Let Them Eat Cake
- By Mark Schierling
- Published 01/13/2009
Mark Schierling
An employee at tyBit,Inc., I'm a general jack-of-all-trades in the marketing department. I generally claim Kearney, Nebraska as my hometown but, since I am prior military, I have lived in many places. I love graphic design, computer coding and advertising. I also have a little geek in me and love online gaming. You can reach me at schierling@tyBit.com
Last night, as I sat eating my dinner in front of the television set, a couple of shows ran back-to-back. They were Inside Edition and Entertainment Tonight. Along with random comments about Obama and Bush, they were playing up the pageantry of the Golden Globe. As I sat there watching the display, I couldn't help but be ashamed with the state of the world and our nation.
Our country is in one of the worst recessions we can remember and everyone is being hit hard. Except, I guess, the movie stars at the Golden Globe. Parading down the red carpet in their Christian Doir and their diamonds from Cartier, I watched how many people could have eaten a good dinner just from one earring. On Inside Edition, the recession and its speculated affect on the actors' appearance was addressed. TV Guide host Lisa Rima was quoted as saying that, "Hollywood glamour is what we turn to when times are tough. I think they showed it right tonight, those stars came out [with] beautiful jewelery, stunning gowns, and I was happy to see that."
As I sat and listen to this last comment, my internal bells-and-whistles went off and I remembered Marie Antoinette's famous comment about the poor and hungry on the streets of Paris shortly before the French Revolution. She had said, "Let them eat cake." Marie lost her head for that attitude but Lisa Rima received air time with her sound byte.
I started looking closer at the gowns, tuxedos, jewelry and coiffed hair and I did a few calculations. If there were 300 couples at the Golden Globe and each couple only spent a total of $10,000 dollars on their outfits (You and I both know that some of those diamond necklaces alone cost $10K) then that would be $3,000,000 worth of clothing. Throw in a few more million for the announcers, hosts, catering and all of the other pageantry and more than $5 million was spent on a single evening of frivolity while parents are going to bed hungry just to feed their children.
I have never been a big "save the world" kind of person, but this horrible display of decadence, in a time of hardship, smacked right in the face of all I believe. I guess I will just sit back and eat cake as all of those millions go to buy pretties and baubles and shiny things that will distract us from our woes.
Our country is in one of the worst recessions we can remember and everyone is being hit hard. Except, I guess, the movie stars at the Golden Globe. Parading down the red carpet in their Christian Doir and their diamonds from Cartier, I watched how many people could have eaten a good dinner just from one earring. On Inside Edition, the recession and its speculated affect on the actors' appearance was addressed. TV Guide host Lisa Rima was quoted as saying that, "Hollywood glamour is what we turn to when times are tough. I think they showed it right tonight, those stars came out [with] beautiful jewelery, stunning gowns, and I was happy to see that."
As I sat and listen to this last comment, my internal bells-and-whistles went off and I remembered Marie Antoinette's famous comment about the poor and hungry on the streets of Paris shortly before the French Revolution. She had said, "Let them eat cake." Marie lost her head for that attitude but Lisa Rima received air time with her sound byte.
I started looking closer at the gowns, tuxedos, jewelry and coiffed hair and I did a few calculations. If there were 300 couples at the Golden Globe and each couple only spent a total of $10,000 dollars on their outfits (You and I both know that some of those diamond necklaces alone cost $10K) then that would be $3,000,000 worth of clothing. Throw in a few more million for the announcers, hosts, catering and all of the other pageantry and more than $5 million was spent on a single evening of frivolity while parents are going to bed hungry just to feed their children.
I have never been a big "save the world" kind of person, but this horrible display of decadence, in a time of hardship, smacked right in the face of all I believe. I guess I will just sit back and eat cake as all of those millions go to buy pretties and baubles and shiny things that will distract us from our woes.
