The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Her Wonderful Career

Posted on | August 4, 2010 | 40 Comments

OK, so I was sitting in my home office this afternoon and, as usual, CNBC was on the office TV. When I sit at my desk typing, the TV is behind me and off to the right side. It’s usually tuned to CNBC during the day so that by swiveling my chair slightly, I can glance over and catch the latest Dow Jones Industrial Average. When the financial cataclysm hits, I’ll be ready to blog it in real time.

So I was sitting here about 2:30 in the afternoon and CNBC was having a panel discussion about millionaires: How are the ultra-wealthy spending their money? What would be the impact of imposing new taxes on the rich? When I glanced over to check the Dow I saw this person:

Huh? She looks like a teenager. Yet the hosts of the show were treating this impossibly young person as if she were an authoritative source on the habits of the rich. Who could she be?

Some quick Googling determined that Chloe Malle is the daughter of actress Candace Bergen and film director Louis Malle and thus is, so to speak, born and bred for such work.

Honestly, she seems to be an excellent young reporter — here’s a very nice feature she did on zoning wars in the Hamptons, for example. And it is altogether admirable, I suppose, that a third-generation celebrity (her grandfather being the famed ventroloquist Edgar Bergen) is actually working for a living, rather than indulging in the Paris Hilton famous-for-being-famous lifestyle.

Nevertheless, just that morning I had exchanged e-mails with a now-successful writer who explained that, when she once spent a year trying to make it as a young freelancer in New York, the disheartening experience had driven her into a state of clinical depression. And I furthermore thought of some former interns I’d mentored and the difficulties they’ve experienced in their lives and careers. What would Monique Stuart or Deb McCown give for a shot at a job at the New York Observer, or to be featured on national TV at age 25?

Contemplating this, however, eventually led me back to a conclusion I reached long ago about the stupidity of envying people you think of as privileged. Having gotten to know a number of very successful people — attending parties at mansions and interviewing bold-face names — I discovered that the rich and famous aren’t usually the kind of snooty Thurton Howell III stereotypes many people imagine.

Financial success provides comforts and advantages, but most “rich” people work for their money, and deal with the same mundane hassles as anyone else. Hollywood’s portrayal of effete aristocrats indulging in idle luxury, their every whim attended to by butlers and maids and chauffeurs, doesn’t typify the lives of the rich people I personally know.

Envy is the most futile emotion because you can never really see inside the lives of the people you envy. Live long enough and pay close attention, and you’ll find that some people you thought of as having all the luck are, in fact, afflicted with private torment or stoically shouldering a burden that you never imagined. And in the final analysis, envy is ungodly, when we consider that “he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

Let the judgment fall on me. Here I was, ready to dismiss Chloe Malle as a posh overprivileged debutante — Riverdale Country School, Brown University, etc. — until I Googled onto a profile of her in the January issue of Vanity Fair and saw this:

Would love to have dinner with: “My parents.”

Chloe’s father died of cancer when she was 10, you see. And in that one little wish — two words on a questionnaire — I caught a tiny glimpse of a human soul that feels real pain from a real loss.

Category: Culture, Economics, Video

Comments

40 Responses to “Her Wonderful Career”

  1. Joe
    August 4th, 2010 @ 10:27 pm

    Good post RSM.

  2. Joe
    August 4th, 2010 @ 6:27 pm

    Good post RSM.

  3. Joe
    August 4th, 2010 @ 10:29 pm

    If we can get over prejudging based on race, gender, and now those from privileged backgrounds, can some get over prejudging Yankees? Or is that a bridge too far?

  4. Joe
    August 4th, 2010 @ 6:29 pm

    If we can get over prejudging based on race, gender, and now those from privileged backgrounds, can some get over prejudging Yankees? Or is that a bridge too far?

  5. Rob
    August 4th, 2010 @ 10:32 pm

    Good write up Stacy and good comments Joe.

  6. Rob
    August 4th, 2010 @ 6:32 pm

    Good write up Stacy and good comments Joe.

  7. Cindy
    August 4th, 2010 @ 11:10 pm

    Awwww. Soft. You’re getting soft.

  8. Cindy
    August 4th, 2010 @ 11:10 pm

    Awwww. Soft. You’re getting soft.

  9. Cindy
    August 4th, 2010 @ 7:10 pm

    Awwww. Soft. You’re getting soft.

