The View from the Rafters
Scott, Don't Tell Me to Come Home
I like Scott Galloway. I think he is on the right side of history and a man of principle. I think he has a genuine desire to see people thrive. His Unsubscribe campaign is constructive and those ideas gain merit when they come from someone of his stature.
But everyone including Scott when handed a blank check on expressing their views eventually veers off into territories where they have no business speaking.
If you want to sit around with your peers and talk virtues and solutions to the worlds biggest problems then go ahead. I hope you influence them. But here is the thing about the Scott Galloways of the world. You are seemingly intent on doing good and being one of the people. You want to be a regular person who figured something out.
But you are not regular.
You can talk regular. You can tell a story that makes you out to be a regular person. Maybe you were once. But now you have money. Only people with money get to talk this loudly and this far.
That sounds controversial but think about it. He is brilliant and I am interested in three out of five things he says. But we would not be giving him the oxygen if he was not a smart guy with serious money. I meet exceptionally smart people every day and the only difference between those who get to speak on nothing and those who speak on anything they want is a bank account.
Recently he said something that hit home and if I am going to throw stones it is not going to be at my enemies. It is going to be at the people I need to be better. I need them to hear the message that you are on the right side but you do not know what it feels like to not be part of the one percent today. Maybe you did when you were a kid. But not today.
Scott made the claim that Americans living abroad have a responsibility to come home.
Why Scott? What fight am I going to be a part of when I get home? What impact am I going to have when I return? Am I fighting the good fight by living at my house in Charlotte? By going to the cafe or taking my pets to the vet? By seeing my friends and visiting with my family? What fight am I a part of? What impact am I having that is so damn important to the state of the union?
I am so tired of people including the ones on the right side of history telling us what we should care about and what we need to do. It is the ultimate form of gaslighting. They tell us we need to go vote and write our congressman and speak out.
No. That is up to us.
You the leader in politics and business with real wealth and real influence need to buck up. You need to figure this out. You want to be elite then you get to fix this broken machine. That is the price of admission.
I am so tired of the Patriot Card. It is boring and unsophisticated. We are talking about artificial lines. We are talking about a country I was born into and not the one I chose. I am not grateful to a country. Think about how sophomoric that sounds.
I am grateful to the people who helped me along. I am grateful to those who lent a hand and showed up in my darkest days. I am also grateful to myself. I get to own my successes and my failures. Not a country.
I am so sick of people telling me how to feel about my country. It is a fucking HOA and people move all the time. If you move to another city for a job then everyone thinks that is cool. But if you leave the boundaries of a country in search of a different life then suddenly you are a traitor.
This is an old and immature conversation. It is perpetuated by people who are trying to hurt you or exploit you or puff themselves up. It is not real and waving a flag means nothing.
If you want to be a patriot then fine. If you want to be a person of faith then fine. Just keep it to yourself. I will do me. I will be a good person without either of those. My values do not come from being an American or being Jewish. They come from my family and the choices I have made and the critical thinking I have done. They come from the courage Rachel and I have to go against the grain. Because it’s lonely and no human being enjoys the discomfort of being an outlier.
And I did it without being part of the one percent. I did it without a blank check on what I can and cannot say on a podcast without consequences.
Claiming to be a patriot is a bold move if you have never set foot on a battlefield or stood between a perpetrator of hate and the person they hated. It is a bold move if you have never really put your life on the line.
Scott you are a smart dude and probably a good dude. But we have no reason to put you on a pedestal. You are just another rich dude. I know it sucks because you want to be an everyman. But you are not.
Rich dudes get to speak on shit that makes others feel like we are not living up to some standard that has nothing to do with our lives. We do not get to be in your club. We do not get to be you.
Just once I would like to hear you and people like you say what do I know. I would like to hear you say I am rich and maybe you should ask someone who is not because only they can speak to what it is like to be on the other end of this economic war.
Scott is not the enemy. But if the elites are the only ones who can fix this shit show then we need to point at them and stop listening to them.
I did not leave the country because I was turning my back. And let’s be clear about the language we use. I am not an expat. I am a migrant. I know that makes people uncomfortable because I am white and I am privileged. But I do not get a better label just because of my tax bracket or my skin color. I am a migrant.
My wife and I simply made a choice to live our lives differently elsewhere. We chose not to live the lives handed down to us by our parents or the lives scripted by people like Scott who think they get to be the moral authority on what an American life looks like when it is at its best.
My wife and I simply made a choice to live our lives. We chose not to live the lives handed down to us by our parents or the lives scripted by people like Scott who think they get to be the moral authority on what an American life looks like.
We chose adventure. We chose a life that challenges us to figure others out for the rest of our lives. And we did it at the expense of no one. How many people of extraordinary wealth can say that? I don’t care how many buildings have their name on them. If your “success” required a trail of bodies or a broken system to sustain it then your virtues are far more hollow than mine.
I just happen to live in another country now and I assure you I am doing more for others than those who scream patriotism. I am doing the work without putting labels on it and I resent the implication that I have a responsibility to come home. You have the responsibility Scott. You got to be rich. You earned it and you also had timing, luck and circumstance on your side. Now you are in the game.
We are not in the game. We are in the rafters in the cheap seats. We get to choose to be good people or not but let’s be honest. No one has invited us onto the court. It doesn’t matter how hard I pull on my bootstraps or how much I grind. The gate is locked. The game is for the people who already have the oxygen. I can work myself to the bone and I’m still just a spectator watching you play with the house money.
But this is not really about Scott. It is about the Scotts.
It is about every person who sits iconically in your mind and on your feed. Every person we allow to influence the way we see the world. Think of the one who occupies that space for you. Not just Scott but all of them.
Next time they tell you how to live or what you owe a country or what you should care about ask yourself a single question. Is this a moment for me to listen or do I want to challenge this person to do more and be better? I know that’s a strange question coming from a guy who has made a career out of helping others to listen more. To listen deeply and compassionately and strategically. But the finger pointing has gone one way for far too long.
Perhaps even the Scotts have lost sight of the psychological toll that takes on everyday Americans. To be told you or others like you, perhaps with a different skin tone, are the problem is the ultimate gaslight. It is a primary culprit of the rot we find ourselves in. When the people at the top stop looking in the mirror and start looking at us they aren’t leading. They are blaming.
Scott you go home. It will matter because you are rich and you have influence. Call me when you and your friends fix the rot.
Until then keep your ego in check. Keep your virtues in check.
We are not in the game. You are.
Fix it or shut up.