Why do we hate Rich People?

                If the title sounds interesting to you then smile because you are my true friend, and if it seems ridiculous to you then, well, you can still smile because it hasn't transformed you into my enemy. Similarly, if you belong to a rich family and live in a community where to own a Honda Civic isn't an unusual affair, you should be very curious. And if you belong to an average family and live in a community where to own a CD-70 motorcycle is a fine thing and to own a Suzuki Mehran is thought to be a great achievement, no surprises, you should still be very curious. Actually, hatred towards rich people is a thing which I've observed so much in society. In rural localities, after every few meters you can easily find a group of some people, most of whom are in their late 50s, talking about the evils of being rich and discussing the wicked practices and rituals which, they think, rich people perform. My curious mind couldn't resist the temptation of looking into the matter and asking myself, why do we hate rich people?

               Our opinions are, I think, never our own. They are gradually shaped by some powerful factors prevalent in society. What are those powerful factors which can influence our opinions? Religion? Politics? Okay. Let's discuss our concerned question particularly under these two domains, religion and politics.

               Jesus once said that it is far more easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to pass through the gates of heaven. Well, like you, I was also a little shocked when I read this 'statement by the prophet' for the first time. Why is it so difficult for a rich man to enter the land of paradise? No one knows. But the Medieval Church used this statement wisely and earned a lot of profit. The church emphasized wholeheartedly that every miser will burn in the fires of hell. And for rich people to avoid what they referred to as eternal abomination, distributing their money through charities and alms was the only option. So, afraid of burning in the fires of hell, rich people poured large sums of money in the buckets of Church and distributed big amounts to the poor people.

               I remember reading somewhere in my book of Islamic Studies at school that people who accumulate wealth and don't spend it will find their wealth as "galy ka toaq" for them on the Day of Judgment. Islam also strictly prohibits the accumulation of certain commodities over a given time. Through "Zakaat" rich people must distribute a certain share of their wealth among poor people and those who will not do so are committing a great sin for which they will be punished severely. Of course it is a very good idea to help the poor and needy. But seen with a more critical eye, hasn't this act made the poor people totally dependent upon the mercy of the rich ones? Poor people longingly look towards rich ones for the help, and any refusal on the part of rich ones suddenly triggers the sensations of hatred among poor ones for the rich ones. Instead of emphasizing so much on charity and punishments for disobeying rich people, wouldn't it have been better if religion had prescribed a full pattern in its holy scriptures titled as "How to Get Rich" or "How to Earn Money Respectably" ?

               Moreover, if a rich person argues that he was once poor himself but then he didn't rely on the charities and worked hard to earn money himself, and now other poor people should follow the suit because it's not his duty to help them, the most probable sentence which he'll listen to will be that his prosperity is just a blessing of God and, therefore, he must help the poor in the name of God. Now if rich person says that God didn't give him his wealth, but he worked very hard to achieve it, then the answer will be, no no, absolutely not, "rozi sirf aor sirf Allah deta hai." It's a very good thing to have faith in God. But the problem is that all the 2 to 10 million people who were starved to death during the Great Bengal famine of 1770 also believed that "rozi sirf Allah deta hai." There is a very long list of famines where millions of people were starved to death and not a single piece of bread was thrown from the sky by God. Rational plans like One-Child Policy are contributing to the economic miracle of China; and irrational beliefs like "har bacha is jahan me apni rozi khud ly kr ata hai" are contributing in the alarming growth of population, illiteracy rate, and poverty in Pakistan. In a society which is inhabited majorly by poor people and a tiny minority of rich ones, it's pretty clear who will hate who.

               When we enter the domain of politics, Karl Marx seems to be Jesus and Das Capital seems to be the holy scripture of the communists. In communism, private property is considered as more than a sin which will eventually result in a proletarian conflict. This ideology was so strong that it made all the rich people and capitalists living in Moscow and its surroundings in 1917 probably the most hated persons living on the planet earth at that time. Instead of going into the complex details of Russian Revolution, I'll try to give an example from our own Pakistani politics. Despite all the various efforts of PTI and Imran Khan to gain popularity, PML-N won the general elections of 2013 with a comprehensive lead. But then our wise current PM came up with a very interesting idea which proved very effective. He just started describing the wealth of the Nawaz family at various forums. He very carefully told curious Pakistani public that the Nawaz family is a very rich family, and the Zardari family is even more rich. Some necessary political narratives of corruption were added to the story and hurrah, it worked, it did wonders. During the general elections of 2018, the majority of the public hated both Zardari and Nawaz families and PTI won. When people were asked the reason for their hatred of those two families, directly or indirectly, they had only one answer, "because they are very rich families."

               True. Religious and political domains contribute in promoting a general disliking for rich people. But some other reasons are circulating in my mind as well. Firstly, we always busy ourselves in finding some irrelevant reasons to dislike certain things which we can't afford ourselves. Secondly, instead of appreciating other people's success, it's our habit to feel envious of them, just because we ourselves are at loss to succeed that far in life. Thirdly, when we don't find any useful work to keep ourselves busy, talking rubbish about others - mostly successful people - becomes our natural occupation. Finally, we often think that someone else is responsible for whatever wrong is happening to us, and when we are poor, we think it is so because someone else is rich. This mindset can also be applied at international level where one country thinks that some other country is responsible for all their problems and it eventually results in deadly wars.

               Robert T. Kiyosaki wrote in one of his books that his rich dad thought that lack of money was the root of all the evils, and his poor dad thought that excess of money was the root of all evils. I don't flatter myself so much as to prescribe any cure of this grave problem but, my mind compels me to write this, if rich and poor both sit together, listen to each other, poor tells the rich that how difficult it is to be poor and rich tells the poor how by following certain steps he can also ride up the economic ladder, then the level of hatred between these two classes of our society might descend and we might avoid what Mr. Karl Marx called a proletarian conflict.

               If you enjoyed this article then give yourself a big round of applause because you are going to be a true genius in future. And if you didn't enjoy this article then, well, you should eat as much "badaam" as you can. :)

Note: Anything portrayed as good in this article may also have a bad side and vice versa.

               (Awais Babar)