  10. Live Free Or Die
    August 4th, 2010 @ 11:37 pm

    Glad she’s working, but my guess is that her lineage, at the very least, got her a foot in the door. Lineage has it’s privelege, and she capitalized on it.

  11. Live Free Or Die
    August 4th, 2010 @ 11:37 pm

    Glad she’s working, but my guess is that her lineage, at the very least, got her a foot in the door. Lineage has it’s privelege, and she capitalized on it.

  12. Live Free Or Die
    August 4th, 2010 @ 7:37 pm

    Glad she’s working, but my guess is that her lineage, at the very least, got her a foot in the door. Lineage has it’s privelege, and she capitalized on it.

  13. Charles Johnson's Johnson
    August 4th, 2010 @ 11:57 pm

    The remember Sister Jacqueline in the 4th grade saying something that stuck with me the rest of my life —

    “If you ever start to feel sorry for yourself, think of this.

    Imagine that all the people on your block came out one evening and everyone, including you, dumped all their private troubles on their front lawn for everyone to see. And you could trade your troubles for someone else’s.

    I can guarantee you that once you got a look at everyone else’s troubles, you’d gladly gather up your own and walk back inside, relieved at how insignificant they were, compared to your friends and neighbors.”

    She was right! So far….

  14. Charles Johnson's Johnson
    August 4th, 2010 @ 11:57 pm

    The remember Sister Jacqueline in the 4th grade saying something that stuck with me the rest of my life —

    “If you ever start to feel sorry for yourself, think of this.

    Imagine that all the people on your block came out one evening and everyone, including you, dumped all their private troubles on their front lawn for everyone to see. And you could trade your troubles for someone else’s.

    I can guarantee you that once you got a look at everyone else’s troubles, you’d gladly gather up your own and walk back inside, relieved at how insignificant they were, compared to your friends and neighbors.”

    She was right! So far….

  15. Charles Johnson's Johnson
    August 4th, 2010 @ 7:57 pm

    The remember Sister Jacqueline in the 4th grade saying something that stuck with me the rest of my life —

    “If you ever start to feel sorry for yourself, think of this.

    Imagine that all the people on your block came out one evening and everyone, including you, dumped all their private troubles on their front lawn for everyone to see. And you could trade your troubles for someone else’s.

    I can guarantee you that once you got a look at everyone else’s troubles, you’d gladly gather up your own and walk back inside, relieved at how insignificant they were, compared to your friends and neighbors.”

    She was right! So far….

  16. Bob Belvedere
    August 5th, 2010 @ 12:04 am

    LForD: Nothing wrong with getting a little help opening the door as long as you do the job once you’ve been given it and don’t whine.

    Stacy: Another mini-essay that could be expanded into a chapter IN A BOOK.

  17. Bob Belvedere
    August 4th, 2010 @ 8:04 pm

    LForD: Nothing wrong with getting a little help opening the door as long as you do the job once you’ve been given it and don’t whine.

    Stacy: Another mini-essay that could be expanded into a chapter IN A BOOK.

  18. d-man
    August 5th, 2010 @ 12:14 am

    nice post, Stacy. You’re giving P. Noonan a run for her money (seriously)

  19. d-man
    August 4th, 2010 @ 8:14 pm

    nice post, Stacy. You’re giving P. Noonan a run for her money (seriously)

  20. nicholas
    August 5th, 2010 @ 12:34 am

    Nice post, Stace.

    The Vanity Fair piece was instructive as well:

    One day I hope to: “Learn to be patient, know my left from my right, enjoy eating green vegetables, live in Paris again, be regarded as a faithful friend.”

    Loved that last line.

  21. nicholas
    August 4th, 2010 @ 8:34 pm

    Nice post, Stace.

    The Vanity Fair piece was instructive as well:

    One day I hope to: “Learn to be patient, know my left from my right, enjoy eating green vegetables, live in Paris again, be regarded as a faithful friend.”

    Loved that last line.

  22. Jeff Weimer
    August 5th, 2010 @ 2:06 am

    Cindy
    August 4th, 2010 @ 7:10 pm

    Awwww. Soft. You’re getting soft.

    Yeah, that’s Robert Stacy “Stay Puft” McCain, right there.

  23. Jeff Weimer
    August 4th, 2010 @ 10:06 pm

    Cindy
    August 4th, 2010 @ 7:10 pm

    Awwww. Soft. You’re getting soft.

    Yeah, that’s Robert Stacy “Stay Puft” McCain, right there.

