Sunday, March 07, 2010

Hidden Things


Is it this way already? Are there things the rich have that we don't even know about? I remember having a plum in Italy that was better than any plum I have had before or since. And apples in Israel better than any apple before or since. And an occasional meal, usually in France, better than any other meal.

Wine usually seems mediocre to me. I drink it because, as a Californian, I am expected to and have gotten used to doing it. Yet literature from Roman times to ours has reference to fine or even noble wines. Some bottles go for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Is handmade clothing personally tailored to fit, better than mass-produced? Is live music better than CD's? Are there people so rich they have full-time house musicians the way the Esterhazys had Haydn and his orchestra in the 18th Century? What would it be like to have servants? Or if one were a Saudi, slaves? If one can afford several mistresses and they know about one another, is it a harem?

What would being chauffeured in a stretch limousine be like if one were not going to a high school prom with ten friends? If there were no effort or stress involved in travel because one had a private jet, nor noticeable expense, would the world seem smaller and more accessible?

Would one be better educated if one had had a private tutor, a class size of one? Would one get a better education if one of the buildings on campus was named for your father? Would one's health be better and one's life expectancy longer if one had a personal physician and a hospital wing named for you?

Would you feel more empowered if you called your Senator "Ed" and he called you "Sir" and meant it? Would you feel differently about your place in the world if you could have people killed with impunity and a phone call? Would public discourse in newspapers and television seem more amenable if one owned them?

And we all know for sure that there must be such people and that they would be very reluctant to endure publicity and would have the means to ensure that their privacy was not broken in upon?

Is there a ruling class aside from those we know about? Are the rich different? Do we even know of their existence directly? Or only by inference?

5 comments:

  1. But it is quite mutual Jack. You don't know if they exist, and they have no idea that you exist.

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  2. Akhbar6:50 AM

    Yes, this sounds like the Protcols of the Learned Elders of Zion.

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  3. Christy is more clueless than usual today....

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  4. Lolita7:29 PM

    Don't you remember when Geo.bush,sr. said, "Oh, listen, the cash register talks to you." and his adorable old wife said the people who had escaped from New Orleans to Texas and were in some facility there..."...they should be happy they are getting three meals a day (hot dogs and potato chips)... they've probably never had more than two a day before."

    The ultra rich can be SO GENEROUS to their slaves.

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  5. Christy7:25 AM

    How am I clueless exactly? Is that a general observation Jack or did you forget your brain medicine again?

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