consider what keeps them comfortable before considering the needs of others. However they act on it will be the test of their personal sense of morality, but you can't tell me there is a person dead or alive who first ask "how much does this action/event/situation ask of me?" before thinking "how does this affect others?".

Thing to also remember is that the lower incomes usually (not always) have more experience in starting from nothing or doing with less than the wealthy-which will explain why "poorer" people are typically more willing to give personal resources to provide aid, or more willing to do with less so that everyone can be helped. YMMV when it comes to personal experiences, but studies have shown time and again that people who make less than the median wage will give more of a percentage of their limited resources to various types of aid activities than people who make more.

Haele

[840high]

51. Absolutely not.

[b.durruti]

54. No not personally, but I do think that the ultra rich (think billionaries) need to be separated from

their money, if not their heads.

[Nye Bevan]

56. So what should be done about Sara Blakely (the inventor of Spanx)?

"My own butt was the inspiration" for the Spanx phenomenon, billionaire Sara Blakely told CNBC on Wednesday.

"I couldn't figure out what to wear under my white pants. I don't know if Warren has the same problem, Blakely said in a "Squawk Box" interview, while sitting next to Warren Buffett at Fortune's 15th annual "Most Powerful Women's Conference" in Washington. "I knew there was a void between the traditional underwear and the heavy-duty girdle."

At first, she made her own solution. "I cut the feet out of control top pantyhose. And realized it was better than anything I can buy on the market as far as smoothing. [But] it rolled up my leg all night under my pants. So I went home that night and said, 'I have to figure out to keep this below the knee.'"

Blakely said she grew up wanting to be a lawyer but "bombed" the LSATs. She landed at Disney World, looking to be the character Goofy. But she was too short and asked to be a Chipmunk. "I was not on a very good trajectory."

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101116826

[b.durruti]

57. She has too much money.

You appear to be implying that the ultra rich deserve their wealth, which is reprehensible. Have you ever heard the saying "Behind every great fortune is a great crime?"

[Nye Bevan]

61. But practically speaking, what should be done about her? (nt)

[dionysus]

62. .

[KentuckyWoman]

58. who actually makes them?

who pulls the raw materials? Transports it? Built the facility where it's made? Maintains the infrastructure to power every point? Provides clean water? Keeps the shipping lanes safe.......?

Great idea doesn't magically turn to billions. A lot of people had to work a lot of hours and take less pay than the value of the work for her to make a profit.

[laundry_queen]

69. Yep.

Who makes the fabric, who transports the fabric, what is the environmental cost of those activities, what are the externalities, what do the people who sew them get paid? What are working conditions like? Is their building safe? Do they have health care? Can they feed their families on what she pays them?

Here's the thing: people are entitled to make billions - but they also have a much greater responsibility to society than they are currently required to accommodate. You can't pretend that because your subcontractor subcontracted to someone else who is polluting a river with poisons that it's out of your hands, KWIM? And I'm willing to bet a lot that there isn't a billion dollar business out there that doesn't take advantage of poor people in some manner, at some level. It's not the person I hate - it's the system and if they aren't working to change the system, then they are a big part of the problem.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

59. No

I only hate those who want to be even more wealthy at the expense of those who have less.

[Vashta Nerada]

60. Just the ones who take advantage of the poor and the weak.

And those who contribute absolutely nothing positive to society (e.g. the Kardashians).

[Marr]

65. I swear, it's like your polls are written by Fix the Debt. /nt

[Nye Bevan]

75. I actually found it to be a worthwhile exercise.

97% of DUers have no particular hatred for the rich. I think that's quite healthy.

[woo me with science]

68. This is clearly the corporate talking point of the week.

So many threads about "hate." Hate, hate, hate.

HATRED of Obama. HATRED of other corporate politicians like Hillary Clinton. HATRED of rich people.

But never, ever, ever any mention of POLICIES. It is as though the billions of corporate dollars flooding Washington and driving POLICY direction in both parties don't even exist. There is never any mention of the funneling of money from the lower classes to the top One Percent as a result of the POLICIES these billions purchase.

Never any mention whatsoever of the fact that the wealth of the top one percent has doubled since Obama took office. Never any mention that even the milquetoast Dodd-Frank regulations were attacked and many of them gutted by bipartisan vote and with Obama's signature earlier this year. Never any mention that the banks still are not being held accountable. And never any mention that our Democratic President is seeking more austerity and cuts in Social Security, and is deliberately hiding and seeking to fast-track what will probably be the most predatory, devastating free trade agreement in US history. And never any mention of the systemic problem, the corporate structure and the corporate contributions that explain it all, in both parties.

