Do you know what nouveau riche means? There is some confusion in describing this class of people in society but there is a precise meaning. Let us get rid of the confusion first. Some people will tell you that it refers to a section of the moneyed class that didn’t acquire wealth the traditional way.
Generally the term “old fashioned” way is used. This means the accumulation of wealth through the use of hard, dedicated work with ruthless hours devoted to the business and the application of leadership qualities and entrepreneurial spirit.
The traditional rich class comprises people who like to link money with education, culture and aesthetics. Even though their children will inherit billions of dollars, they want their children to go to university and learn about the classics and Shakespeare.
For a good introduction to this subject see the Matt Damon movie, “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” When people say that he has money and class, they mean he is wealthy but also schooled in urbaneness. This is what we call the traditional capitalist class.
The term nouveau riche is generally used in a derogatory sense. In fact it is always used in an insulting way. It does not mean the newer class of wealthy folks who didn’t come up the old-fashioned way and therefore are not as respected and respectable as the bourgeois class that came before them.
When we say he or she is from the nouveau riche setting, we are talking about people who got wealth not in exactly a straight forward way, and are generally ignorant in the finer points of civilized living. They tend to lack decorum, always ignorant about the philosophical contents of knowledge (I doubt any of the members of the nouveau riche knows where is the Vatican, what is the Taj Mahal, can tell you who Nat King Cole was, can identify one of the great painters in history and can name three Shakespearean plays) and really don’t care about the aesthetic side of life.
In many Third World countries, the nouveau riche derived their billions through corrupt transactions either through dealings with kleptocratic governments or illegal trading in all sorts of things. But the narcotics business is one of the principal avenues in the birth of the nouveau riche class. There is no question about it; this class in Guyana is extremely wealthy and has political power at their fingertips through their purchase of powerful politicians and state security personnel.
Both the parents and offspring of the nouveau riche own Guyana. They can kill you with their cars and go un-prosecuted. Their children can rape, shoot, beat up who they want to and they remain legally untouched.
The behaviour of this class of uncouth people and their control of the ruling politicians has reduced Guyana to a failed state. It is a pathological decline in the Guyanese society that is extremely terrifying and horrifying. No one is safe from the violent escapism of the Guyanese nouveau riche.
One of them slapped my nephew because he refused to sell him after he jumped the queue at the gas station. I reported the matter to the police station and got the police to bring him. Then it was the end of the story when they found out who he was. All the police ranks at that particular station were afraid of him except one very brave soul. He defied power and decided to charge this billionaire. But my nephew was too scared to testify.
The latest show of power by the nouveau riche occurred at a famous hotel last weekend. A nouveau riche princess was celebrating her birthday. Madness ensued. All types of violent acts punctuated the ambience of the evening. Then gunfire broke out. Innocent security officials who simply did their jobs got shot up. Telephone calls were made to high men in uniform, and the people of Guyana will hear no more of it.
So who is the next victim of the uncivilized Guyanese nouveau riche? Will it be another policeman? Could it be a traffic cop who doesn’t understand the brutal realities of life in a failed state? Can it be your son or your daughter or your wife or even you?
What happens if at the Muslim or Hindu festival, they pull at your daughter and you chastise them? Will they shoot you? This is a frightening country where run-away crime, corrupt government and the power of the nouveau riche have meet in a deadly confluence.
Times like these you wish you were young and you could make a radical, violent revolution.
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