There was a recent podcast episode that mentions the Kardashian robbery as an example of this very ambiguous relationship people have with celebrities.
Not long ago I was reading about how there had been a series of highway robberies along some particular road in France, and I was thinking how terrible it was until the article mentioned that each victim lost millions of dollars worth of goods. Turns out, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for anyone who can wear millions of dollars of jewelry.
If you can stop a car, and within minutes end up with millions of dollars worth of jewelry and cash, why go to the effort of kidnapping? If nothing else, it’s much higher risk.
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“that is a priceless Steinway !”
“not any more”
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The only time in my life I’ve ever felt seriously physically threatened was in Paris. Some youths {clenches fist, and shakes it in the fashion of the elderly} crowded around me and a female companion, pushing her away from me. This was in broad daylight at Sacre Coeur, so there were probably a few bored gendarmes in the area ready to stop them before we actually got murdered. But they were content to let us slink away after some shoving.
And yet somehow when I see the phrase “the criminals of Paris” I can’t help but imagine a bunch of debonair Thomas Crown types in tuxedos trading witticisms in some ballroom, concocting a fiendish yet delightful and ultimately nonviolent plan to steal jewels. Even classier jewels than Kim Kardashian’s.
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It wasn’t wildly threatening, since it was a quaint, old-world pickpocket, rather than a red-blooded American mugger; but Paris was also my only brush with in-person property crime(burglary while I was offsite I’ve had in several places; but that’s so impersonal). Luckily we detected the offender’s hand in time and were able to remove it(from my pocket, he got to keep it) and eject him from the subway car; but it didn’t enhance the charm of the visit.
Yeah this kind of relishing in the misfortune of others feels pretty icky. My gut says no one should celebrate violence directed at anyone, regardless of who they might be… But at the risk of wading into super murky waters, simply boiling all cases down to a binary of “victims” and “perps” might not be quite right either. If we look at it from a larger perspective– temporarily putting aside the individual terror of robbery– one could frame the situation in opposite terms… The system arranged so that a select few disproportionately hoard humanity’s wealth, in effect, systematically robbing the rest… If we accept this formulation, we reject personal responsibility for the robbers on the street; they are symptoms of the larger system… In other words, the Sherif of Nottingham was asking for it… I don’t know, it is hard to justify anyone sticking a gun in the face of anyone who is personally innocent. Maybe it’s not about excusing it, rather just recognizing that it might be symptom of a systemic problem in the global economy. Still, I agree the schadenfreude is unsettling.
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“Victim blaming” is a term used in situations where the victim is under-privileged. That can hardly be said about the super-rich. Therefore a little quip at their expense does not feel wrong.
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Well, I think the step that’s missing is the “blame” bit. Is anyone saying that these victims were robbed solely because of their immediate behaviour? No-one’s made a link between the financial equivalent of wearing “immodest” clothes and the robbery. No-one’s even made the joke about robbing the rich because that’s where the money is.
Victim-blaming is a definite thing, and this isn’t that thing.
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…don’t travel with large amounts of cash. Unless there’s some reason they don’t want to leave a paper (or electronic) trail.
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Definitely. Stupid wealthy people, on the other hand, like nothing better than to flash a big wad of cash. As foolish as it would be to walk around in the street wearing millions of dollars worth of jewellery, at least it’s likely to be insured if stolen. When someone steals the cash you’ve been flaunting, you’re never going to see it again.
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There’s a photo of her in the article, and she’s definitely not dressed conservatively. When you and your readers that high up in the ruling class, you don’t have to worry about little things like hypocrisy.
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Well, and more to the point it’s not like Saudi women don’t wear nice clothes under their abayas, but I wasn’t going to let that stand in my way
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Guillotine Watch (lol)
Have we got any examples of this type of activity prior to revolutions?
Is it too cynical to think that this would be a great scam if you were in the security services business? Rob a few high profile rich people and suddenly the government can’t wait to drop a big fat contract in your lap.
I agree, but when I read this:
I have less sympathy, because who in the world needs millions in jewels? Am I missing something? I can maybe see having them in a bank vault as compact savings, if you have to be that wealthy. But why have them in a hotel room? Jewelry can be incredibly beautiful without being worth nearly that much.
But I guess I’ve missed the significance of the whole tetrahedral carbon idea.
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Unhappy for who?
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“We’ve supported the city, and its luxury houses, for a long time." - This is the really galling part. The idea that somehow the super-rich spending obscene amounts of money on luxury items is a meritorious deed for which “the city” should be grateful. A la laterne, je dis!
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I figured that this is the sort of thing we’d see in the early days if the super rich are destined to end up in their own cities with private armies and whatnot.
##Eat The Rich?
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