Why You Must Consider the Possibility That All Billionaires Are Evil

If you’ve been thinking of sponsoring me, why not do so today :) Upgrade at 30% offI see a lot of posts that begin with the disclaimer “It’s not wrong to be a billionaire.”Every time I see that, I can’t help but wonder what compels people to write those words? Why do they feel the need to endlessly repeat that assertion? Are they attempting to make it true through endless, unthinking indoctrination?Where did that idea come from?It’s as if they’re fearful that they might be accused of contradicting an established and well-respected fact. It’s as if they’re fearful that they’ll be consigned to the territory of fringe thinkers wearing tinfoil hats.Why are we so controlled in our thinking that we don’t even allow ourselves to indulge in intellectual exploration?Why are we afraid to even consider that perhaps all billionaires are evil?Whenever I say that, people start to tighten up. “Hey now! Give credit where credit is due. There’s so-and-so who has given a lot of money to charity. Also, don’t forget such-and-such who has also done some great things!”My reply is always the same, “If they’re doing such a great job, why do we still have so many problems?”“Well… you can’t expect them to fix everything.”My answer to that is why not? Why are we not allowed to sit back and consider the actions we should take to get to a world of universal prosperity? What would it take to ensure every child had a place to sleep, enough food to eat, and access to healthcare and education?What would it take?“Well, that all sounds great, but who is going to pay for that?” people say."Ah… well, let’s look at who has all the money. Perhaps people hoarding money is why people can’t have those things.”“But it’s not wrong to be a billionaire,” comes the familiar refrain. Every time I see those words, it’s like somebody is slamming the door on progress.“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! You’re treading upon a well-established fact. It’s just a waste of time to even consider what you’re talking about right now. We will not go there, absolutely not!”Are you recognizing yet how much this sounds like control?So now we’re not even allowed to suggest that billionaires might be bad in all cases? That’s not allowed? Is that what’s really going on here? We’ve got an unwritten rule that everybody has indoctrinated themselves to accept without any resistance?Consider what billionaires are. Billionaires are individuals who have the socioeconomic power to alleviate human suffering who refuse to do so.That’s evil.Now, some of you will say, “Well, if they helped everybody then they’d cease being billionaires!”Which is exactly the point. The resistance you’re feeling to this idea is because of cognitive dissonance. The answer isn’t to abandon the idea that billionaires might be evil. The answer is to stop forcing yourself to believe that they are not.It makes you jittery because the evidence doesn’t support what you’ve been indoctrinated to believe.But cognitive dissonance doesn’t surrender without a fight. The next thing people say is, “Well, there are examples of billionaires who give away huge sums of money.”If you’re inclined to say that, I have two words for you: Performative charity.What billionaires do could be compared to a manager who throws a pizza party rather than give his employees a raise. Then he turns around and lectures them, “Look at this, I spent $100 on pizza. You’re all so ungrateful. Why does it always have to be about you!”Meanwhile, he took the tens of thousands of dollars that had been allocated for a wage increase for himself.Perhaps part of the problem is that Americans have also been indoctrinated to view charity as a good thing. There’s no faster way to become an enabler of evil than believing what you’re told by authority figures without questioning them.“We don’t talk about that. That’s been decided already. Don’t rock the boat. Who do you think you are?”At some point we should recognize that any society that requires charity to address human rights abuses is completely flawed. If there’s a need for charity, it’s because the society itself enables abuses.The reason for this is simple: Charity is never enough.There’s never enough charity to get people out of poverty. Charity is trickled out to stroke the ego of the rich, not to alleviate the pain of the oppressed. They want perpetual charity because it makes the wealthy class feel powerful and good about themselves.Charity allows people of privilege to decide who lives and who dies. “I’ll help this group of people because they showed me the appropriate amount of reverence. But I’m not going to help this other group because they sat around saying things like ‘billionaires are evil’.”Meanwhile the masses go, “Yes master! Yes master!”The issue here is that human beings have to stop being complicit in their own oppression. If you share a comment critical of wealth, but you feel compelled to introduce the comment by saying, “It’s not wrong to be a billionaire,” then you’ve already sabotaged your activism.Perhaps oppressive people are more interested in spreading the lie that billionaires are not evil than anything else you wanted to say. Do you really think that you, a regular working-class person struggling to survive, can even imagine the machinations of oligarchs?It’s like even when you protest, you’re waving your surrender flag and screaming, “I’m a good little worker drone. I’m grateful! I’m not causing problems.”If you have any respect for intellectual curiosity, you can’t censor possibilities from consideration. That’s a betrayal of your basic humanity.“I’m not even going to think that because that’s already been decided.”This is how monsters lurk in plain view.“Well, he can’t be a child sexual predator because he’s a police officer or a priest or the president.”You have a responsibility to follow the evidence! The evidence doesn’t lie.I encourage each and every one of you to push through your cognitive dissonance and put your conditioning aside. Consider for yourself if you can come up with arguments as to whether or not all billionaires are evil no matter how much time and resources they spend on performative acts of decency.Have the problems been solved?Well, if billionaires aren’t fixing things, then we really owe it to our kids to consider whether they might be the problem.If I’m wrong, you can disprove it with facts. But you can never prove or disprove anything by denying yourself the right to intellectual inquiry.You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! 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