Sunday, November 08, 2015

Selfies illustrate how wealthy we all are

The latest expose of unequal wealth accumulation by Max Rashbrooke has the NZ Herald featuring photo shots of John Key's son Max and some other girl I've never heard of.

Wealth inequality is driving us back to the days of Victorian England, argues a new book which exposes the rise of the rich kid club.

The journalist continues:

Decadent lifestyles shown by social ­media's young elite have echoes of portraiture from the 18th century, says Rashbrooke.

As oil painters once sought to show off a subject's prestige, now selfies - where youth snap their Bollinger receipts - have the same ­effect of implying status and are in stark contrast to the austerity being forced on most of the West's economies.
Before photography only the very rich could commission oil renditions of family.Today the ability to take selfies extends  across society and wonderfully illustrates how much wealthier we all are. What those selfies portray is another matter....

But the facility to record all and sundry for posterity is nevertheless available to each and every New Zealander.

We've come a long way from Victorian England and we aren't heading back there.

5 comments:

Jim Rose said...

Good points. I was thinking about at the weekend where you worry about taking a good shot with your phone camera. That's just a legacy of when film used to cost something. The only reason to take a good shot with your camera is the tedium of having to take another one.

Anonymous said...

Like Key's daughter though, Max Key also seems to crave the limelight. The apple hasn't fallen far from the tree. Not his fault - he's never worked for anything nor known going without, and never will. Why not spend his life taking selfies? Who would really want to be so privileged? Won't ever know the satisfaction of saving up for worthy items etc, or working towards financial goals.

Anonymous said...

We've come a long way from Victorian England and we aren't heading back there.

More's the pity. We need to get back there tomorrow and then keep going back.

Not his fault - he's never worked for anything nor known going without, and never will

Max Key is better than 99.95% of Kiwis. He deserves everything he has, while bludgers deserve nothing but have almost as much as Max Key.

S. Beast said...

And if we aren't wealthy we've become inclined to display that as well... all in a self interested kind of way. At least NZ sites don't seem to have the same kind of tone but it's a slippery slope

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-08/what-america-has-devolved-online-begging-has-become-new-economy

Anonymous said...

But Max Key has just been handed it all, from the mansion to the privileged education, as his sister has just been bought an apartment in Paris (along with the education) - life is so random - why do they deserve everything just to be given to them? A child born to poor parents in South Auckland, living in a rathole house, going to a state school, living on the edges, through no fault of their own. Fair, not at all. What chance do they have??? If he ends up a bludger or a druggie etc, not his fault!!