I can’t say enough about this article. Keli Goff nails the advanced and increasing claim by the rich and powerful that hard work is what got them where they are and that the rest of us just aren’t doing enough to further ourselves. In a country more and more controlled by corporations and a government focused on making the rich richer and the poor poorer, it’s amazing so many wealthy people, like the vacuous Gwyneth Paltrow continually bitch that others are just “jealous” of her…wow…
Sometimes the truth hurts — especially when it’s an embarrassing truth and someone calls you out on it in public. Gwyneth Paltrow, whose image, particularly in cyberspace, has taken quite a drubbing in the last year or two, recently called out her critics (or anyone who doesn’t appear to be her biggest fan) with her version of truth telling.
In an interview with Popeater, Paltrow addressed just why she believes she has so many critics by saying:
“I think my work ethic is the reason why I’m successful. I think that a lot of people don’t want to put in effort and it’s easier to not change, not do something good for you… [They’re just] pissed off at someone else doing that. Everything in my life that’s good is because I worked my ass off to get it and to maintain it.”
Who can argue with that logic?
Actually allow me to do just that.
Let me start by saying that I happen to be someone who does not hate Gwyneth Paltrow or “GOOP” (whatever that is). I think she’s pretty and talented, and on a side note her Oscar gown this year happened to be one of my favorites, but this interview finally made me understand why she engenders such enmity among so many. It’s not because she’s pretty and talented (okay, that may be part of it). It’s because, like a lot of privileged people, she’s under the delusion that she earned everything that she has, and then has the audacity to gloat about it.
In an age in which America’s class-divide is greater than it’s ever been, our patience has simply waned for the George W. Bush’s and Gwyneth Paltrow’s of the world — people who were born on third base and act like they hit a triple. America was founded on the idea that everyone has equal opportunity to carve out their piece of the American Dream, but increasingly that’s becoming less and less of a reality. And there’s something infuriating about listening to people born into the Dream — silver rattle in one hand, silver spoon in the other — lecture the rest of us on how easy it is to obtain — if we’re just willing to “work our asses off” like they do.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE BY KELI GOFF HERE
