Tormented by Gilt

Although the current wave of hauteur posturing seems to be a modern phenomenon, the behaviors associated with it have been around from ancient times. Since the beginnings of wealth itself, it has been used to divide people up into different strata. Today, for example, when art lovers take pilgrimages to see Renaissance masterpieces in Italy, they are in effect showing their appreciation for the ostentatiously wealthy of that era. This kind of wealth has a long history spread out across the world, but ostentation has taken on different forms and meanings in different societies and times.

(A Chinese cleaner dusts off the facade of a building in front of a Versace boutique in Sanlitun, Beijing /IC)

Take as an example the Potlach system practiced by the indigenous peoples of America's Pacific Northwest. Under this system, one would invite guests to a feast and then proceed to literally gift away his family fortune to those guests. At first look there is no logic to this system, but, through study, anthropologists have devised a theory of intricate factors and ideals that justify such magnanimity.