Weird circumstance. Friend of a friend of a friend of a friend sort of thing. Apparently I was just autistic enough for him to be engaged because I kept asking questions and he kept answering them. I managed to stay mask on for the most part

  • comi [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I always wondered about this from individualist perspective: do they not see that this (“someone would still do it”) is not an absolution from sins that they think it is?

    • acealeam [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I'm sure its a bit easier to sleep at night with millions of dollars tho

      • comi [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        It is, but this is very common refrain when someone tries to talk morality with those types. Do they believe it themselves or do they lie to others and sleep soundly

        • acealeam [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I just dont think they think about it. They know its a flimsy argument, but they'll keep saying it. if they start digging a little deeper and really contemplate their role in society, im sure they just check their bank account and are immediately calmed

            • SixDegreesOfDoom [comrade/them]
              hexagon
              ·
              3 years ago

              I don’t think this guy was a psychopath, but I asked him how he deals with less wealthy family and friends constantly asking for money and he says he tried to help for the longest time and still supports several members of his family, but it came to a point where he couldn’t sustain it without losing his own home and people just kept asking for more despite being pretty comfortable themselves. He said he wasn’t giving them a means to support themselves, just making them think of him as an infinite money machine. What he said was, “my account told me I’d be homeless in 3 years if I didn’t cut back”. That’s a guy with several homes, btw. So he started giving them jobs in his companies and now says “I’m not a bank”. Everything is now a one-time gift. No loans. No recurring expenses except for like his parents and his partner’s parents.

              I wanna be clear that I’m not making excuses for this guy. But I thought it was really interesting how the dynamic played out. I think a lot of imperial core people would have a similar attitude to supporting people in developing nations.

    • Terkrockerfeller [she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Yeah man maybe someone else would have done it but in this universe you're the one who did now face the wall

    • 420clownpeen [they/them,any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      A Marxist would probably agree though (with caveats). That is, someone else would do it as long as the capitalist class continues to control production.

      • modsarefascist [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Exactly, material conditions. The problem isn't the individual actors it's the system that we've set up to encourage their horrible behavior.

        • 420clownpeen [they/them,any]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I expect the difference between the CEO and a Marxist is that the CEO believes that these are the only possible conditions that can exist. Think there was a Mark Twain quote posted around here that was something like "It's very difficult to get someone to believe in something when their paycheck depends on not believing it."

          • modsarefascist [he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Nah, the good ones know the things like socialism are very possible if they loose their grip. They know the same things we do, they just like the system because they benefit from it. Many likely believe they earned it, even if just being born to a rich fuck is what they consider earning it they still can convince themselves that they earned it. I think thats why shit like eugenics is so popular among the super rich, especially new money rich. They want to think they're special and that's why they got what they have. But at the end of the day they're only delusional about minor things (to them) like "justifying your actions to yourself". That's a very minor issue to them. Things like general economic theory cannot possibly be really understood with some understanding of marxism. I'm talking actual economics, not the stuff used to con dumbass rednecks like the "austrian school" shit. A good capitalist understands the game the same as a well read socialist, they just like the system and want to perpetuate it.