The Scrapbook assumes most of our readers stay well away from the New York Times Style section. That abstention is usually a wise one, but reading the Style pages has its joys, too. We think especially of the long, glowing profiles of rich people. These pieces are satisfying, not because their content enlightens or edifies, but because they reveal what drives modern liberalism.
Consider Jacob Bernstein’s recent piece on the philanthropist and art collector Agnes Gund, “Park Avenue’s Fairy Godmother,” according to the headline. What readers really want is a Robin Leach-style peek into the life of an Upper East Side billionairess: How much did those designer shoes cost? What would that Jackson Pollock in the kitchen go for today? But Bernstein, his readers, and Gund herself know that that sort of gauche gawkery is not permissible in the left-liberal wonderland that is high society Manhattan. Instead, the writer, while mentioning Gund’s social connections and possessions here and there, reminds us again and again how much money she gives to liberal causes—even to the point of depleting her bank account! “Her cash reserve has shrunk after a lifetime of giving to AIDS research, abortion rights groups and arts organizations, among many others,” Bernstein writes (although we’re not told to what level her cash reserve has shrunk).
Gund isn’t like Stephen Schwarzman and David Koch, with their “rightward political leanings,” whose philanthropic gifts are mainly for capital improvements at museums and opera houses instead of “art, books and after-school programs.” She is “the good witch of Park Avenue,” the “torchbearer for the obligation of the rich in an era dominated by vanity and hypocrisy.” Bernstein’s need to venerate the woman is so intense that he sometimes doesn’t quite make sense. “Although Ms. Gund is a die-hard progressive whose pocketbook is a virtual A.T.M. for Democratic politicians, there is a regal, almost atavistic quality to her.” Okee-dokee.
The best parts of the profile, though, are the bits where Bernstein insists she’s humble. Because rich people, if they’ve any hope of redemption in this rarefied world, must at least appear humble. “Her disinclination to speak about herself is at the heart of why people clamor to celebrate her,” Bernstein explains, and she is “patently uncomfortable accepting awards.” Sure, Gund is the “reluctant subject of a new documentary”—reluctant!—and every year she sends out a Christmas card bearing a portrait of herself (“photographers like Annie Leibovitz and Lyle Ashton Harris take the portrait”) . . . but man is she humble. Not like those nouveau riche Koch boys.
Wealthy but pretending to be otherwise, vain but feigning humility, ultra-privileged but bankrolling politicians dedicated to removing privilege—it’s quite a glimpse into the cultural contradictions of modern liberalism. Although if you’re not willing to wade through the Times Style section just to find such glimpses, we don’t blame you.
