Jenner’s Birthday Bash
Somebody ought to invent a coin with Donald Trump on one side and Kris Jenner on the flip side. Remove the God quote and replace it with “Put Your Trust in Celebrity Culture.”
I don’t know maybe because it’s my birthday week, I’m more attuned to these sorts of things. Or maybe it was because at church Pastor Pete spoke about the model for diversity and unity that exists in Scriptures. Or maybe it’s because of the sheer hypocripsy of the ultra-rich in our society. Either way, I am mourning life before I ever heard of Trump or a Kardashian. They sicken me, the whole lot of them.
I should hardly be surprised, though. I mean a capitalistic society is set up to serve the ultra rich while starving the poor, after all. It’s a system designed to serve the greediest among us and it’s working exactly according to its design.
I recently inquired about the wellbeing of a loved one who is undergoing cancer treatment. The answer I got in response was that they are doing great, working through their treatments. My reply was: Isn’t it odd that we judge how well a person is by whether they are able to work and not how much rest their body is getting during chemo?
There is no one a capitalistic society loathes more than those who aren’t working.
There’s good reason why the ultra rich have convinced Americans that socialism is bad – capitalism can only exist within a caste system.
And that caste system was on neon display this weekend as the ultra-rich gathered at Jeff Bezos’s $165 million Beverly Hills mansion to celebrate Kris Jenner’s 70th birthday. They were all there together: Gates, Oprah, Gayle, Zuckerberg, Beyonce & Jay Z, Snoop, Tyler Perry, Prince Harry and Meghan, Lauren Sanchez and her sideboy Jeff, the Hiltons, Michael Rubin, Evan Spiegel, on and on the list goes.
Meanwhile, people in the US are going hungry. Children. Elderly. Those ailing and unable to work.
The numbers on how much this James Bond themed bash cost but over $2 million was spent a decade ago for Jenner’s 60th. So you can imagine with tarriffs and all this one was double that amount.
On a birthday party. Full of the wealthiest among us.
Look, I know it’s easy to pick on the hedonism on full display daily with the Trump administration but how are we supposed to ignore that many of those in attendance are the very people who try and convince us that they are fighting for us? (Please note that Jane Fonda was not in attendance. I don’t know if she was invited but I am sure if she was, she would not have attended because there are some who practice the activism they preach).
The worst thing to ever happen to this country isn’t diversity – it’s the worship of celebrities.
Celebrity worship is why Trump is president in the first place. And nobody embodies celebrity worship better than Kris Kardashian and her crew of siliconed daughters. For the record, Kris Jenner’s 70th birthday facelift is reported to have cost nearly $200,000. So there’s that.
Meanwhile, the federal minimum wage remains at $7. 25. So good luck affording housing and that beautiful thing called groceries, y’all.
Police who make significantly more than minimum wage but so much less than one Jenner facelift were called numerous times to the Bezos’s residence because the raucous crowd was making too much noise. Having too much fun.
So just as Senate Democrats were on the floor shitting all over those who have sacrificed and stayed the course throughout this Republican shutdown, police were at the Bezos’s estate trying to get all those celebrities to pipe down.
As Kris Jenner woke this morning to life in her glorious financially secure seventies this morning, all across this country worn out single moms slept fitfully wondering how they were going to feed their children and heat their homes. Cancer patients rose exhausted but determined not to miss another day’s work because they need the health insurance. And parents of young toddlers woke worried about how they are going to pay for the increase in health insurance and afford to pay the daycare too.
But sure, Kris Jenner, may you and your obscenely wealthy friends continue to prosper. And may capitalism continue to oppress us and allow Zuckerberg, Gates, and Trump to rule over us.
It’s the American way, after all.
And isn’t that the real reason men like my father fought and died on foreign soil – to protect the American way?
Karen Spears Zacharias is author of Will Jesus Buy Me a Doublewide? ‘Cause I need more room for my plasma TV. (Zondervan).
