White Lotus and the Gospel of the Rich Liberal

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 In this episode, we dive into HBO’s The White Lotus as more than just prestige TV—it’s a mirror held up to the decadent, self-justifying rituals of elite liberalism. We unpack how wealth and guilt dance together in a new gospel of indulgence, where morality is performative and redemption is bought through ideology. From sun-soaked resorts to the darker undercurrents of privilege, we explore what White Lotus unintentionally reveals about the spiritual emptiness of our cultural elites—and why the gospel of Christ offers a better story. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Conservative Opinion Podcast
brought to you byConservativeOpinioncom.
Now here's your host, jordanRickards.
All right, everybody, welcometo another edition of the
Conservative Opinion Podcast.
Today's topic RighteousIndulgence.
White Lotus and the Gospel ofthe Rich Liberal.
It would be difficult to conjurea more exquisite contradiction

(00:23):
than HBO's the White Lotus, ashow written, produced and
performed almost exclusively bythe wealthy.
It would be difficult toconjure a more exquisite
contradiction than HBO's theWhite Lotus, a show written,
produced and performed almostexclusively by the wealthy,
which exists to mock and condemnthe very lifestyle they so
lavishly enjoy.
Here we have a small army ofhigh-income creatives, swaddled
in designer wardrobes andfilming in $4,000-a-night
resorts, wagging their fingersat the corrupting influence of

(00:44):
wealth.
$4,000 a night resorts, waggingtheir fingers at the corrupting
influence of wealth.
One is left to wonder whetherthe writer's room was located
before or after the infinitypool.
This is either a case ofastounding self-delusion or,
something more strategic, acultural sleight of hand.
By performing their guiltpublicly, the creators hope you
won't notice that they are infact the very people they're

(01:04):
supposedly skewering.
It's not satire so much asinsurance, an attempt to
inoculate themselves againstcriticism by preemptively
criticizing themselves, allwhile cashing the checks and
sipping the wine.
And yet the show has beenpraised lavishly, of course, for
its boldness and insight.
But in truth it is neither.
The White Lotus is not acritique of power.

(01:25):
It is a ritual of indulgencedisguised as reflection, as is
succession or palm royale, lootthe menu and others in the
performative guilt genre.
It is what happens when thewealthy left tries to hate
itself and, lackingself-awareness, finds that it
quite likes the feeling.
This is the deeper pathology.
The show is emblematic of aparticular type of leftist, the

(01:48):
sort who decries incomeinequality from the backseat of
a chauffeured car.
Being on the political left,after all, requires that one
denounce the wealthy.
Yet the wealthy leftist cannotquite bring himself to believe
that he too is among the damned.
His politics therefore becomenot a vehicle for reform but a
shield, an identity that excuseshis participation in the very

(02:09):
system he claims to oppose.
This is why so many of the veryrich have become progressives.
It is not because they wish todivest themselves of power or
wealth, but because they need away to justify keeping it.
Their ideology does not costthem anything, not materially
anyway.
In fact, it buys them quite alot Moral standing, cultural

(02:30):
cachet and, most importantly,exemption from scrutiny.
They're not those rich people,you see, they're the good rich
people.
They voted for Hillary Clinton,they hired a DEI consultant,
they shared the right hashtagduring the summer of unrest.
Their homes may be palatial,but their hearts are in the
right place so they can keep theMalibu mansion, the

(02:50):
chef-prepared meals and thecustom yoga retreat in Tulum
with zero guilt.
Their politics purifies theirprivilege.
This, this is the centralmechanism of modern elite
liberalism Political alignmentas moral laundering.
Their progressivism becomes theindulgence that absolves their
indulgence.
They don't need to livemodestly or give up any real

(03:12):
privilege because they care, andthat's supposed to be enough.
It's the spiritual equivalentof buying carbon offsets after
taking a private jet to Davos.
But there's a deeper paradox atwork here, one that extends
beyond the guilty conscience orsubconscious of the rich liberal
and into the culture thatenables them.
Materialism in its modern formbreeds envy.

(03:33):
Envy breeds hatred.
In our current moment, weworship wealth in one breath and
curse the wealthy in the next.
The result is not a movementtoward justice, but a kind of
moral schizophrenia a societythat resents what it reveres and
reveres what it resents.
This contradiction is cruelenough for the average citizen,
who is taught to long forluxuries he cannot afford and

(03:54):
hate the people who can.
But it becomes spirituallyfatal for the elite themselves,
whose self-loathing requiresconstant rituals of absolution.
This is how we arrive at thefigure of the limousine liberal
not just hypocritical, buttormented.
Not content to enjoy his wealth, he must cleanse himself of it.
Hence the endless cycle oftelevised guilt, performative

(04:15):
activism and culturalautoflagellation.
And still he never gives up thekeys to the Bentley.
This has been Jordan Rickardswith the Conservative Opinion
Podcast.
Please be sure to check us outat conservativeopinioncom.
Thanks very much.