As far as the meaning of my post. After reading it again, I can see how it does sound abstract, even OT, but this discussion reminded me of some experiences we’ve had concerning people with attitudes, as have been mentioned in this thread.
I was actually thinking of how we have had friends over the years, some with very “in your face” attitudes concerning their elevated financial status when, in fact, in the end, that proved not to be the case.
These families carried on the charade as long as they could, until they found themselves with no way out, and there were no happy endings. In fact, some were tragic.
Since then, I’ve theorized that if a mechanism, such as the transparency concept had been in place, perhaps they would not have been tempted to fabricate their wealth to such a ridiculous level. (I know this is a stretch, but you never know–it might have helped.)
In these cases false “attitudes” simply kept these people from facing the truth about their circumstances, until it was too late to recover.
An interesting study in human nature.[/quote]
All this assumes that people judge others by their financial status. I don’t think that people judge each other that way as much as you (and the jackass in your story) would like to think they do. Most people are aware that the douchebag/good guy ratio is no different for rich people, middle class people, and poor people. In fact, anybody who is “in your face” about their claimed “elevated financial status” is going to be immediately judged by most as a douchebag, and nobody will really care whether he’s actually rich or not.
