The Picture that reveals how staggeringly sick the rich are now

a reply to: englishdissident

I can't even see their top hats and brandy pipes in that picture. I think the one guy might be wearing a tuxedo and a monocle though.

Rich people leaving bodies behind on Everest like they are instructed/required to do...shameful!

I don't see it as a symptom of being rich. I see it as a symptom of being human. There's never been anything noble about humanity. Things always get ugly when human beings are active. About the only thing we can do peacefully is sleep. We are inherently combative, jealous, competitive and selfish. That's just the nature of us. The desire to be rich is the root of what happens when people get rich. The way poor people think, talk and act towards the rich is the reason that rich people talk, think and act the way they do. There is no difference between the basic nature of either of them.

Everyone wants to be rich. Poor people hate rich people because poor people aren't rich. The thing about it is that they WANT to be rich. There are some rich people who pay lip service to caring about the poor but they always die rich. What does that tell you?

Anyone who isn't rich and blows 10k+ on climbing a mountain that's now been conquered hundreds of times is a complete idiot.

You can call it a "climber thing", but stupid is stupid. You're better off blowing all that money on a truly pioneering adventure of which there are very few these days.

A small part of the Amazon, the deep blue sea, and a portion of Antarctica are about the only places left which haven't been thoroughly explored.

a reply to: Creep Thumper

A small part of the Amazon, the deep blue sea, and a portion of Antarctica are about the only places left which haven't been thoroughly explored.

You missed out Truth.

originally posted by: Kester
a reply to: Creep Thumper

A small part of the Amazon, the deep blue sea, and a portion of Antarctica are about the only places left which haven't been thoroughly explored.

You missed out Truth.

Can you clarify your response please?

originally posted by: Creep Thumper
You can call it a "climber thing", but stupid is stupid. You're better off blowing all that money on a truly pioneering adventure of which there are very few these days.

A small part of the Amazon, the deep blue sea, and a portion of Antarctica are about the only places left which haven't been thoroughly explored.

That's not why they do it. I have a friend who summited Everest and he explained it to me as being the same reason why distance runners want to run the New York marathon even though it's been done by millions: to say you did it and have the experience.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Creep Thumper
You can call it a "climber thing", but stupid is stupid. You're better off blowing all that money on a truly pioneering adventure of which there are very few these days.

A small part of the Amazon, the deep blue sea, and a portion of Antarctica are about the only places left which haven't been thoroughly explored.

That's not why they do it. I have a friend who summited Everest and he explained it to me as being the same reason why distance runners want to run the New York marathon even though it's been done by millions: to say you did it and have the experience.

Weird that such a thing has any currency. It's like paying millions for an oil painting just because it's old and by someone well-known.

People with that kind of money are alien to me. There is an obvious shift of values when someone comes into grotesque amounts of disposable income.

a reply to: Creep Thumper

I mean truth is the final frontier. The exciting and potentially fatal place to explore. Real excitement.

The environmental impact of climbing is outrageous. Innocent organisms having survived millennia living in the most inhospitable conditions suddenly find themselves facing an onslaught from humans. Breeding cycles are disrupted. Habitats ruined. For the most part the climbers don't even notice.

I believe the real adventure now is ripping apart the web of lies that is spun around us.

originally posted by: Creep Thumper
People with that kind of money are alien to me. There is an obvious shift of values when someone comes into grotesque amounts of disposable income.

$10-20,000 is not a lot of money for someone who has been saving for this experience.

originally posted by: Kester
a reply to: Creep Thumper

I mean truth is the final frontier. The exciting and potentially fatal place to explore. Real excitement.

The environmental impact of climbing is outrageous. Innocent organisms having survived millennia living in the most inhospitable conditions suddenly find themselves facing an onslaught from humans. Breeding cycles are disrupted. Habitats ruined. For the most part the climbers don't even notice.

I believe the real adventure now is ripping apart the web of lies that is spun around us.

I agree 100%. Thanks for expanding on your thoughts. 👍

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Creep Thumper
People with that kind of money are alien to me. There is an obvious shift of values when someone comes into grotesque amounts of disposable income.

$10-20,000 is not a lot of money for someone who has been saving for this experience.

If you say so. I think it's an unconscionable waste of money if, in reality, you can't really afford it.

That's a small car or a reasonable down-payment on a home. That's groceries or college or health care premiums.

Do you understand why the expense to climb a rock appalls me?

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

he said

People with that kind of money are alien to me

This is what I dont understand. Why is it so alien to some that one could forgo 2 or even 3 vacations to have that 1 special one.

And yet peeps have no trouble getting into debt for a car in excess of $50K.

Why cant some people live & let live.

Sounds like low hanging fruit jealousy syndrome.

originally posted by: Creep Thumper
If you say so. I think it's an unconscionable waste of money if, in reality, you can't really afford it.

[

Who said they cannot afford it?

Plenty of people like experiential type activities, whether they are vacations to somewhere exotic or climbing a mountain. Not everyone is a boring stoic.

Do you understand why the expense to climb a rock appalls me?

