Here are the guid fowk of Pitlessie, Fife, at the fair:
Courting couples, men with sticks raised in threat
Drunkenness:
Here is the same talent for observation and characterisation used for political ends, in Distraining for Rent:
The honest, hard-working tenant and his son:
The womenfolk:
The crib and spinning-wheel:
The pitiless bailiffs:
After exhibiting Distraining for Rent Wilkie suffered a breakdown. Art-lovers were not happy with criticising the landlords.
Clare Flourish 
My smart phone doesn’t do those pictures justice, but the closeups helped. As it has been throughout history, those with power/authority don’t approve of social commentary if they are not cast in a good light (but I guess that applies to all of us).
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It applies to all of us- my question is always, who do we see as “us”?
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…and that’s the question. I spend much time walking that tightrope. I’m against speculation and yet feel inclined to invest in the markets. I’m also for citizen equality, and yet I think I’d find it terribly difficult to live in a world of genuine equality; one where I couldn’t push my way to the front. A competition of heart and mind? Or ego and mind?
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❤
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Having interacted for years with you, I am fairly sure your investment in housing has an ethical basis. It will make you money, though perhaps not as much as if making money were your sole aim. As a law student I loved John Rawls’ “Difference principle”, explained here as The Difference Principle permits diverging from strict equality so long as the inequalities in question would make the least advantaged in society materially better off than they would be under strict equality.
Direct quotes from Rawls: The first statement of the two principals reads as follows. First: each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others. Second: social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both(a)reasonably expected to be to everyone’s advantage, and (b) attached to positions and offices open to all.
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Yes, the real-estate thing sort of consoles me- but then… what is one supposed to do with the money they make afterwards? The temptation is invariably the financial markets. Do you leave your money making 0.25% in a savings account or do you buy stocks and get dividends? It seems that anywhere and everywhere I look that would be advantageous to me would also feed the system that I spend so much time complaining about.
And then of course I wonder if me sitting still and making just the 0.25% is really helping anything? Or, as I’m small fish, should I make more and then use that for a better purpose?
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You might consider ethical investment funds. A wide variety are available according to the ethics of the investor- no arms companies, probably not tobacco and alcohol, and in favour of green energy. As you say there are good purposes to fund, either now or in your estate after death.
I am a Quaker. I can come up with all sorts of reasonable advice, but for us the question is, what inspires you? What makes your heart sing? Not knowing is OK, ideas may be percolating within you. Your discomfort is leading you to a better way. And- it is a Breakfast cereal type question. Just as there are lots of cereals and lots of good choices, so there are many ways you may behave ethically.
If life were simple, would it be interesting?
as I said- Good Advice!!
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