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[–] 70 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (15 children)

Being a billionaire (aka wealth hoarder) is a mental illness.

If they were hoarding anything else to this extent, going way beyond their rational needs, e.g. billions of tables, pokemon cards or toilet papers, everybody would know they are insane. But as it’s money, somehow they are supposed to be the smartest people in the world, and we should worship them.

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    If there are 10 monkeys in a zoo and they give them 10 oranges a day as a treat and one of the monkeys would hoard 6 oranges every day and left them to rot. Do you think that the zookeepers would keep an eye on it because it's clearly mentally ill or an asshole, or would they point at it and go: damn, that's one cool and smart monkey.

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  • If the monkey traded the oranges to other monkeys for other treats, or for something intangible like status or privacy, the zookeepers would think it was a cool and smart monkey, but they would think the other monkeys who took the extra oranges in trade and let them rot were less intelligent.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    You can’t really do anything useful with a billion PokΓ©mon cards, there’s always something you can do with a billion dollars

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago*

    But you could do lots of useful things with a billion pokemon cards - either bartering them for goods and services or converting them to money first, effectively "spending" the cards on useful things.

    But practicality isn't the issue when people see someone hoarding incredible amounts of something - it's the abnormality of devoting yourself to accumulating vastly more than what we interpret as anywhere near normal. We treat hobby objects that way but not money.

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  • [+] -9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

    Being a billionaire (aka wealth hoarder) is a mental illness.

    No it isn't.

    e.g. billions of tables, pokemon cards or toilet papers

    These aren't directly related to sex appeal whereas money is.

    Edit: I mean I assume. Perhaps there are some people out there who see pokemon cards as a good measure of offspring-raising potential, I dunno. In which case, accumulating pokemon cards wouldn't be considered a sign of mental illness either.

    they are supposed to be the smartest people in the world, and we should worship them

    Who told you that?

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Being an incel is also probably a mental illness

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  • [–] 30 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    This is almost wholesome, imagine if it were that easy to regulate greed

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    The solution might not be easy but it is simple: tax. Good on the cuurent Australian governments increased taxation of superannuation over 3 million $.

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  • [–] 42 points 1 year ago* (19 children)

    unpopular opinion: if most of the current billionaires werent this rich or lucky they would just act like normal people

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  • [–] 33 points 1 year ago (15 children)

    As in, they're power tripping? Absolutely. When you get a false sense of importance, especially when you have sycophants reinforcing this image, narcissists in particular tend to act poorly toward their fellow human beings.

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  • This is one of the best reasons to socially stigmatize wealth hoarding, even if you can't change the fundamentals of the capitalist system that causes it in the first place.

    If enough people make people who hoard money feel lesser than, to the point that having less is a preferable alternative, then they're more likely to give away their wealth and become at least a little bit less shitty people.

    This is also, coincidentally, why rich people isolate themselves within bubbles of similarly rich individuals, who won't look down on them for being so greedy and narcissistic.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (13 children)

    This is why we should have mandatory testing for NPD and be institutionalising anyone who tests positive. Narcissists cannot be allowed to walk the streets freely, their mental illness is too dangerous.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (12 children)
  • [+] -7 points 1 year ago (11 children)

    Narcissistic Personality Disorder. A narcissist is someone with NPD. And they all deserve the gas chamber treatment.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (10 children)

    they all deserve the gas chamber treatment

    O_o

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  • [–] -4 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    People with certain mental disorders aren't fit to live in society. Donald Trump is proof of that. And if you think we should extend mercy to people with his disorder, you're defending a fascist.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    And your solution, killing everyone in a category, isn't fascistic?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)
  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    And if normal people suddenly became billionaires, they’d act just as awful as the current billionaires

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  • [–] 18 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    If only it were that easy to cut down billionaires...

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  • In the Post-Scarcity Era every guy will get a trophy wife!

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [+] -26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

    This is nonsense. Wealth translates directly into attraction as a mate. More wealth means more attraction. There's no point at which increasing wealth stops increasing attractiveness. This is true even for the person with the most wealth because increases in wealth still increase relative wealthiness, which is still an increase in attractiveness.

