Rich| rɪtʃ |
adjective
1 has a great deal of money or assets; wealthy: a rich and famous family | (as plural noun the rich): every day the split between the rich and the poor widens.
In the world of capital, we need to recognise that the answer is always money and more money. The query literally does not matter
Q: Why do we go to school?
PC Answer: To learn skills so that we could be productive adults of value to the society
Answer: To find a source of income because if I have no money, I could literally die of hunger and/or the environment.
We do not only want to wear clothes, but we also desire to dress well, It’s Not Just a roof over my head it’s a house, It not just about eating, It’s about eating good food, it is not that the culture is consumerist, It’s the system that is market-driven we are always buying or renting something. A market that tries to offer our deepest desires at a mark-up and except for a few outliers a lot of our self-actualization is in a way or another attached to money.
Financial Gurus will talk to us about the value of saving, investing in assets (Things that do not become expenses), creating revenue streams you know all the smart money decisions. This way you would be able to afford a good life whatever that means to you but somehow viscerally we know it not as subjective as we would like to claim, after all, we all play in the same playground, we have quite a homogenous idea of what that good life looks like, it usually involves independence, freedom, security and as the great 21st Century Poet Belcalis Marlenis Almánza so eloquently puts it
Now I like dollars, I like diamonds I like stunting, I like shining I like million-dollar deals Where's my pen? Bitch I'm signin' I like those Balenciagas, the ones that look like socks I like going to the jeweller, I put rocks all in my watch
I like texts from my exes when they want a second chance I like proving niggas wrong, I do what they say I can't They call me Cardi Bardi, banging body Spicy Mami, hot tamale Hotter than a Somali, fur coat, Ferrari Hop out the stu', jump in the coupe (the coupe) Big Dipper on top of the roof Flexing on bitches as hard as I can Eating halal, driving the Lam' Told that bitch I'm sorry though 'Bout my coins like Mario (Mario) Yeah they call me Cardi B, I run this shit like cardio Oh, facts
Sooner or later the hope of the stereotypical opulent life starts to fade for the majority and the narrative is sewn to ‘Being rich is about contentment and is subjective‘, always my gut reaction to this is “miss me with that bullshit “ but that does not make for a good convincing argument on why being rich is not about contentment and it's actually about being rich.
Contentment a can be reached by actually being able to comfortably cover at least your basic needs which in a capital system having money helps a lot. It is difficult being content when you do not know if you will get a meal the next day. Contentment is not a permanent state, As Tim Minchin put it so eloquently in his 9 life lessons Address at UWA “We did not evolve to be content, content homo Erectus got Eaten “.We always strive for a better quality of life. To be Rich is to be content smells of arrogant Privilege. I always hear of tales of people living in poverty who are very happy, but I have never met a person living in poverty who told me that they are content with their situation. They are usually spoken for by middle-class people as a way to console themselves its fine as is.
Flaunted wealth is pretty inescapable throughout pop culture, you cannot even turn on the radio without hearing of the Gucci’s and the Ferraris, The Fendi’s and the Bugatti’s, the Armani’s and the Maserati’s. Our entire culture has been replaced by a parade of overpriced Italian bullshit which to be clear I am completely in favour of. Burn down the statue of liberty for all I fucking care and replace it with a large scale figure of Donatella Versace holding a bottle of Cristal. That is at least a more Honest Representation of our culture than the hypocritical verse currently inscribed on liberty island.
~Natalie Wynn (Contra points), Opulence
The Objectivity Of being Rich/Wealthy
During the Kenyan 2019 census, There were a few questions that were actually directed towards knowing the per capita income. This same questions can be used to objectively measure how rich someone is.
What kind of habitat do you dwell in?
You will be asked to give details of what type of house you live in. Are the walls made of iron sheets, timber, stone or mud bricks? You will also state the type of roofing used. Is it grass-thatched, iron sheets, clay, plastic or concrete tiles? You are also expected to state if you own the house you live in or you are a tenant
How do you earn your living?
The survey will be assessing the nature of economic activities that you engage in. You are expected to say what you do to earn an income, which industry you work in and the number of hours worked every day. You are also required to state what work you have been engaged in for the last 12 days preceding the census. You will also be required to state whether your occupation is what you trained for.
What electronic gadgets do you own or have access to?
Do own a mobile phone, computers or have access to them? Do you have access to the internet? Have you made any online transactions?
What are your household assets?
Here the survey will seek to establish what properties you have such as a bicycle, motorcycle, car, or even a boat.
Do you farm?
What type of crop farming and the types of crops do you grow? If you keep livestock, you will be required to state whether you rear cows, goats, camels, donkeys or chicken. You will also state whether you keep bees (apiculture) or rear fish (aquaculture).
· Where do you get your water?
· What do you cook with, liquid petroleum gas, biogas, kerosene, charcoal or firewood?
Conclusion:
The Nigerian Film Industry has a trope of the Rich Prince who pretends they are poor in a quest for an honest and loving wife after having problems with gold diggers. Take a moral you like from that.
My point is in capitalism the wealth you possess or perceived to possess is a huge part of the self and is not only determined by you but also by the people around you. In this system being rich does not just feel good because you can afford a quality life but also because of Recognition it is the fault of the hormone serotonin.
This makes it very difficult to even find contentment if you are living in poverty, it makes you invisible, vulnerable and to some extent lowers the perception of the self. My solution to this statement of Being rich is to be content is usually to think of a world where opportunities are equal, where we can recognize privilege, and toy with the idea that It is not the law that to be rich someone else has to be poor somewhere, There is a version where We all are rich, but then, how is an article for another day
Yes, people are not meant to be equal however the opportunities provided should be.
When you try to make people equal you kill individual brilliance and suck their freedom. When you make opportunities equal however you empower both the individual and their freedoms.
We should minimize the contentment narrative its quite patronizing,at times being rich is just being rich.