"Old Money" Holders -- Royals, Former Imperialists etc... They Should Either be Ashamed an
A quick and uneducated guess or even a rudimentary glance at Wikepedia will reveal the following definition for "Old Money": 'the inherited wealth of established upper-class families or a person, family, or lineage possessing inherited wealth.'
But where does "old money' come from?
Well, unless, you or your parents were geniuses who dicovered/invented something special or worked both hard and smart, most 'old money' emanated either from illegal activities or from the days of slavery or imperialistic endeavors.
Indeed, colonizers or imperialistic nations like those of Europe, Japan and the U.S. acquired wealth through four (4) types of acqusitions:
1) Discovery -- Here they asserted the following: "I found it, therefore it's mine (e.g., Columbus discovered America). This basis has been used to own land for which such countries had to be indemnified for millions if a group of people required Independence from those that initally FOUND/DISCOVERED IT."
2) Slavery - Acquisition of slaves for free labor... there has never been a more profitable venture or institution than the slavery. It was better than Walmart or any modern day institution. Today we think of cheap labor as being outrageous. How about FREE LABOR for such imperialist entrepreneurs? WOW! They must have felt like "mini gods on Earth". Imagine having the inhumane privilege of ACTUALLY OWNING PEOPLE. And thus, getting them to work for you FREE OF CHARGE until they drop dead. Well, a great percentage of old money emanated from this type of acquisition or ownership
3) Conquest - Here, such individuals or their ancestors claimed the following, "I fought you and won, and therefore your land becomes mine, including every natural resource that it possesses. As a matter of factc so are you!" WOW!
4) Gift (presumed) - Wit this type of acquistion, they said, "I'm claiming that I neither had to work for it, or fight for it, and in fact I did not even find/discover it. You simply liked me so much or for some other weird reason, you decided to give it all to me." Really?
Many old money holders are known to be presumptuous, snobbish, and assume that they're superior to non-old-money holders. They believe that their wealth is an evidence of the superiority of their lineage. In fact, what is equally surprising to me is that a healthy percentage of society has bought into the hype and seem to put such people on pedestals. Perhaps they are being paid to do so, but quite often the very people, who were stepped on by these 'old money' holders to reach such wealth, seem to resign to being inferior just by their acts of glorification of these "Royals" who are, essentially, really famous for possessing "Blood Money". While thousands die of poverty or hunger, a great percentage of the World is communicating about what Prince Williams' son was wearing. WHO THE HECK CARES? I, certainly, DO NOT!
But, I do see 'old money' holders as regular persons who happen to have inherited ridiculous ill-gained wealth (for the most part). Accordingly, unless they are using their wealth to compensate those from whom such very wealth were stolen by being "ALTRUISTIC", and preferably in a non-self-engrandising manner, I really would prefer not to read anything about such people because they are reminders of a dark time in human history, in which some human beings in positions of leadership and power either killed other human-beings for the sole purpose of self-enrichment or enslaved them to that same end.
TODAY, too many of them are still snobbish. Too many of them truly hate other racial groups and see the acquisition of wealth by their grandparents or great parents through the demise of such other groups as evidence of their superior intelligence. Many of them do a great job hiding their true feeligns and appear in publicity stunts via scripted trips to Africa, but a great percentage of them simply do not care about others and their feelings. For instance, Carol Thatcher, the daughter of British "Royal" Margaret Thatcher of the British imperial lineage referred to one of my favorite and talentd Black tennis players, Jo Wilfred Tsonga, as a "golliwog" in the recent past. Credit must be given to the BBC for disassociating itself with Carol (a former BBC Journalist). However, perhaps, the whole scenario proves something else. It proves a lack of shame from ill-gained wealth. Perhaps, they ought to be as ashamed as Bennie Maddoff's children were. So much so that one or more of them committed suicide after realizing that Bernie had stolen so much money from others through his schemes. It is not that different from what old emperialists did. And certanly not so different from how Royals got their "old money".
Image Credits go to: www.dailymail.co.uk and Alan Davidson
While I do not advocate class warfare, and certainly do not advice anyone to commit sucide for the wrongs committed by his/her ancestors; I do, however, advocate ALTRUISM. I advocate that such people should feel GUILTY enough about the fact that they did nothing superb to have acquired such wealth. In fact, their forefathers were torturers, killers and murderers who had to commit so many crimes for the acquisitions that are converted/morphed into different investments and secured by today's banks are owned by today's holders of "old money". Many organizations that are not "old-money' holders seek to help the World. Perhaps it's time for these "old money" holders to step to the plate. I am not referring to using non-profit organizations as a way to minimize tax payments. Rather, I'm referring to freely giving to the least fortunate through an organization like www.StrategicOnes.com that is not tied to any major complex beauracracy and is transparent and accountable about how every "cent" is spent.
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This article was written by Dr. Pete Lorins, Editor-in-Chief of LorinsPOST.com and was sponsored by www.StrategicOnes.com (provider of charity and non-profit assistance) and www.RapidGigsPlus.com (providing strategic staffing and project management services).