How “Luxury Beliefs” Hurt the Rest of Us

Honestly with Bari Weiss

The Free Press

Society & Culture, News

4.6 • 7.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2021

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"Defund the police" or "healthy at every size" or "marriage is just an oppressive institution of the patriarchy" - these are just a few of the ideas that are becoming common doctrine among American elites. And Rob Henderson has described these new orthodoxies as “Luxury Beliefs.” He says, much like second homes on the beach or Bentleys, luxury beliefs are thoughts that can only be afforded by people whose wealth shields them from the very harm those beliefs can cause to the rest of us. Henderson, a graduate of Yale and a PhD student at Cambridge, should have been susceptible to the very ideas he now criticizes. But the reason he remained immune to the groupthink of academia is because he was, in many ways, an outsider looking in. He grew up in a kind of chaos and suffering that most people shouting about white privilege and the evils of the musical Hamilton could never understand. And that’s why he is able to so accurately observe the indulgence and hypocrisy of our elite class, and call it out for what it is: a luxury. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Pepsi Max.
0:03.0	With the U-A for Champions League kicking off
0:05.0	and a brand new format for the new season,
0:07.0	you've got to wonder, will anything ever be the same?
0:10.0	Well, one thing you can know for sure is that Pepsi Max, as proud sponsors of the
0:14.8	Men's and Women's Champions League, will be cheering from the sidelines like
0:18.2	never before. Pepsi Max, Dusty for More.
0:28.0	I'm Barry Weiss, and this is honestly.
0:36.7	One of the most brilliant terms I've come across in years is the concept of luxury beliefs, like a Blenciaga bag or a Tesla or a second home in Aspen, luxury beliefs are costly and they're fashionable. But these beliefs can only be afforded by people
0:47.4	whose status shields them from the harm those beliefs can cause. In this
0:51.8	concept of luxury beliefs it was coined by my guest today,
0:55.5	Rob Henderson. He defines luxury beliefs as ideas and opinions that confer status on the rich while inflicting costs on the lower class.
1:06.0	And once you know the term, you start to see it everywhere.
1:10.5	You said police, do you fight. In ideas like defund the police.
1:15.0	Defund the police.
1:16.0	Like I believe that we should at some point abolish the NYPD
1:20.0	because I just think that when your DNA of policing is slave patrols I don't think we can ever
1:27.2	Just make fixes here and there
1:29.0	Where according to the most recent polling
1:31.5	overwhelmingly wealthy educated people who live in safe neighborhoods
1:36.0	call for a policy that would leave lower class people living in high crime neighborhoods
1:40.7	vulnerable.
	...

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