The rise of the new autocracy

Dinner parties are no longer verboten here, so I posed a question to some youngsters my son had over: did any of them feel morally entitled to their privilege? The problem with talking about privilege is that the discussion goes around in circles, original thoughts get lost, and what emerges says more about those conversing than about the subject at hand. Ditto when I posed the question to my son’s friends. There were no straightforward answers.

Let’s face it, privilege is so enjoyable that the beneficiaries are mostly seen as undeserving, spoilt lightweights — by the underprivileged, that is. Envy has always been around, as has the urge to take away wealth from those not seen as having earned it. After the defeat of communism, socialism has become the goal, and a war against the affluent is being waged, led by the American mainstream media and academia. In this, hacks and academics are aided and abetted by Silicon Valley freaks who pose as humanity’s saviours rather than acknowledging that they are among those reaping the benefits of economic inequality.

My son’s friends’ answers did not surprise me. They were all in their late thirties, well off, educated and girl-crazy. And they kept it very light: ‘Privilege means an immense pressure to be incredibly charming and funny. I don’t think the strain is sufficiently recognised,’ said one charming Italian. A Frenchman decided that privilege is literally being above the law. A Monaco resident said: ‘An American once told me he’d be able to perform wonders with my name,’ and that was the last time he spoke to Jeffrey Epstein. The response I liked most came from an Italian, a noble one at that, Raimondo Gaetani, nephew of a great friend of mine who is no longer with us: ‘The bottom line is that no one does anything worthwhile with their privilege.’