Did anyone else read the NYT magazine this weekend? It was all about poverty and income inequality. Some articles were better than others, and I didn’t read them all, but the hilarious part wasn’t in the articles. It was in the ads. On page after page, the magazine hawked luxury condos starting in the 8 figures. Pictures of these glorious $10 million-plus pied-à-terres with 24-hour doormen, room service and Master of the Universe views of Manhattan were punctuated with ads for financial advisers and garish jewelry — and, oh yeah, essays on what to do about the poor. There was an almost Edwardian irony to the whole thing; a magazine for the New Aristocrats discussing the poor and how they live with a mixture of dispassionate, almost academic, bemusement and charity ball passion.
Scene at the Hamptons:
“Honey, did you see this piece on how poor people live? It’s right next to the ad for those new condos at Gramercy Park. It’s just so terrible.”
“Oh, I know. I think that modernist style is just so garish for that part of town.”
“Oh, no. I meant the thing about poor people.”
“Ah, right. Yes, that broke my heart.”
And, if you’re going to have a whole issue dedicated to Neo-Edwardian concern for the class-divide, who better to put on the cover than John Edwards?