While reading this post 20 Facts Rich People Never Think About , I got to thinking about the expression "poor excuse". Often it is an innocent attribution about making a bad judgment call. However, when it is put in the context of poor people making excuses for their lives, it is shameful. As the article points out, people living in poverty are often the polar opposite of how others portray them in terms of brains, work ethic, or devotion to children or family. For the most part, excuses that the poor may make is generally a product of having less opportunity due to the conditions of being poor in America. Sadly, the poor are not given much leeway and when it is expedient for political reasons or simply individual prejudice, the poor are often casually scapegoated.
Nobody talks about a "rich excuse". Things, like hunting endangered animals in Africa for sport or building outsized homes (like spending $100 million on the Playboy Mansion) or being on the receiving end of corporate welfare or the fortunes of access to the "good-old-boy" network, are part of the membership package. Criticizing the excesses of the wealthy is largely sloughed off as "jealousy" or "pettiness." Not 100% of the time, of course. Most would likely agree the well-off are excused much more for their bad behaviors than the poor.
In some studies on ethics, the rich really do benefit from their social status and when people who are primed to think like the rich, they can have a similar mindset that the rules do not apply (think college athletes or child prodigies as examples). The sense of privilege is, in some ways, a "rich excuse."
It is apparent to me that we all need to be more understanding in our dealings with others. There are many more good people than people who mean ill, even most of us are, at worst, in the mid-range. We don't mean to be mean, but we don't have the awareness to know when we are being unfair to one another. I'm suggesting that we not ignore the bad actors in the world, but also not excuse ourselves when we leap to conclusions that are the result of bad programming, lack of data, or are figments of our active imaginations--all of which are truly poor excuses.
In some studies on ethics, the rich really do benefit from their social status and when people who are primed to think like the rich, they can have a similar mindset that the rules do not apply (think college athletes or child prodigies as examples). The sense of privilege is, in some ways, a "rich excuse."
It is apparent to me that we all need to be more understanding in our dealings with others. There are many more good people than people who mean ill, even most of us are, at worst, in the mid-range. We don't mean to be mean, but we don't have the awareness to know when we are being unfair to one another. I'm suggesting that we not ignore the bad actors in the world, but also not excuse ourselves when we leap to conclusions that are the result of bad programming, lack of data, or are figments of our active imaginations--all of which are truly poor excuses.
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