The One Percent
Sep. 12th, 2012 01:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ivyficThe One Percent is a doc by Jamie Johnson, heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, and a follow-up to Born Rich, his first documentary. Both are really worth a look. Because they're made by an insider, Johnson has incredible access (incredible--he can get a Nobel prize winner to come talk to him, no problem), but he has this access because he's seen as a snot-nosed, rebellious kid. So people talk to him, but they call him, at one point, an "arrogant trustafarian."
Johnson is clearly wrestling with his own wealth, and what that means for both his life (which was the focus of Born Rich) and the rest of society (the focus of The One Percent). Though he's obviously cutting across major taboos, it's not clear where he'll end up. But in the mean time, he has a remarkable talent for giving people enough rope to hang themselves. People talk to him as one of them, which means they say things they'd never say to the press.
But more than the gotcha moments is just the way this looks into the how the one percent think. Some of them say things that are appalling, but clearly they think that that's an okay thing to say. For example, one twenty-something who's dad just bought a loft for him on the South side of Chicago in what used to be projects says (paraphrased by my memory), "For each of these units, there's someone who trusted the public housing system that's lost their home. ... But it's just easier, you know, if those people are sent to, you know, the far reaches of the universe, and this all bouges up, it's easier for this to be a community, and for the mayor. It's just easier."
I could go on listing examples, but I think the most valuable thing that Johnson reveals is how fear-driven these people who have inherited money and never worked are. There's an intense fear of speaking out, in case it gets taken away. And there's a fear that if any of it is taken, they won't be able to survive. I think because they have no idea how to make money for themselves, so the fear of losing any of their money drives them to hoarde it even more. In contrast, the people who made their own millions that he talks to, though still entitled assholes in some cases, are completely aware of the inherent unfairness of asking a soldier in Afghanistan to pay more of their income in tax than a trust fund layabout pays on dividend income.
He also talks to an heir to the Oscar Meyer fortune who gave up his inheritance. When he announced his intention to do so, his father sat him down and asked him, what if you have a child born with disabilities? What then? He said, then he'd be with 98% of the whole country. He concluded, for his own life, that holding onto money is a sickness. If you let yourself be ruled by the fear of a possible future where you don't have enough, then no amount of money is enough. And you can't live life like that.
I hope Johnson continues to make documentaries, because he has a completely unique voice on the topic. This documentary is framed with the story of his father, who made a documentary as a twenty-something and was so firmly reprimanded by the family that he never made another one. Not only that, he won't talk about it at all, and is practically a recluse. Throughout the doc, you can see Johnson's fear that he will fall into the same trap. It's been a few years since this documentary came out, though, so I can only hope he hasn't.
Johnson is clearly wrestling with his own wealth, and what that means for both his life (which was the focus of Born Rich) and the rest of society (the focus of The One Percent). Though he's obviously cutting across major taboos, it's not clear where he'll end up. But in the mean time, he has a remarkable talent for giving people enough rope to hang themselves. People talk to him as one of them, which means they say things they'd never say to the press.
But more than the gotcha moments is just the way this looks into the how the one percent think. Some of them say things that are appalling, but clearly they think that that's an okay thing to say. For example, one twenty-something who's dad just bought a loft for him on the South side of Chicago in what used to be projects says (paraphrased by my memory), "For each of these units, there's someone who trusted the public housing system that's lost their home. ... But it's just easier, you know, if those people are sent to, you know, the far reaches of the universe, and this all bouges up, it's easier for this to be a community, and for the mayor. It's just easier."
I could go on listing examples, but I think the most valuable thing that Johnson reveals is how fear-driven these people who have inherited money and never worked are. There's an intense fear of speaking out, in case it gets taken away. And there's a fear that if any of it is taken, they won't be able to survive. I think because they have no idea how to make money for themselves, so the fear of losing any of their money drives them to hoarde it even more. In contrast, the people who made their own millions that he talks to, though still entitled assholes in some cases, are completely aware of the inherent unfairness of asking a soldier in Afghanistan to pay more of their income in tax than a trust fund layabout pays on dividend income.
He also talks to an heir to the Oscar Meyer fortune who gave up his inheritance. When he announced his intention to do so, his father sat him down and asked him, what if you have a child born with disabilities? What then? He said, then he'd be with 98% of the whole country. He concluded, for his own life, that holding onto money is a sickness. If you let yourself be ruled by the fear of a possible future where you don't have enough, then no amount of money is enough. And you can't live life like that.
I hope Johnson continues to make documentaries, because he has a completely unique voice on the topic. This documentary is framed with the story of his father, who made a documentary as a twenty-something and was so firmly reprimanded by the family that he never made another one. Not only that, he won't talk about it at all, and is practically a recluse. Throughout the doc, you can see Johnson's fear that he will fall into the same trap. It's been a few years since this documentary came out, though, so I can only hope he hasn't.
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Date: 2012-09-12 09:21 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2012-09-13 10:16 pm (UTC)