    Whoever thinks wealth accumulation is a mental illness doesn't understand humans.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    You get diminishing returns pretty quickly unless you're a really disgustingly ugly person both inside and out.

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  • [–] -3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    diminishing returns

    If there are any returns whatsoever, diminishing or otherwise, then that's enough for humans to chase after it.

    unless you're a really disgustingly ugly person both inside and out

    Indeed, humans are pretty ugly. Same with the rest of nature. Look around you. Would you say it's ugly or beautiful when a gazelle is still alive watching a lion eat its insides. Or when a fly is immobilised as a spider wraps it in silk. Humans are no better. We are animals. The same forces are active inside us as in every creature. This is life on planet Earth.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    You might have a mental illness.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (4 children)
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    You seem to be worshiping billionaires who would never give one iota of care about you

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    You seem to be worshiping billionaires

    Err.. what gave you that idea?

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    The part where you say that wealth attracts you.

    Since billionaires are the most wealthy, it must mean you find them super attractive and thus worthy of worshiping.

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  • 11 comments in c/anticorporate@lemmy.giftedmc.com view that post
    [–] 14 points 1 year ago (10 children)

    Greed is a mental illness is something i have believed for years.

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  • [–] [S] 6 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    I dont actually think its a problem once we abandon the broken system. I think its an addiction like every other.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    So you don't think addiction is a problem...?

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    No. I dont. Addiction is a symptom, not a disease. The disease is the corrupt, broken system and seeing addiction means people actually react to it. What we need to do now is work to get people dismantle this system. California seems to be on the right track, other groups in other countries are also recruiting massively. Lets see where that leads.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (6 children)

    Does this apply to all addictions like hard drugs, for example? Do you separate physiological and psychological addiction into two separate categories or do you combine them into one?

    Trying to quit a hardcore Benzo or alcohol addiction can be fatal if not weened off, for example.

    I would put reasons for starting a drug habit and continuation of a drug habit in two different categories.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 year ago (5 children)

    Yes, of course. All addictions, despite the of course possible genetic predisposition and personal preference are a product of the surrounding system. If people have a shitty life and/or have no achievable goals, the danger of falling into such traps explodes statistically.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (4 children)

    I don't think that's universally true. I think a lot of drug use starts with the people who someone associates with; if they use drugs, then you are more likely to join in than if you were never exposed to it in that way.

    There is also the "cool" factor with children, like cigarettes (in the past), vaping, weed pens, etc.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    You can of course argue that but you cant back it up. For that you would need to strip the system around the person which you cant. This means you cant know if that person who me someone who uses drugs would have gone the same way if the system wasnt shit.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    People have been using drugs like alcohol since before humans even existed (I'm counting neanderthals as people here), so systemic issues can't be the only reason why people use drugs, as neanderthals didn't really form societies. There are even animals other than humans who consume fermented fruit to get drunk, probably just because it feels good.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    You're mixing things up.

    The pure use of drugs like alcohol (especially naturally occuring) has zero to do with addiction, which we were discussing.

    Addiction stems from multiple factors. There needs to be opportunity (which even in prohibition exists), genetic factor (optional) and reason. The reason is arguably the biggest factor and while a person could technically just love slowly killing themselves, the numbers show that addiction rates are far higher if people are poor and unhealthy in the beginning, which is another sidehustle of capitalism.

    So yes, its all capitalism.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    The pure use of drugs like alcohol (especially naturally occuring) has zero to do with addiction, which we were discussing.

    Yes it does, because physiological addiction exists, even to naturally occurring substances like alcohol, opium, coca leaves, etc.

    The reason to continue using a drug to the point of physiological or psychological addiction can be as simple as "it feels good". I do agree with you that a component of addiction is hardship, but I don't think that's the sole thing you can point to.

    Also capitalism isn't unique in being an oppresive system. Before capitalism, there was feudalism, slavery, monarchies, etc. When you have power seekers able to gain power, these kinds of systemic outcomes are inevitable.

    Now, there is also evidence to support your hypothesis, namely that I think there was a study done thag showed that previously homeless herion addicts were very easilly able to quit the drug on their own after being housed. I don't remember where I saw that study, though.

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