Never any mention of the millions driven into poverty as a result of corporate POLICIES purchased by billionaires. Never any acknowledgement of the millions foreclosed upon and struggling to afford food, shelter, and medicine. Never any acknowledgement that child poverty in the US now falls just above that in Romania, and inequality continues to skyrocket. Never any mention of the millions of Americans who now live in a surveillance state and are watching their futures being traded away.

No, the corporatists express shock and dismay that it's just pathological HATRED, out of the blue, and so very concerning. It must be some weird personality issue....not principled opposition to government corruption or predatory POLICIES. No, we're to believe that it's just some bizarre, mass psychological eruption of HATRED, like a seizure, arising from who knows where, for who knows what reason.

So manipulative, so predictable, and so pathetic.

[laundry_queen]

72. OMG YES. Everything you just said. Ditto, ditto and your last line especially - DITTO. nt

[Vashta Nerada]

77. +100000000000000000000

[Nye Bevan]

78. "So many threads about hate"? I see only one other thread about hate on the front page of GD:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024049860

Or are most of these "threads about hate" in the other forums or groups?

[99Forever]

87. Got any response to the rest of Woo's post?

No?

Didn't think so.


Wadda surprise.

[Nye Bevan]

89. When a poster comprehensively beclowns himself in the first sentence of a post,

I don't usually bother reading further.

[Starry Messenger]

70. This poll is evidence of shallow reasoning on your part.

[YoungDemCA]

71. Those poor rich people...

How will they ever get by!

[Nye Bevan]

73. It was actually inspired by a recent post where the OP admitted to being bigoted against the rich.

I was curious as to what percentage of DUers would admit to the same kind of bigotry.

[Starry Messenger]

74. As I said.

[Nye Bevan]

79. And it turned out to be 4% (nt)

Last edited Mon Nov 18, 2013, 12:16 PM - Edit history (1)

[XRubicon]

93. What's your answer to your question?

[Nye Bevan]

95. It's up to 5% now (nt)

[XRubicon]

96. What's the lowest wealth level that triggers your hate?

I'd like you to quantify it so I know if I'm in the clear or not.

[Nye Bevan]

97. Most of the people I hate are in the top 1% of the world (nt)

[stevenleser]

86. I've actually been attacked on DU before for suggesting we shouldn't automatically hate all rich

people.

Strange but true. There are definitely some folks here who think that way.

[JackRiddler]

100. Yes.

[Joel thakkar]

80. Bill Maher is rich

but he still advocates liberal, progressive policies and donated $1M personally for obama 2012 campaign.

Thus, no i don't hate all rich people

[Fumesucker]

82. Define "rich" n/t

[chemenger]

83. Can't say that I hate rich people, but I have always held the opinion that,

above a certain level of personal wealth, rich people should be taxed at 100% of their wealth above that cutoff point. Really, who needs 5 estates in different parts of the country, 5 or 10 Rolls Royces, off shore bank accounts, etc.

And yes, I am a socialist.

[KinMd]

84. Your favorite entertainer would likely qualify as rich

[Iggo]

85. Let's go with Yes...

...because I do hate push polls.

[HughBeaumont]

88. Not all . . . .

Just the arch-conservative wealthy that willfully damage the progress of the middle/working/poor classes to enhance their already-fattened bank portfolios.

[etherealtruth]

92. Of course not!

[mainer]

94. Can you define "rich"?

Is it someone with a million? Ten million? Twenty?

Should a poor person in Somalia hate all Americans because we are, relatively speaking, rich?

[OmahaBlueDog]

98. Warren Buffett can't give his money away fast enough

..and he's trying to convince other billionaires to do the same.

[brooklynite]

99. To the 10 who voted yes: when you line me up against the wall, aim for the head...

...because we wealthy people really ARE all evil conservatives...just like every working class person is a flaming liberal.

[lonestarnot]

101. For the most part, yes.

[Rex]

102. It is a hate for a phenomenon caused by the rich.

The continued separation between rich and poor is what I hate and the people that promote the idea of a plutocracy as being healthy for our nation.

[NuclearDem]

103. Privileged, spoiled gated community dwelling pearl clutchers, yes.

It's not all of them, but it's still enough.