I generally like Alec Baldwin in his dramatic and comedic acting roles. Yet, with every passing year, as more of his actions and opinions come to light, he seems to represent the epitome of out of touch, wealthy, white privilege.
Alec Baldwin defends Felicity Huffman: 'The demonisation of wealth in this country is mind blowing'
As Baldwin put it, "I don’t think anyone involved in the college fraud cases should go to prison. That includes past cases as well. Community service, fines, yes. But prison time, no."
As someone on Twitter responded, "If they can afford hundreds of thousands of $$ to get their kids in [to college], how will a "fine" be a deterrent?"
Baldwin continued, "Community service is better. The demonization of wealth in this country is mind blowing. A country built on both freedoms and commerce. Now, all success is scrutinized. Merely to succeed, especially financially, invites scrutiny, judgment, abuse."
Wow. Baldwin is so wrong and out-of-touch here. There's a lot to unpack.
Yeah, if you can afford half a million dollars to bribe your kid into college, a fine isn't going to mean shit. The same reason fining billion-dollar companies a few million for their wrongdoing doesn't stop them from continuing to do wrong.
"Demonization of wealth"? WTF?
Not demonizing wealth at all. It's just that people whom aren't "wealthy" (99% of the population) are sick of the wealthy cheating, lying, bribing and scamming their way into more privilege and ill-gotten gains.
The wealthy blather on and on about meritocracy - you get what you deserve based on talent, effort, and achievement. With the wealthy always implying that this is how they made it. But to believe this we would have to ignore nepotism, tax avoidance, bribery, inheritance and a litany of other schemes and scams the wealthy use to oppress the rest of us.
Baldwin also waxes nostalgic, "A country built on both freedoms and commerce."
Our history of slavery, racism and oppression seems to contradict Baldwin's rose-colored memory of how this country was built.
Baldwin goes on complaining about success being scrutinized.
Just the opposite. This country drones on and on about every other fucking idiot who has made a buck or had an idea, and how great, fantastic and entrepreneurial they are. Television is littered with wealthy know-nothings prattling on about anything and everything. This country has a lot of self-loathing in that we keep eating up this shit, believing that these loudmouths have something to say and that they are actually better than anyone else. Most believe they have some personal setback or inadequacy and that's why they aren't as good as some TV bozo like Donald Trump. It's all bullshit.
Success being scrutinized? Fuck that. We mythologize and romanticize it into our own disadvantage.
In this country, we criticize the poor and the working class. We're continually reducing wages and/or increasing costs for those whom can least afford it. For the non-wealthy, retirement accounts are disappearing, benefits are shrinking, wages are stagnating, and health care is either too costly or nonexistent for many.
And, despite this, if anything, this country worships wealth. It's why people keep voting against their own economic interest. It's why Donald Trump is in office. He's a big business man. He has financially succeeded. (At least this is what many of his supporters believe.) And, because he did it, many believe they can too, and that's why they keep voting for cutting taxes on the rich and corporations - because someday they will be rich, too, and they don't want to pay those big taxes then either.
So fuck Alec Baldwin, Felicity Huffman, Lori Laughlin and all those assholes that think a slap on the wrist in fine for the wealthy that cheat the system. Workers in the U.S. have been struggling for decades based on our
worship the wealthy system of governance.
Economic inequality is at an all-time high. It's well past the time where we should have already cleaned up this mess and punished these wealthy, spoiled perpetrators.
We lock poor people up for decades of their life for much less than a $500,000 bribe. It's time the wealthy started facing the same justice as the rest of us.
