One of the many things that wealthy people spend their money on is golf. When one envisions golf they see a wealthy white man wearing a polo outfit in a beautiful green landscape. In the Revisionist History Podcast, Season Two, Episode 1 explains how the wealthy are addicted to golf and how it is unfair to regular people. Malcolm Gladwell’s, the narrator, main argument in ” A Good Walk Spoiled” was that the Golf Country Club holds a perfectly good park, yet it is out of reach to the general public. Living in a place like Los Angeles where there really are no parks this can make the general public frustrated.
I’ve never understood why rich people are crazy about golf, and in all honesty I’ve never seen golf as something fun. Instead I see it as something luxurious because in a way it is. People can really tell how much money goes into it just by the way the greenery is kept. I’ve past by many golf courses and I’ve always wanted to go inside it not to play golf, but rather just because of how pretty it is. Therefore, I understand the narrator’s frustration and argument of wanting to use it for running but instead having to use a dirt pavement. Country Clubs should be open for public use because it is in the middle of the city, however, that would take away from the wealthy. What the wealthy want is their privacy, so if it were open to the public then the value of it would go down.
Not only does it show the power and privileges that the wealthy have but it also shows the corruption. Golf courses do not pay the normal amount of tax that they need to pay, and instead they pay even less. Due to a certain law that stated that properties before a certain time period only need to pay a small amount of tax, golf courses have been able to avoid paying it. Which I believe is unfair since they clearly have enough money to pay it, and if other properties are paying it they should too. Not only that, but many famous politicians including the current President of the United States, Donald Trump, spends a large amount of time playing golf. Time that could be spent helping the nation and figuring out how to resolve economic problems. Therefore, it is kind of funny how gold courses get a certain privilege when it comes to taxes since many government officials use it for their own benefit.
Not only are golf courses expensive, but not just anyone can go there. Meaning that you have to be approved to get in which is where racism and discrimination can get involved. When it comes to the wealthy, they hold a large amount of power simply due to their status, and they are all about keeping their image clean. Therefore, you won’t really find a person of color playing golf. This simple sport in a way signifies the power of the wealthy and the privileges they have. For everyday people, like me, it is unfair and makes me feel like I’m living in a seperate world from the wealthy. In a way it even shows the ignorance of the wealthy since they do not have to face the poverty behind the fences.
Words that come to life 