Having grown up in Orange County, I have been surrounded by wealth my whole life. I've gone to school with wealth, I've been friends with wealth and I've most certainly worked for wealth. Of course wealth is not necessarily a bad thing. I've seen people use their power and influence to make positive changes in their communities and the world at large. I myself have even sporadically benefited from the largesse of some particularly well-off individuals. But I have also seen the ways in which wealth can be corrosive. In both the local media and in person I have witnessed the various ways that wealth can shield and enable people with dangerous impulses. That is what spoke loudest to me all during Foxcatcher. Had John E. du Pont been anyone else, he probably would have been institutionalized long ago. He certainly wouldn't have been trusted with military grade weaponry. But because of his wealth, he was indulged and encouraged. So many warning signs were just glossed over. And then we wonder how a tragedy like this could have possibly happened.
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