Article: ‘Luxury Beliefs’ That Only the Privileged Can Afford

[Josh]

Oddly enough, lots of Latin words end in x. One relevant to this forum would be “radix”.

[barnhart]

Interesting article RZehr. I have several disconnected thoughts.
1. The phenomena described in the opening paragraph, that elites are morally obligated to advocate for the good of the poor, and that stable marriage is a universal good, are both profoundly Christian ideas. Both would have been laughable in the ancient world, right up to the success of the early church, which illustrated how powerful these ideas are. The observation that they are no longer held in common regard lends support to the re-paganization hypothesis.
2. According to my eye the Uber wealthy in NYC are embracing a trend of having larger families as a wealth display. It's intended to communicate that they can afford eight bedroom housing and private education for six or eight children. Like the ladies who go about in summer shoes and light jackets or sweaters in the worst winter weather because they have drivers who heat up their cars and only drive them to well shovelled places with awnings and doormen, it says "Your struggles are not mine."

[Ken]

Oddly enough, lots of Latin words end in x. One relevant to this forum would be “radix”.

Yes but they all lose the x when translated to Spanish.

For example the Latin word "lux" meaning light becomes "luz" in Spanish.
Or the Latin word "radix" becomes raíz in Spanish.

[Ken]

Interesting article RZehr. I have several disconnected thoughts.
1. The phenomena described in the opening paragraph, that elites are morally obligated to advocate for the good of the poor, and that stable marriage is a universal good, are both profoundly Christian ideas. Both would have been laughable in the ancient world, right up to the success of the early church, which illustrated how powerful these ideas are. The observation that they are no longer held in common regard lends support to the re-paganization hypothesis.
2. According to my eye the Uber wealthy in NYC are embracing a trend of having larger families as a wealth display. It's intended to communicate that they can afford eight bedroom housing and private education for six or eight children. Like the ladies who go about in summer shoes and light jackets or sweaters in the worst winter weather because they have drivers who heat up their cars and only drive them to well shovelled places with awnings and doormen, it says "Your struggles are not mine."

There was an article I read about the HBO series "Succession" which was about the ultra-wealthy heirs to a big media mogul and their fight to take control of his empire. They talked about how much effort was put into the costuming and the use of ultra-expensive items of clothing that were designed to not look expensive.

One of the main characters always wore a nondescript baseball cap. But it turned out to be a $525 cashmere baseball cap that only the right people would notice what it was. For real: https://us.loropiana.com/en/p/man/acces ... rCode=W000

Apparently that is one of the new luxuries that only the rich can afford. Stealth extravagance.