3 Comments
Kristina Rodgers
about 3 weeks agoI thought long and hard if I wanted to reply to this, and what the content of my message would be. Will this be met with defensive words? Will my differing perspective prompt contemplation? We live in an oligarchy. The select few control the country. Capitalism….Our trade and industry are controlled by those select few for a profit. They wield power over our economy and government through the almighty dollar. Our minimum wage is NOT livable! Many corporations benefit GREATLY from govt benefits - Walmart gets over 8 billion dollars a month from people using their SNAP benefits there. Without legislation this will not change. We need people to run for office that are not ruled by greed, and live their life with empathy for our fellow man. Run for office, get a government position, do what you can to see the change you want where you can. Be an example that greed does not rule you using your platform from within the government. Be that voice. I don’t know what the Kardashian’s do with their money. Perhaps they quietly donate to noble causes? While Kim Kardashian was launched to fame with a sex tape of Ray J urinating on her, she has had an impact on the criminal justice system in part due to her urine soaked beginnings. She has levied her influence to have Alice Johnson released from prison for a drug offense for which she was serving 30 years. Cyntonia Brown killed the man that repeatedly raped her and sold her into sex slavery as a minor - she now walks free in part due to Kardashian’s efforts. I bring these up because these are just some of the efforts this family has done. Perhaps they are involved with other donations for the greater good? I just don’t know the extent of work they have done, but there has been some use of their platform for some good. Plastic surgery. How does this impact us? Do we know why it was done? These procedures could be done for underlying issues we have no knowledge of that quite frankly are not any of our business. I put forth a personal example… Due to an injury to my face I was left with a deviated septum that impacted my breathing, my lips hung uneven and left eye drooped - this was due to a injury. My newly crooked nose, drooping eye and lop sides lip hanging embarrassed me deeply. I had it fixed with surgery, routine botox and lip filler. I feel so much better about myself, and am no longer embarrassed when I am out in public. Many people with cancer and other disabilities go to work for insurance and putting food on the table. Many people also work to feel normal, to talk to people, to feel they are contributing or simply to get out of the house. I imagine there are days they don’t want to go. I surely don’t want to go in every morning. Another personal example, I have two autoimmune disorders that greatly impact my life - Ehlers Danlos and ankylosing spondylitis. My rib cage is permanently deformed with spiny growth and flared which hinders my breathing due to the movement of my diaphragm, chronic joint dislocations and have significant back problems that often results in walking with a cane. I live with chronic pain. Going to work makes me feel normal. Seeing my coworkers keeps me from succumbing to depression. I can’t go in everyday, but I am thankful when I can. This is my normal. I offer that perspective for those that live with cancer, disabilities and illnesses that are able to do these things. I do not like to be judged on what afflicts me, but what I am able to do. ‘Inspite of disabilities she was able to …..’ is painful because it minimizes normal, and there’s nothing wrong with my normal. My normal is volunteering with animal rescues, being present with friends, and working - which I dearly love. Two months ago I worked with animal control on a hoarding situation stepping over dead dogs and removing the ones lucky to be alive from the feces and urine crusted floors. Bathing them and then fostering one, teaching him to accept love. I am so thankful I am able to contribute. This is my normal, and it has been for many years. I am so thankful I can do these things. Some of us do go to sleep worrying about tomorrow, I worry as well, but above and beyond we are not defined by what plagues us. Please see us for what we are, we are not just disabilities, and we want to live our personal normal lives. It’s not my place to judge this party and alleged facelift. I don’t know if they donate to charities. It’s not my place to poo poo plastic surgeries and other procedures because I don’t know why they are doing them. We are not the one judging people when they are at the pearly gates. There are so many things wrong in this world. May we not focus on a birthday party and alleges facelift, may we direct our energy to genocides in this world, rampant rape and changes we can enact in our gov’t. Sending love and light, Kristina Rodgers
Karen Spears Zacharias
about 3 weeks agoThank you for your thoughtful reply, Kristina. It's okay to disagree, but to be clear, I did not and am not suggesting that work be denied people. Only that under a capitalistic system like ours a person's value is too often defined by their work, and ultimately to their wealth, (too often ill-gotten riches as is the case with the Kardashians). I am sure the Kardashians do some good with their monies, or at least I hope they do. But they have done much harm to many teenage girls and young women who strive to imitate them, who are led to believe their worth, too, depends upon their looks and how many men they allow to piss on them. So, we can agree to disagree about the good they've done.
Kristina Rodgers
about 3 weeks agoThanks Karen! I know you would never be a proponent of work being denied to people