Suddenly, there's a lot of spin out there. We're now being told the people don't hate the rich after all. We're told people admire them inside. They are our role models.
Do you hate the rich? Or do you admire them? When a property developer tries to sell you a flat with 275 sq ft of living space for HK$6 million do you want to throttle him? Or do you say to yourself: I want to be just like him so I, too, can make mountains of money suckering people? Morals or money - tough call, isn't it?
New Territories kingpin Lau Wong-fat has lots of money, but an angry public thinks he has no morals. He didn't disclose all his property dealings, which he's required to do as an executive councillor. He had a simple explanation for the public outrage this caused: people hate him for being rich. No spin there.
Compare Lau's bluntness to former Liberal Party chairman James Tien Pei-chun's flip-flop. Just weeks ago he was warning about the rising anti-rich sentiment, blaming it on the government for not spending enough of its huge reserves on the poor. Now he's telling anyone who'll listen that people in fact admire the entrepreneurship of the rich rather than hate them.
Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen takes the spin a step further. He says people don't hate the rich, they just hate injustice. Go ahead - scratch your head in wondering what that means. Who exactly is responsible for all this injustice?
Is it the property developer who demands HK$6 million for a 400 sq ft flat that is actually just 275 sq ft? Or is it the buyer who cries foul?
Is the injustice caused by 62-year-old Mrs Lau who works as a Cafe de Coral cleaner nine hours a day, six days a week for HK$5,000 a month? Or is it caused by the highly profitable fast-food chain that has not given her a pay rise in 17 years?