Thursday, May 31, 2012
The Riches of the Father
UCLA will be suiting up a new freshman cornerback this season, a kid named Justin Combs. If the last name sounds familiar it is because Justin is the son of Sean Combs aka Puff Daddy aka P-Diddy aka Diddy aka Diddy Dirty Money. Combs will be attending UCLA on a football scholarship and this has some people upset. They don’t think the son of a guy with a net worth of half-a-billion dollars should be getting a free ride to attend school. Not when the state’s education system is broke. Not when so many underprivileged students can’t afford to attend UCLA.
The school says athletic scholarships are handed out based on merit, not need. If Combs is a good athlete and an adequate student (and he’s reportedly better than that) he earned this scholarship and he deserves it.
This is a big problem in this country right now, attacking the rich based on some misguided notion of what is fair.
Basically the argument goes like this: either it is unfair that one kid has a ridiculously rich father AND a football scholarship, or it’s unfair that a kid who earned a football scholarship should have to pay for college just because he can afford to.
It will be a real shame if this attitude pervades America so deeply that rich and successful people and their children are begrudged their wealth and success, even when they’ve clearly worked hard to earn what they have.
Justin Combs should go to UCLA, play hard, study hard and grow into a fine young man.
Sean Combs should count his money. And if he wants to give some of it to the school as a donation or to a needy kid for an education, that would be great. And if he doesn’t, then that’s fine too.
Paul I completely agree, but isn't this "class warfare" at least somewhat similar to your criticisms re: Duke and especially its basketball players, who often come from wealthy families?
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to misquote you personally, but I constantly hear from Duke haters about Duke being "upper crust a-holes" and "elitists" and "snobs," and I can't help but think alot of it comes from people being jealous of the Austin Rivers and Mike Dunleavy types.
Also, don't you think flash and swag have alot to do with it, and that it's not just about net worth? Diddy's son famously posed with a $360,000 car he got on his 16th birthday, so I kind of understand why people would be upset about him getting a scholarship in tough economic times. But someone with equal or greater wealth who was less flashy might draw less ire.
My standard line to refer to Duke players is "white pussies." I have even called the black players honorary white pussies and yes I attribute that to many of their black players growing up in privileged backgrounds, Grant Hill, Gerald Henderson, Seth Curry and Austin Rivers are all children of athletes.
ReplyDeleteNote: I did commend Rivers this season.
If I have called anyone an elitist, upper crust assholes it was probably you Damino.
And this may be semantics but I think it's ok to hate rich people if they act like assholes or just because you want to stereotype them.
What is not ok is this new debate of fairness that says its not fair that some people have a lot, way more than they need, while others have little or nothing.
Ha, I think you called Duke fans "upper crust assholes" and I'll take that to include me, but it's wildly inaccurate.
ReplyDeleteMy point about swag is that I think this whole fairness debate stems from the Internet/reality tv/social media era. I know the GOP talking point is that everything bad originated in January 2009, but really since the late 90's, "normal" people have had a much closer look at the daily lives of rich people, and a particularly idle, flashy and materialistic segment of that population, often made up of people born into money who have not worked hard. This naturally causes jealousy and bitterness.
I admire Jack Welch and Bill Gates and Condoleeza Rice; I dislike Spencer Pratt and Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. Unfortunately, the latter group makes it very easy to demonize the rich as a whole. And then you lump in the Enron guys, Madoff, Worldcomm, etc., and it's quite easy to see why people hate the 1 percent and like to identify with the 99 percent.
By all accounts, Diddy's son is a smart, great kid, and he earned the scholarship and his family has no duty to give it up. But it's not surprising with student loan debt reaching astronomical levels, that the kid with the $360,000 Maybach on scholarship is taking a little heat.
Damino, extremely wise words. Much of what we perceive as the deterioration of society, rich vs poor etc, has most likely been going on for decades upon decades. The only difference, is that we are all aware of it, and hit in the face with it every day.
ReplyDeleteIf I know nothing about my neighbor, I do my own thing for better or worse. If I know my neighbor is rolling in cash because it's getting rubbed in my face, I'll have a combination of jealousy and hatred for the guy.
In regard to this story, I heard that Denzel Washington's kid got a scholarship as well. They tried to turn it down, basically weren't allowed to, so he donated cash to basically make up for it. I haven't fact checked this, but that would be the right thing to do here as well.
Ton, thanks so much for the kind words, I really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteAnd your point about a neighbor is spot on. It's not just the super rich that create jealousy; it's people bragging on Facebook about everything they buy and where they're going on vacation and what fancy restaurant they're visiting and how much money they blew in Vegas.
"Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" was great because you got to see beautiful homes without people in them. Now you get Twitter and Facebook updates every 30 seconds and it can make those of us who aren't filthy rich feel inadequate every day, all day.
Damino, you are right about Paris Hilton and Spencer Pratt. Good point. But Kim Kardashian had to suck a dick to get where she's at. And since it's called a blow JOB, I guess she earned hers with work.
ReplyDeleteTON, you are right about JD Washington. He was a pretty good player, even got drafted I believe, or was a free agent signee.
And you are both right that this resentment didn't just begin. But I personally feel like in the 80s and maybe 90s there was more admiration for the successful people who really busted their humps to become rich.
And I can't fully expound on the politics of it, but I didn't mean to imply anger to the rich started on January 20, 2009. But I think it would be fair that some people have figured out how to use it to their advantage.
I also think the labels, 99% and 1% are terribly divisive.
But I think we should get back to the initial question about fairness. Is it automatically unfair if someone who has a lot gets a little more? I sure hope not.
Paul, we're in agreement. It is not automatically unfair because someone who has alot gets a little more. It's only unfair when the person obtained the additional money by fraud or some other illegal means (which is why I mentioned Madoff and Enron earlier).
ReplyDeleteDiddy's son earned the scholarship and deserves it, and it isn't unfair. It'd be a nice gesture of Diddy to make a donation to the university or better yet a charity, but that it is his prerogative and not a mandate.