All about the money. Paying the bills and just making it through… until you are making enough money life changes. During the movie, we see right away after the main character, Cassius, becomes a power caller he has a new way of thinking. His white-person voice and it is all about JUST him making the money. He becomes the “big shot” and is worried about him and his money he will be making. In the span of 24 hours, he is suggesting that well my problems are the only problems that matter. In a way, I feel as if we still see this today in some people—people with a lot of money only worry about themselves and their problems. Of course, this is not all peoples with money, but sometimes the ones we hear about are the snotty, stuck-up, show-offs of people. Cassius suggests, “my success has nothing to do with you” (47:30). Right there that is the issue. No one person can do anything alone. It takes a team and more than one person to achieve in this world. Cassius’ desk mate is one of the main reasons that he is promoted—he is able to give Cassius advice on how to make it through in that job. This world is crazy and will continue to be crazy. I believe that the issue we have as humans is that we want to take all of the credit for ourselves and give no credit to those who have helped us along the way. We tend to see selfishness when it comes to money more so than anything. Once the money starts rolling in the personality and creditability of a person also have a shift.
Along with the Zinn chapter, America is extremely divided and probably will always be. The division comes along with money. Money creates this notion of power and makes people believe they are more important than other if they make more figures than others—more important and seem smarter because they have the money.
In essence, money is the root of all evil. Yes, this is a reference to the Bible; however, it is true, so I agree with you wholeheartedly on how increased wealth can change human beings’ nature. In response, how can we, as a society, encourage social, economic, and political mobility while holding these individuals accountable for caring more about communities in need than themselves?
I understand and appreciate your take and opinions on money, but I would like to play devil’s advocate and offer another way of thinking about it. People with lots of money don’t only think about themselves, they just recognize that they are unable to fix everyone’s problems. Furthermore, people with lots of money are not obligated to help anyone in any way. While charity work is something that is amazing and extremely beneficial to society, that should not be expected of wealthy people. What is often overlooked is the immense amount of work that wealthy put into whatever their profession is, making them worthy and deserving of the money that they make. While there are many people who never work, and inherit a fortune, there are more than tirelessly work until they are satisfied with their economic standing; those people shouldn’t be held responsible for the problems of others. While the world truly appreciates people who are generous and selfless, I believe that it is unjust to say that wealthy people need to give away their money because, at the end of the day, their work and merit is often what brought them their wealth.
To be fair, most people who have a LOT of money (most, not all) didn’t actually work for it. Many, many of them inherited it from someone else. Does that mean they’re required to give it away? No. But the idea that all rich people earned (all) their money isn’t accurate, either.
Putting that aside, there’s also a question of what it means to “earn” and how we value things in terms of wages. For instance, should someone who does intellectual labor earn more or less than someone who does manual labor? What about stock trading, which is essentially a legalized form of gambling? I have no answers, but the questions are worth thinking about.
I agree with your statement about money. Since the birth of our country and even before, wealth has always divided people. Everyone is so quick to judge others based solely upon their financial welfare. Our nation as a whole could advance immensely if we were able to look past the amount of money someone makes and focus more on the kind of person they are. Just because someone has a lot of money does not make them a bad person, but at the same time there are many corrupt people who have a lot of money