Money is basically the ring from Lord of the rings.
I’ll still stick with my (perhaps naive) belief that people still have this backwards. Wealth is not magically corruptive like the ring was. Rather only people who are already problematic will end up with the sorts of wealth that it takes to be labeled as one of those rich assholes. They aren’t assholes cause they’re rich, they’re rich because they were assholes.
The system (and human society in general) rewards the worst of us with wealth. However, if you short circuit this process and give a good person wealth, you’ll find that a) they don’t magically become an asshole and b) they probably don’t stay rich for very long. Typically because they’ve given most of it away as they don’t need it and don’t define themselves by having it.
If you want a great example of how instantly otherwise good people become the worst versions of themselves almost overnight watch what happens when a rich person with a large family dies. I did a couple of years in the will writing sector. I’m telling ya… zero to Golem in no time at all. I’ve also watched good people I knew extremely well turn bad too many times to remember. It all starts with “I couldn’t possibly have servants. How embarrassing!” and before you know it it’s “Eduardo! I’ve told you a hundred times I need my watermelon juice chilled! One more mistake and it’s back to Caracas!”. People should have to undergo intense psychological training to be able to be rich and stay human.
As the other commenter said, I’m not really sure these people were ‘good’ before. Maybe Sunday school ‘good’ as in they were good at faking things.
But sure, if you want to call it that, then I’ll just say that yes, some humans effectively have a negative gene that only activates if they get wealthy. A predisposition to rich asshole-ness.
I do not believe this is a universal trait or even a majority trait however. And, while these people aren’t good, they aren’t the sort of evil that’s implied when you’re talking about billionaires.
Aunt Becky going full Karen just cause she got a million dollars in a will is far different than healthcare CEOs knowingly implementing policies to auto deny coverage for kids with cancer just so they can earn another billion that they don’t actually need, care about or even use.
No matter how much of a bitch Becky became, she’s unlikely to suddenly be cool with the murder of children just because of some money in her bank account. It’s not that kind of evil corruptive force. Those traits had to be there from the beginning.
How did you know they were “good people” before? Some folks are just never in a position of power for their morals to be tested, and then they are and you discover who they are. I agree with the previous poster.
I don’t think we’re on opposite sides of any argument here mr argumentativemonotheist (great username btw 🤣). The only slight difference is that I’m saying that almost no one, in my experience, survives that test.
Thank you, thank you, lol. Well, fair enough, I see what you mean. And I guess I’d like to believe otherwise but that might just be wishful thinking. 🥲
I’ll still stick with my (perhaps naive) belief that people still have this backwards. Wealth is not magically corruptive like the ring was. Rather only people who are already problematic will end up with the sorts of wealth that it takes to be labeled as one of those rich assholes. They aren’t assholes cause they’re rich, they’re rich because they were assholes.
The system (and human society in general) rewards the worst of us with wealth. However, if you short circuit this process and give a good person wealth, you’ll find that a) they don’t magically become an asshole and b) they probably don’t stay rich for very long. Typically because they’ve given most of it away as they don’t need it and don’t define themselves by having it.
If you want a great example of how instantly otherwise good people become the worst versions of themselves almost overnight watch what happens when a rich person with a large family dies. I did a couple of years in the will writing sector. I’m telling ya… zero to Golem in no time at all. I’ve also watched good people I knew extremely well turn bad too many times to remember. It all starts with “I couldn’t possibly have servants. How embarrassing!” and before you know it it’s “Eduardo! I’ve told you a hundred times I need my watermelon juice chilled! One more mistake and it’s back to Caracas!”. People should have to undergo intense psychological training to be able to be rich and stay human.
As the other commenter said, I’m not really sure these people were ‘good’ before. Maybe Sunday school ‘good’ as in they were good at faking things.
But sure, if you want to call it that, then I’ll just say that yes, some humans effectively have a negative gene that only activates if they get wealthy. A predisposition to rich asshole-ness.
I do not believe this is a universal trait or even a majority trait however. And, while these people aren’t good, they aren’t the sort of evil that’s implied when you’re talking about billionaires.
Aunt Becky going full Karen just cause she got a million dollars in a will is far different than healthcare CEOs knowingly implementing policies to auto deny coverage for kids with cancer just so they can earn another billion that they don’t actually need, care about or even use.
No matter how much of a bitch Becky became, she’s unlikely to suddenly be cool with the murder of children just because of some money in her bank account. It’s not that kind of evil corruptive force. Those traits had to be there from the beginning.
How did you know they were “good people” before? Some folks are just never in a position of power for their morals to be tested, and then they are and you discover who they are. I agree with the previous poster.
I don’t think we’re on opposite sides of any argument here mr argumentativemonotheist (great username btw 🤣). The only slight difference is that I’m saying that almost no one, in my experience, survives that test.
Thank you, thank you, lol. Well, fair enough, I see what you mean. And I guess I’d like to believe otherwise but that might just be wishful thinking. 🥲