Okay, I also thought it a rather sad look at how miserable these ultra wealthy people must be, considering all the research on how happiness comes from connection, but I wanted to focus on something else.
I have realized that I have always been conscientious. When our parents gave us chores while they were out and my brothers always argued that they should be able to go play because they'd just do them later (which we all knew meant never) I wanted to do the chores first - because I didn't want that obligation hanging over me. I wanted to play knowing there was no task waiting to be done later, wanted to be free and clear.
That obligation is of course entirely mental, and I have come to realize not everyone feels that way.
And not just my brothers.
One example that struck me was the problem with antibiotics. Or rather,that apparently so many people will stop taking them when they're feeling better even though the doctor said to take them for a set period of time.
Mostly the shock was because in our family you did what the doctor prescribed, and if they said take the pill for 14 days you take the pill for 14 days. (Barring the he occasional forgetfulness, ofc. But you don't just stop).
And the thing of it is, and the reason I used this example,is that I know if I really wanted to I could ignore that and stop - but why would I?
Doctors prescribe them long enough to hopefully kill of the infection, if you stop taking the antibiotics too soon you risk making things far worse when the more resistant bacteria survives and grows back.
Like - it's not just being conscientious, it's doing so because it's really rather stupid not to.
Which is mostly the point I wanted to make. There are a lot of social norms and rules and sometimes they're inconvenient. And sometimes it's worth breaking them. But you have to understand them enough to know when and where and why you're breaking them, and honestly for the most part they're there for a reason and it's better to follow them. (Barring situations like when the rules are made by Nazis and the like where they enable mass murder. Blind obedience is not conscientiousness.)
And what that article about consequence free wealth indicates, to me at least, is a careless attitude that means they don't really care about the rules - which means they're breaking them just because they can, and not with any real understanding of why those rules exist or when they should or shouldn't be broken.
It's people who decide to throw out the antibiotics as soon as they feel better, because they think they know better than the doctor and don't want to deal with the inconvenience any more than they have to.
It's kind of a shame that the predictable consequences of such foolishness are so delayed, because they're unfortunately in a position to make the rest of us suffer before they learn better.
