I am descended from many generations of unwealthy and unfamous people. No surprise there. (I had a great-great-grandmother who fell for the Anneke Jans Bogardus hoax of the mid-1800s, which entailed proving your descent from Dutch royalty, but she died insane, so there you go.) I marvel, though, at how money and fame and position go rippling through the generations. There must be something Darwinian at work. Once you’ve got any of those three things, you will pass it/them along to your kids.
And all three of those things buy access.
Access to a good education. Access to other influential people who may be helpful in life. Access to leisure time, and good food, and a nice house. All of these leading to net positives for one’s own offspring, and so on.
They also buy recognition, and the appearance of worth. The children of wealthy/prominent people seem better and worthier than our own children. (Well, my children are stuffed animals, so it goes without saying in my case.)
Every time I find out that someone is somebody else’s brother / sister / uncle / grandmother, I become just a little more cynical about this. I like A. O. Scott’s movie reviews in the Times, for example – and now I find out he’s the nephew of Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson. Hmph! Anderson Cooper I knew about. I don’t begrudge him anything, he’s smart and cute and seems nice. Chris Cuomo on ABC is a big harmless goofball of a journalist, but he’d be stuck behind a desk in Waukegan if he didn’t have that Cuomo name.
And now, hey ho, Bristol Palin is hoofing her way to heaven on “Dancing with the Stars.”
Bristol’s family’s fame is of recent vintage, to be sure. Until very recently, the whole brood was stuck in an icebox up north.
Then lightning struck, and now all the Palins are celebrities.
I don’t care so much about Bristol Palin myself; I wouldn’t know her in a crowd if I tripped over her. But she appears to be doing okay on “Dancing with the Stars,” although her dancing is mediocre at best. Are people voting for her because they like her style, or because they feel good about the Palin dynasty?
Oh, hell, who cares? Ultimately we stand or stumble on our own, whether or not Mom's storm troopers vote for us.
And dynasties don't last forever.
Usually no more than three or four hundred years, anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment