As IF Times

Source: Mariah Carey reportedly demanding ex James Packer to pay for her home | Fox News

Normally, the lifestyles of the vain and vapid aren’t of interest here since it contributes little to thoughtful experience.  However, it’s difficult to avoid exposure to the breathless stories of their latest romances or sightings or iffy outfits,  since they occupy prominent exposure in all on-line news sources.  While some may actually possess some level of desirable talent, we note that luck is a big part of their success in life.

Notwithstanding the propaganda of the hard work ethic that we are taught to believe, it can be difficult to overcome the inherent advantage some people have simply by virtue of the birth lotto.  Anyone who denies that attractiveness is the HOV lane to success is delusional. If you are fortunate enough to have been born with an inherent talent for music, you are doubly blessed, at this time in history and in this culture.

A third important factor is geography.  While being attractive and blessed with music talent are advantages, it wouldn’t be if you were born in, let’s say, Afghanistan.  Having the dual charms of attractiveness and an aptitude for music affords those lucky individuals in Western culture,  a fairly exalted status; so much so that they are detached from the concerns and realities of the fans who put them there.

The delusion sets in and they actually believe that not only are they charmed, they are entitled to be so at whatever the cost to whomever.  This is reinforced by the army of acolytes who tells them so.

We contrast the demands of Mariah towards her estranged boyfriend to the circumstances of the wife of the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un.  She hasn’t been heard from for over 7 months.  Something tells me that it isn’t rent and support demands that are keeping her from the limelight.  We don’t know if she has any musical talent, but it certainly was her misfortune to be born in Korea.

The whining entitlement of Ms. Carey is not that surprising other than the sheer scale of her chutzpah.  We are used to multi million dollar divorce settlements and other large scale damage awards based on entitlements. The real jarring reality is that this view of what she’s entitled to is merely a grotesque version of how society at large views things.  We’ve gone downhill  from the “greatest generation” of 50 years ago to the me, me, me generation of today. You can’t swing a cat these days without hitting someone or some group who feels entitled to some slice of life’s pie merely by claiming such.

Like Mariah’s once powerful voice that could elegantly hit the highest octaves, the bleating of the entitled just sounds like her aged voice now: Shrill.  It’s very sad that her once large voice has been overshadowed by her much larger hands.

link Starbucks Mutiny Exposes New York’s Reliance on Chain’s Toilets – NYTimes.com.

The secret revealed.  It was always a curious but impressive business model that could envisage and execute selling a 10 cent cup of liquid for 3 bucks.  If that isn’t capitalism at its best, I can’t think of a better example.  It turns out that perhaps the secret to it all was not so much  the flavor of the drink but the effectiveness of its….well effectiveness.  Rumor has it that the chain was originally to be called Starbucks To Go, but the marketers felt that would have been redundant. 

It becomes clear now that having the availability of ‘facilities’ seems to be an unadvertised benefit of consuming Starbucks coffee.   Of course every restaurant from McDonalds to Dunkin Donuts serves coffee and they all have facilities, but those restaurants aren’t situated every 100 feet in any urban center as seems to be the case with Starbucks.  Now we know why coffee is so expensive at Starbucks…patrons actually subsidize the cost of servicing the washrooms.   Someone should do a study on the price charged for a coffee at Starbucks with the price of toilet paper, it may correlate better than it does with the price of beans.

The larger issue is the entrenched entitlement mentality of washroom users.  Patrons sure, but now everyone feels entitled to use them as if they were a public facility.  We shouldn’t really be surprised by this since this mindset is evident in every aspect of modern life.  Gradually, we have come to accept that ‘conveniences’ have transmogrified into rights and entitlements.  At the recent ‘occupy’ sit ins here in Vancouver, sympathetic street food vendors initially provided free grub as a gesture of compassion.  When it became expensive to do so and they stopped, occupiers railed against the vendors, some even vandalizing their carts.  Sort of like having your house egged after you run out of Halloween candy.  Probably not even a tip was offered. 

We’ve seen this with society’s welfare structure.  Originally implemented for all the right reasons as a means to cushion any short period of joblessness by people, it has evolved into a legitimate source of income for many who are content to collect it because they can.  Any cuts to welfare entitlements are met with frenzied and passionate protests which no politician will risk.  Education has moved into this entitlement tent as well since now there are protests over the costs of higher education and that it should be subsidized heavily if not be altogether free.  Why the cost of education is so high is never addressed, since at its core is the ever inflating cost of paying college professors and administrators. 

Staying with the recent Occupy theme, there is an accepted principle that these misguided protesters are free to stand anywhere they like to protest in a democratic society.  While nominally true, it’s unclear why it is also incumbent upon the general tax paying public to provide washrooms, cleanup and police details to oversee the safety of the group.  It’s as if someone was standing outside your front door decrying your policies on some issue but you provide them hot dogs and umbrellas. 

Like Starbucks washroom users, the “right” to make society pay for every fringe need will eventually cost the paying customers money.  At some point, a cup of coffee will cost $10 bucks and the chain will be rebranded Sawbucks.  Or they close all the washrooms.