No, nor do I care.

originally posted by: TheConstruKctionofLight
a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

he said

People with that kind of money are alien to me

This is what I dont understand. Why is it so alien to some that one could forgo 2 or even 3 vacations to have that 1 special one.

And yet peeps have no trouble getting into debt for a car in excess of $50K.

Why cant some people live & let live.

Sounds like low hanging fruit jealousy syndrome.

No, it's thinking logically syndrome.

What is special about hypoxia, altitude sickness, and pulmonary edema?

originally posted by: englishdissident
Go the link.

Its from a national newspaper, not some sick torture or death porn from some mad Islamist site.

www.dailymail.co.uk...

The people in the picture are some of the wealthiest, most privileged people this planet has ever produced.

...

These people have sullied the very essence of Everest, turning its majesty into just another plastic consumer item.

...

Literally stepping over the dead as they line up to get their status symbol selfie to impress their rich friends.

If so, then the dead are included in that description?

Yes, it can cost 45K+ to make the climb.
No, not everybody who makes the climb is rich.

Yes, those making the ascent see the dead and realize that person was once very much like them, taking the same risks, walking the same unique path with the same unique aspiration.

Leaving the bodies is not a reflection of callousness, but rather a consequence of physics.

At that altitude there is only about 33% of the oxygen at ground level. Imagine walking up hundreds of flights of stairs, covered in compact ice, with each step only a foot and half wide, where slipping can cost you your life and you can only take a breath every third step.

Yes they use "Supplemental" Oxygen. Full oxygen is too heavy and the weight is counter-productive tiring you out rapidly and spending it fast. So they use small amounts (bottles) of oxygen and keep it very low. Everyone making the ascent by foot suffers some degree of Hypoxia ranging from managed to fatal.

Yes, they should shut down the mountain for a year. Yes it is over-crowded. Yes they should limit the number of climbers each year.

I can't bring myself to deride those making the climb, or the same folks that have perished in the effort as "spoilt, selfish and crass and cruel"

Not seeing that.

a reply to: Extorris

Walking by a dead man while pursuing egotism is the ultimate in despicable.

originally posted by: Creep Thumper

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Creep Thumper
People with that kind of money are alien to me. There is an obvious shift of values when someone comes into grotesque amounts of disposable income.

$10-20,000 is not a lot of money for someone who has been saving for this experience.

If you say so. I think it's an unconscionable waste of money if, in reality, you can't really afford it.

That's a small car or a reasonable down-payment on a home. That's groceries or college or health care premiums.

Ok. I've never climbed and have no interest in it personally, but I know people that do and I'm in no place to judge. Thus I'll bite.

You're also forgetting that most people who climbed ANY mountain have a job -- the gear isn't free and they can't just wish it into existence. And have to get to said job to earn the money for the activity they love after they meet all their other obligations, so it's highly likely they already did college/have a good job, own a car or two, and a house. In other words, your personal situation does not apply to those who've already shored themselves up financially in preparation. That money toward a car or house is a waste when neither is needed because they're already owned, college is already completed, etc.

It's as much as personal goal of theirs worth planning for as scuba diving Palau or doing an Antarctic cruise is someday for me. Neither of those are cheap, but I doubt you'll whine about that being a waste of money.

Anyway, a more tangible & easily relatable, "what does it matter to you" example closer to home: Hawaiian vacations.

I've been there, it was a family vacation when I was 10. I recently priced the trip in modern costs as a recreated family vacation out of curiosity -- 14 days on the Big Island and Oahu, plus all the tours, hotels, auto rentals, a local flight to the Big Island and back, etc.
Do you have any idea what my dad dropped on that vacation? It would cost me damn near $25 grand in today's money to do the same vacation today. Even when I whittled it down and picked less expensive lodging, it'd still be damn expensive.
Go ahead and research yourself 4 round-trip tickets to Waikiki from the midwest, it's pretty jaw-dropping. A lot of the cost of a Hawaiian vacation is wrapped up in just GETTING there in the first place. So even a $10k budget for one or two is still quite the sticker shock.

Now granted, my dad was pulling a 6 figure salary in the 90's, and this was a drop in the bucket to him back then, we could theoretically pull off the same vacation for the 4 of us today saving up for a number of years, so it's not out of the question, nor would it hurt current bill obligations. Just like how climbing a mountain is not out of the question for people who want to do that.

Do you understand why the expense to climb a rock appalls me?

No. I don't.
If you had that money in hand, and no bills to worry about because it was your savings account and not robbing Peter to pay Paul to do it, you'd do your dream vacation. Where would you go on that kind of money? there IS a somewhere, there always is, everyone has somewhere on this rock they yearn to go to. Please share with the class so we can mock it as a waste of money, too, okie dokie?

It's pretty short-sighted to accuse tourists of crimes against humanity when the government of the country is perfectly willing to accept their money to come visit and poo all over the Book of Doin' Tha Right Thing.

Do you not believe the government has a responsibility to the people of the country and the land they live on? The people in charge are the ones ultimately responsible for this sort of activity. They certainly could stop it, but they've gotten a taste of the $$$ and they're filling their bank accounts while the gettin' is good.

Nvm. Isn't worth it.

Raise your hand if you would walk by a dead man in the street.