cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/47196787
Some people have the mindset - "If we take money away from billionaires now, then I'll have less money when I become a billionaire in the future!"
this post was submitted on 22 May 2026
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Americans aren't Labor, they are temporarily embarrassed Capital.
Don't hate them for it, because they never made a conscious decision to do it. It may be incredibly frustrating that some people are sabotaging everyone else like this, but it's not really their fault. They've simply been raised in a rotten society and brainwashed so hard their brains are literally fried.
Those of us who happened to avoid a similar fate are not necessarily better. Probably just lucky.
Also, you did not avoid a similar fate. The way in which you are a bootlicker is probably invisible to you, and it shows itself during different contexts. There is no way in Hell everyone in your environment was touched by this but you and you alone came away unscathed. Hubris.
I think billionaires and corporations spend good money to have people comment favorably about them. Eventually, via osmosis, those opinions percolate into some of the general public and they start spewing the same lines
Propaganda and "philanthropy".
There are some people who are just wired to submit, and there are a lot more of them than you would think. I don’t know how to explain it, but I know some otherwise really awesome people, smart in most ways, but happily submit themselves to authority time and time again; despite it burning them over and over.
I think I'm more productive when I have someone else doing the executive thinking and "just" assigning me "simple" tasks.
But, I can still recognize Rentiers as bad for the economy in specific and society in general.
That really interesting, honestly. I’m the kind who likes to break down task, figure out things, and I get really resentful when I’m given simple tasks without the context to understand them.
I don’t think what you are describing is what I mean though. I totally get having things broken down and simplified, especially in the context of productivity. That just seems like you understand yourself and workflow.
I’m taking more about an authoritarian mindset in values. I can tell based on the rest of your reply that you haven’t outsourced your judgement :)
Yeah, I guess isn't not really about simple vs. complex for me, I don't mind having to research, break down, or even delegate; but I want to clear goal. "Improve the login flow" is a task I hate, and probably won't do well or fast. "Allow Yubikey as an alternative to Google Authenticator for our 2FA" is something I can knock out, even if I'm totally new to the code base (and I've not yet ever used the Google Authenticator API or a Yubikey).
I know metrics make for poor goals (Goodhart's Law) but I like a task that is metric-driven. I do tend to be careful to not be overly fixated on the metric and rather the improvement it's meant to reflect.
Gotcha. Yeah, you and me both then, I feel exactly the same way. “Improved login” is such an undefined and wide space to begin with. Something like that is what a low executive function brain would ask for.
I’d say, you operate at a higher level, sounds to me like you are very good at executive level thinking. You see the problem space for what it is, and undefined is an awful place to be, since there is so many avenues that would fulfill the “request”. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to walk people through how to provide useful requirements :)
There is a strange phenomenon that some people really love following orders and they really love a simple worldview. Someone tells them that Elon Musk is a genius and that makes them happy so they believe it even when they see him not being a genius. And you can't fix that with facts because it's a mental block that they have.
It is, it’s a weird mental wall that you hit time and time again with these people.
Keep asking the why, and eventually they shut down. Once they get to where they need to think critically you can just see the brain turn off behind their eyes. It’s baffling.
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Because they hope to become one of them
Or at least an "Uncle Tom" who will receive preferential treatment
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Sometimes it's misinterpretation. When a post attacks something - doesn't have to be billionaires, it can be anything - calling out a sloppy argument or a low-effort anger dump doesn't go well. In a crowd full of pitchforks and torches, if you aren't jumping up and down waving pompoms for the attacker then anything you say is going to be taken as defending the target - you're an apologist or you're a shill for Evil. Supposedly we're all about Justice, but if the accused is a known Bad Guy the crowd doesn't really GAF if they're innocent in this one case, they're guilty anyway and holes in the argument don't matter. If your own sense of justice doesn't let you go along with the angry mob always being right, you're better off just staying out of those threads.
When when the conclusion is accurate and/or agreeable, it is good to point out fallacious reasoning, but it can attract some real hate.
A lot of lemmy and reddit comments are written by bots or marketing companies. Theres a whole industry of companies that sell the ability to influrnce others' opinions. Both political and via comments on products.
I think a Disney song might explain some of it...
- You! (Whoop dee-wit) I wanna be like you (hap du hoowee-doo) I wanna walk like you (chuu) Talk like you, too (chuu) (We-be-de-be-du-wu) you see it's true (shubbedey-du) Someone like me (scubey-dubey-dubey) Can learn to be Like someone like me (take me home, daddy!) Can learn to be Like someone like you (one more time!) Yeah, can learn to be Like someone like me Zi-de-da-bapp bapp bada dodel-dad'n dad'n dad'n dad'n dad, eh Ah-babba di-di-dibbi-di Now, I'm the king of the swingers Oh, the jungle VIP
I read that in Louis Prima's voice
I was having a chat with a friend recently about the cost of living in the UK. I mentioned one issue is the wealth inequality and billionaires are the problem.
"If we do a wealth tax they'll leave!"
Sent this link https://equalitytrust.org.uk/evidence-base/billionaire-britain-2025/ to explain how a large proportion of billionaires just extract wealth.
Not entirely sure they were convinced. They have the mentality that billionaires create jobs for everyone and are super hard workers that worked their way up.
I don't want to just sit back and call people who look up to billionaires idiots. I want to be able to have strong compelling points to make them change their mind.
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alot of propaganda, especially how movies and shows glorify being rich, plus als in irl, its a plus if worship white ones.
Because they're fucking stupid.
This meritocracy bullshit is the equivalent of peasants who believed God appointed their monarchs.
Milord, that one stole thy crops! His greed betrays him, for he steals for his family too! Stone him, for he seeks to usurp you, milord! Perhaps, by thine benevolence, thou wouldst find it pleasing to reward thine loyal subject for defending your crop and your honor! I only seek to humbly serve milord and his Holiness!
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