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<\/a>A few weeks ago I noticed a posting from a \u201cFacebook friend\u201d of a quote attributed to Dostoevsky: \u201cThe more intelligent the man the more he begins to notice suffering<\/strong>.\u201d If you think about this, there is more than subtle arrogance associated with the implied sentiment. I tried to \u201cfact check\u201d it and reviewed dozens of quotes by Dostoevsky and could not find it, so maybe yes, maybe no (an 18th<\/sup> century German philosopher- Arthur Schopenhauer- seems more likely). Nevertheless, invoking a quote, correct or not, by Dostoevsky hints at a high degree of education and sophistication, which perhaps is the goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n The person that posted this I\u2019ve known for 40 years and he\u2019s a very decent guy. Unfortunately he seems to have fallen into the abyss of Trump hatred so that, looking at his social media posts, it\u2019s taken over a larger part of his life than it should. It\u2019s one thing to hate Trump- he can certainly be annoying- but in my own little orbit I\u2019ve encountered the following sentiment several times: \u201cI don\u2019t care if we\u2019ve been friends or are coworkers or even family, if you voted for Trump I don\u2019t want anything to do with you, now and forever.\u201d Not a single time have I heard this from conservatives, whether involving a Clinton, Obama, Biden, or Harris. Our minds just don\u2019t work that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Post-WW2 liberals were serious people with reasonable opinions, but transformed over the years into progressive leftists, and their former advocacy for the \u201cworking man,\u201d pretense or not, became advocacy for the privileged elite. The progressive left has many narratives about themselves and this quote on Facebook, \u201cThe more intelligent the man the more he begins to notice suffering,\u201d embodies two of them: they believe they possess extraordinary levels of intelligence and sensitivity. The list is long- they are sophisticated, nuanced, cosmopolitan, compassionate, caring, empathetic, refined- all the things that people who are not<\/em> them are not<\/em>, in fact quite the opposite. Those who are not<\/em> them are Nazis, fascists, neo-colonialists, racists, bigots, mouth-breathers and knuckle-daggers, Islamophobes, anti-science, want people to die, far-right Christian nationalists, ignorami, etc; all in all disagreeable and deplorable people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The progressive left has manifested itself during this new Trump era in part by protests, most recently under the guise of \u201cHands Off!\u201d and \u201cNo Kings!\u201d Reviews of photos of these events suggest they are attended by a disproportionate number of white people, which is not surprising- people whose ego-identity involves perceiving themselves as sophisticated and compassionate tend to be white and affluent. This is not to say many of them are not caring and compassionate, but when it comes to personal effort or expense, there are lines that won\u2019t be crossed, hence the endless anger when there is a threat of cutting or terminating pretty much any government department, program, or subsidy, no matter how corrupt, feckless, or unnecessary, even when the beneficiaries are wealthy and elite people and institutions. Sure, they might pledge $50 for PBS (and get a free tote bag!) or $75 to the local theater group, but it\u2019s not going to happen if $10s of thousands or even a few thousand are required, because in their minds that is the role of the government. In other words, taxpayer\u2019s money or non-existent money borrowed by the government is supposed to fund compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Affluent white people enjoy protesting Trump at \"No Kings!\" rallies on 6\/14\/25<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I honestly don\u2019t know the statistics, but I will reasonably speculate that what money is donated by progressive leftists is not really directed at helping the truly impoverished and needy, but in supporting activist cultural and political organizations, or institutions that support progressive leftist causes. For example, does the CEO of the \u201cnon-profit\u201d NY Presbyterian Hospital group, with its \u201ccommitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging,\u201d really need an annual salary of $10,000,000 plus? Does the director of the \u201cnon-profit\u201d NY Museum of Modern Art really require a salary of $2,500,000 and a rent free $6,000,000 apartment? To the progressive left obviously the answer is Yes! One could only imagine the outrage if the tax-exempt, non-profit status of such organizations was threatened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s almost entertaining, in a kind of satirical way, to consider the wealth of the notables of the activist and angry progressive left, and ask, \u201cWhy do they need so much money, especially when their hearts constantly bleed for the oppressed and downtrodden?\u201d Below is a very incomplete listing of the net-worth of such luminaries in a variety of fields. I\u2019m not opposed to wealth, even when it is massive, but I am<\/em> opposed to blatant and abject hypocrisy, which pretty well characterizes the progressive left:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Author Stephen King<\/strong> $500,000,000; Actor Robert De Niro<\/strong> $500,000,000; Basketball player Lebron James<\/strong> $1 billion; Media figure Oprah Winfrey <\/strong>$3 billion; TV personality Whoopi Goldberg<\/strong> about $50,000,000, President of Harvard Univ. Alan Garber<\/strong> $11,000,000; News media personality Anderson Cooper <\/strong>between $100,000,000 and 200,000,000; Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan<\/strong> $100,000,000; Currency speculator and progressive activist George Soros <\/strong>$7 billion; Founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos<\/strong> $227 billion; Microsoft founder Bill Gates<\/strong> $100 billion+; Politician and businessman Michael Bloomberg <\/strong>$100 billion+; Singer Madonna<\/strong> $850,000,000; Actress\/singer Cher<\/strong> $360,000,000; Singer\/Actress Barbara Streisand <\/strong>$400,000,000; Musician Bruce Springsteen<\/strong> approaching $1 billion; Singer Bono <\/strong>$700,000,000; Politician JB Pritzker <\/strong>$3.5 billion, Politician Nancy Pelosi <\/strong>$250,000,000, Politician Gavin Newsom <\/strong>$30,000,000; Bill and Hillary Clinton <\/strong>$240,000,000; Barack Obama<\/strong> $70,000,000...Poor Joe and Jill Biden<\/strong> have a mere net-worth of $10,000,000 to 15,000,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I made decisions in the path of life that led me to intimately witness true poverty and need, and it\u2019s very frustrating to observe the progressive left make-believe world, where appearing and feeling compassionate are divorced from real acts of compassion and generosity. Where mindless slogans are a substitute for actual effort to improve lives of the truly needy. Where the donations that actually<\/em> are made are either for self-aggrandizement or directed to meaningless causes, and line the pockets of people who already enjoy great wealth. Whether you have massive wealth or relative affluence, instead of attending these silly anti-Trump protests, step up to the plate. If, for example, your pet cause is opposing deportations of illegal immigrants, don\u2019t chant meaningless platitudes but make a stand by opening your homes to them. Boldly declare, \u201cThe government need not spend money on housing, education, health care, etc, for these people because I am <\/em>assuming all costs and responsibility!\u201d The progressive left, possessing wealth both large and less large, should happily <\/em>be devoting not just a few hundred dollars, if that, to satiate their yearning to feel compassionate, but 20-30-even 50% of their income and net worth. Say you\u2019ve accrued investments of $600,000, would it really set you back to give $75,000 to support vocational training in Central America, or perhaps fund university educations for promising young people? I suspect that thought, in their make-believe world, doesn\u2019t even cross their minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Reid Fitzsimons My first semester of college: Jan. 1977, Univ. of Wyoming, English 101, required reading included The Brothers Karamazov by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881). I have to confess my reading practices were limited to newspapers, Reader\u2019s Digest, and the bare minimum for school, and a 100 year-old, 800 page novel was just ...continue reading <\/a><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a>