i had not thought about it, but this does not surprise me. the ideology of the US is to make the wealthiest asshole in a room of 10 people feel completely free to ruin everyone else's experience/lives.

i remember when i was much younger and first recognizing the environmental destruction of overconsumption and the shittiness of rich people stunting on poor people, and not for anything so noble as "feeding kids". rather, "i'm gonna buy a hummer and drive across country" or "i'm buying a fashion accessory for $2500." i would impulsively say, "that's stupid. you're an asshole" to those people.

and, right on cue, other americans would swarm me and say, from the script, "it's their money. they have every right to spend it how they want." for 9 out of 10 of us in the US, that thinking is still dumb, but probably not undermining community or the biosphere. but there's the 1 asshole that sees their personal power in the moment as an invitation to wreck the place. to piss all over the sink in a restaurant. to break the public phone or steal the phonebook. to take all the candy in the bowl. to not wash their hands after a shit.

there's one person in a room of 10 that needs a constant reminder that their actions have consequences and if they are an asshole, the other 9 are within their power to smack some sense into them.