I have mentioned Anand Giridharadas before, in an earlier blog posting. He is pictured above. He wrote a book called, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing The World. That's the book I was commenting on back in 2021. Today, prompted by an Opinion essay in The New York Times, I am mentioning Giridharadas once again. His recent essay in The Times is titled as follows, online: "How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails."
You will note, I feel certain, that Giridharadas wants his readers to understand that "the elite" are not to be trusted, or to be counted on, as those persons who are most likely to "change the world."
I'm with Giridharadas! I think he's right about that! If we expect "experts," "elites," or "those in the know" to help lead us to a better world, we're missing out on our only chance to get there. The "elites" are absolutely satisfied with the way things are right now - though I guess it would be correct to say that they'd like to lower their taxes a little bit more.
Our current president got elected, in my opinion, because he seemed to be different from the "elites" who have been running the world - and the United States of America, in particular. He was on "our" side, battling the "deep state," which is, of course, run by those "elites" who have caused all our problems. We have now discovered that this was actually a misapprehension. Mr. Trump is not, in fact, our "retribution." He's one of the "elites" himself.
The latest column by Giridharadas drives the point home: the "elites" hang out together, even to the extent of overlooking the kind of conduct in which Jeffrey Epstein engaged. Maybe some of the "friends" who took Epstein's plane ride to his private island in the Caribbean also engaged in the kind of conduct that Epstein did - with those underage women, I mean. However, whether Bill Clinton, and Bill Gates, and all those other "elites" who hung out with Epstein actually did the same things that Epstein did, is really not the main point. The "elites" hang together. That's the main point, and the "elites" insulate their own from any criticism or consequence. That kind of guarantee survives even death and the public dishonor that Epstein experienced. That's what the fight over disclosing the Epstein files has been all about. We'll see how much we actually learn about all the "elite" friends of Jeffrey. I'm willing to bet it won't be nearly as much as many expect.
At any rate, again as prompted by the recent Opinion essay by Giridharadas, I want to reiterate that "changing the world" is exactly what we need to do. The survival of the human race, and perhaps the survival of all life on Earth, depends on it. That means that "we, the people" have to reclaim our authority over the "political world" in which we most immediately live. And let me be very clear. That "we, the people" language is a way to say "us," and to make clear that you and I are personally implicated, and need to respond ourselves, as individuals, and in those small groups that Margaret Mead has told us about.
Hoping that some kind of "elite" is going to be on our side - and solve the problems that have put us all in such danger - is just plain wrong!
Image Credit:
https://www.wired.com/story/wired-25-anand-giridharadas-tech-billionaries-philanthropists/
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