  24. victoria_29
    August 5th, 2010 @ 2:33 am

    It is nice to see someone working-even if name did open doors. It is the Paris Hiltons that are disgusting. Whether you agree with this girl or not at least she works.

  25. victoria_29
    August 4th, 2010 @ 10:33 pm

    It is nice to see someone working-even if name did open doors. It is the Paris Hiltons that are disgusting. Whether you agree with this girl or not at least she works.

  26. Kojocaro
    August 5th, 2010 @ 3:32 am

    I love you RSM and if anyone dares to get between us i’am screaming discrimination

  27. Kojocaro
    August 4th, 2010 @ 11:32 pm

    I love you RSM and if anyone dares to get between us i’am screaming discrimination

  28. Mark A
    August 5th, 2010 @ 3:50 am

    ‘Envy’ has been called ‘pure evil’ because it wants detriment to others with no gain to the envier.

    I think you meant Thur(S)ton Howell III.

    Nice post.

  29. Mark A
    August 4th, 2010 @ 11:50 pm

    ‘Envy’ has been called ‘pure evil’ because it wants detriment to others with no gain to the envier.

    I think you meant Thur(S)ton Howell III.

    Nice post.

  30. Nashville Beat
    August 5th, 2010 @ 4:37 am

    Nicely done, sir.

    Actually, I think the icon of stereotypical affluence is J. Packington Paco.

  31. Nashville Beat
    August 5th, 2010 @ 4:37 am

    Nicely done, sir.

    Actually, I think the icon of stereotypical affluence is J. Packington Paco.

  32. Nashville Beat
    August 5th, 2010 @ 12:37 am

    Nicely done, sir.

    Actually, I think the icon of stereotypical affluence is J. Packington Paco.

  33. dr kill
    August 5th, 2010 @ 11:49 am

    Certainly the young lady received preferential hiring treatment because of her family connections. But that is an argument for another day.
    Envy is what separates the Prog from the rest of us. I am self-ish, I am greedy. These are both noble traits. But envy is dangerous and damaging. Envy assumes the American pie will not get larger, and needs to be redistributed.

  34. dr kill
    August 5th, 2010 @ 7:49 am

    Certainly the young lady received preferential hiring treatment because of her family connections. But that is an argument for another day.
    Envy is what separates the Prog from the rest of us. I am self-ish, I am greedy. These are both noble traits. But envy is dangerous and damaging. Envy assumes the American pie will not get larger, and needs to be redistributed.

  35. sharmajee
    August 5th, 2010 @ 12:35 pm

    Bravo, Mr. McCain, very neatly observed and elegantly written. Nice sentiments, indeed.

  36. sharmajee
    August 5th, 2010 @ 12:35 pm

    Bravo, Mr. McCain, very neatly observed and elegantly written. Nice sentiments, indeed.

  37. sharmajee
    August 5th, 2010 @ 8:35 am

    Bravo, Mr. McCain, very neatly observed and elegantly written. Nice sentiments, indeed.

  38. Candice Bergen
    August 18th, 2010 @ 9:19 pm

    Mr. McCain
    Re: Your blog on Chloe Malle, “Her Wonderful Career” (Aug.10). Just for the record, neither I nor my husband (who is friend with the publisher) had anything to do with her getting the job at The New York Observer. She was recommended by a friend who is a journalist and only appeared on CNBC because everyone else at the paper was busy. In other words, by default. However, she is privileged and she does look 12. Candice Bergen

  39. Candice Bergen
    August 18th, 2010 @ 9:19 pm

    Mr. McCain
    Re: Your blog on Chloe Malle, “Her Wonderful Career” (Aug.10). Just for the record, neither I nor my husband (who is friend with the publisher) had anything to do with her getting the job at The New York Observer. She was recommended by a friend who is a journalist and only appeared on CNBC because everyone else at the paper was busy. In other words, by default. However, she is privileged and she does look 12. Candice Bergen

  40. Candice Bergen
    August 18th, 2010 @ 5:19 pm

    Mr. McCain
    Re: Your blog on Chloe Malle, “Her Wonderful Career” (Aug.10). Just for the record, neither I nor my husband (who is friend with the publisher) had anything to do with her getting the job at The New York Observer. She was recommended by a friend who is a journalist and only appeared on CNBC because everyone else at the paper was busy. In other words, by default. However, she is privileged and she does look 12. Candice Bergen