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Bernie Madoff got 150 years.
Bernie Madoff is the goat tied to the stake so the wolves get fed. He was old and sick, anyhow. He had made enemies of the rich and powerful, so an example was made. This is not just a statement on the nature of our justice system, which is separate for the rich and for the poor and it is not a statement on our economic system which I speak about often. Both of these are major issues with our society today, but what I'm talking about are our circuses, which determine, every now and again, to sacrifice one of their own number so that the masses are appeased.
Select amoung you the most onerous of your numbers that we may make of him our bread.
So we devour him. We sentence Mr. Madoff to 150 years that don't matter. The public feels no shame in its outrage, because Madoff had wounded them, too. But more honestly, we must realize that Madoff is only a symbol. When he is imprisoned, we feel justice has been done when it has not. Sure, Madoff ripped us off, but his real crime was in getting caught with his hand in the jar. The real reason we feel such a sick satisfaction in Madoff's sentence isn't because we care if he suffers it, but we like to imagine that it is the same sentence being levied out across the board by everyone who has every garnished our wages, cheated us out of our due, paid us too little, bankrupted us when we got tried to use our health insurance, or fired us when we had to take time off of work when ill. Madoff is of that class that we, as members of what we consider to be the working or middle class, loathe because that class perpetuates a system that we subconciously recognize and also detest.
When we see the hangdog look on Madoffs face, we think 'We finally got one!', but we don't expect to win. We know we're being cheated. Our hunger is the hunger of those who are starved for what we percieve to be as justice. But it is also hollow, because it means nothing. And we real no regret because nothing has really been done. It doesn't matter at all. Better to feel a sickning joy then a hollow nothing.
Dude is 70+ years, so nobody is fooling nobody; he is going to serve some time and get out or he will die, and this is going to speed that process along.
On one hand, I am glad the sucker got his due. The lawyers tried to play the 'but he feels bad' card and the 'but he's old' cards, and neither went, and cry me a fucking river. At this point the amount he extorted is a figure of legend. It was the mightiest of all Ponzie schemes. And I am glad, but that joy is a cancerous one. It is a hollow happiness. It is fundamentally false.Bernie Madoff is the goat tied to the stake so the wolves get fed. He was old and sick, anyhow. He had made enemies of the rich and powerful, so an example was made. This is not just a statement on the nature of our justice system, which is separate for the rich and for the poor and it is not a statement on our economic system which I speak about often. Both of these are major issues with our society today, but what I'm talking about are our circuses, which determine, every now and again, to sacrifice one of their own number so that the masses are appeased.
Select amoung you the most onerous of your numbers that we may make of him our bread.
So we devour him. We sentence Mr. Madoff to 150 years that don't matter. The public feels no shame in its outrage, because Madoff had wounded them, too. But more honestly, we must realize that Madoff is only a symbol. When he is imprisoned, we feel justice has been done when it has not. Sure, Madoff ripped us off, but his real crime was in getting caught with his hand in the jar. The real reason we feel such a sick satisfaction in Madoff's sentence isn't because we care if he suffers it, but we like to imagine that it is the same sentence being levied out across the board by everyone who has every garnished our wages, cheated us out of our due, paid us too little, bankrupted us when we got tried to use our health insurance, or fired us when we had to take time off of work when ill. Madoff is of that class that we, as members of what we consider to be the working or middle class, loathe because that class perpetuates a system that we subconciously recognize and also detest.
When we see the hangdog look on Madoffs face, we think 'We finally got one!', but we don't expect to win. We know we're being cheated. Our hunger is the hunger of those who are starved for what we percieve to be as justice. But it is also hollow, because it means nothing. And we real no regret because nothing has really been done. It doesn't matter at all. Better to feel a sickning joy then a hollow nothing.
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After a certain amount, the numbers become arbitrary. A million years. 5 million years. Heat death of the universe. Go nuts. It doesn't matter. He's dead and we're not responsible.
It's bad for us, probably. Empty calories for the soul.
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Not that I can bring myself to disagree with anything you said; I spent an hour tonight discussing very similar topics with one of my drivers.
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That truth is, Madoff is an isolated news item, but he's not an isolated incident. And the public is so outraged because the economy is tanking, and he's part of that class that we blame for that tank. There's been a push by certain aspects of the media like Fox news to have watchers blame themselves, which is something that our society certainly has us do quite a lot anyhow. That didn't fly, because even that self-loathing has limits.
So, we like to cheer when Madoff is hoisted on his own petard. I realize I'm right there with everyone, for the damage he's done, and I'm angry at the system. But giving him 150 years means absolutely nothing. There's no talk about what they're doing with the money he stole. Is it given back? Do we make an effort? Does it go to sick children? Do we feed orphans with it? Punishment means nothing, what are we going to do with that defrauded money?
Personally, I'm in the best financial position I've ever been in inside this decade. I'm in good shape. This Madoff thing doesn't make me feel any better or worse then the day before. I guess that's what I'm talking about. You hear people saying 'I'm glad we nailed one of them.', but there's that 'them' and nothing changes at all.