Login
You're viewing the gamepad.club public feed.
  • None Hitwondernonehitwonder@tenforward.social
    Oct 10, 2026, 2:05 AM

    *sighhhhhhhhh*

    Nobody--NOBODY--nobody in human history has ever earned a billion dollars without benefiting from structurally-supported exploitation and theft, whether directly or by proxy, and no, not even that one billionaire you like; nobody means N O B O D Y.

    Yes, I've considered the one outcome you're thinking of. YES, I have considered the outcome you're now fabricating that would never happen, and the answer is still fuck all billionaires.

    The only arguments against this depend on the idea that all people work voluntarily and are not being systematically coerced on threat of literal death.

    OOPS.

    💬 3🔄 6⭐ 1

Replies

  • None Hitwondernonehitwonder@tenforward.social
    Oct 10, 2026, 2:08 AM

    The part that really bakes my noodle is that the people who tend to argue in defense of billionaires also tend to believe, as billionaires do, that an inability to gain wealth by any means necessary is somehow itself a moral failing.

    As ever, I maintain that this is the worst and stupidest death cult I've ever been in.

    💬 2🔄 0⭐ 0
  • None Hitwondernonehitwonder@tenforward.social
    Oct 10, 2026, 8:21 PM

    At the end of the day, being against billionaires isn't about the individuals, or even the actual money; it's about abusive systems that hurt most of the people most of the time.

    It just so happens that we are currently all being coerced into operating within and maintaining those systems for the benefit of a very small group of people in whose best interests it is to avoid the consequences of the abuses that form the foundation of their wealth, and those people happen to be billionaires.

    I'm being glib, but in all seriousness, the venn diagram of billionaires who exist because of their ability to abuse with impunity vs the billions of people with inadequate housing due to that same abuse is a fucking circle.

    💬 0🔄 1⭐ 1
  • 💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Extra_Special_CarbonExtra_Special_Carbon@mastodon.world
    Oct 10, 2026, 10:18 AM

    @nonehitwonder I think people pretty much beg to tour with Taylor Swift. I think she pretty much gave her tour crew $100K bonuses* and she drops money in every city she tours.

    This isn’t to say she hasn’t benefited from exploitation, but I think I have a hard time being mad. And she’s honestly extremely talented (athletically, business and music.), so I don’t think her work is stolen.

    * The specifics are not researched. It’s something like that.

    💬 3🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 3🔄 9⭐ 5
  • FoolishOwlfoolishowl@social.coop
    Oct 10, 2026, 4:48 PM

    @nonehitwonder @Extra_Special_Carbon I finally relented, but I was blocking people after someone posted a thread about how it was racist to think that billionaires were inclined to fascism, that went on to list two white women who were billionaire philanthropists, except that of course their philanthropic projects included eugenics, privatization of public services, and donations to fascist politicians.

    💬 0🔄 2⭐ 1
  • USS Joshua Norton, NCC-74819-BUSSJoshuaNorton@trekkies.social
    Oct 10, 2026, 11:25 PM

    @nonehitwonder It's like ACAB. I'll have people try to argue that individual cops can be fine, but the thing is, they're still part of a broken system that is designed to enforce racism, sexism, and class divide.

    The whole point of ACAB and Defund the Police is the system is broken, and attempts to fix it never can reach the root of the problem by design.

    💬 2🔄 0⭐ 1
  • 💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • USS Joshua Norton, NCC-74819-BUSSJoshuaNorton@trekkies.social
    Oct 10, 2026, 11:35 PM

    @nonehitwonder It's just so frustrating how many people do not understand it's possible to try to be a good person and still benefit from the systemic problems. It's something I still struggle with figuring out how to navigate just from being white. That's something I'm born into, I didn't ask for, but I still benefit from and need to actively work against harming others. People choosing to become cops or billionaires (or even remain the latter when born into it) carry more blame.
    @jazzburn

    💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • None Hitwondernonehitwonder@tenforward.social
    Oct 10, 2026, 3:23 PM

    @Extra_Special_Carbon to be clear, I'm glad Taylor Swift makes an effort, but to say she became a BILLIONAIRE solely on the merits of her work and business acumen overlooks years and years of being a product for one of the shadier exploitative industrial complexes in present-day.

    Is she responsible for the crimes of the entertainment industry? No. Did she become a billionaire without causing harm to many, many people? Also no.

    💬 1🔄 1⭐ 1
  • Extra_Special_CarbonExtra_Special_Carbon@mastodon.world
    Oct 10, 2026, 9:57 PM

    @nonehitwonder Nothing you’ve said is in disagreement with what I’ve said. She didn’t start from nothing, and she certainly benefits from exploitation. She is part of the machine. So is everyone. I’m a lowly chemist, and our materials are in high demand because of AI. I’m not quiting my job for it.

    💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • None Hitwondernonehitwonder@tenforward.social
    Oct 10, 2026, 11:35 PM

    @Extra_Special_Carbon right, and my position is that if you were to make a billion dollars as a chemist, that would be highly suspect and unlikely to have been gained without causing a great deal of harm, and while I don't think it would be reasonable to ask you to quit your job in this world where our ability to live is directly tied to whether or not we're employed, I would expect you to do everything in your power not to remain a billionaire for long.

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Nadia Purge 🎵debonairetoast@musicians.today
    Oct 10, 2026, 8:44 PM

    @Extra_Special_Carbon @nonehitwonder bootlick for someone who will notice you.

    She would not be a billionaire if she were a good person. She benefits from a network built on monopolies and payola. i.e. she's in a kind of mafia.

    Billionaires are parasitic and here you are begging to be drained. What a weird thing to play devil's advocate for.

    💬 0🔄 1⭐ 0
  • Von Xylofonvonxylofon@witter.cz
    Oct 10, 2026, 6:07 PM

    @nonehitwonder ...and I took that personally.

    On a more serious note, billionnaires suck, and so does capitalism, but I grew up in a (afterwards post-) socialist country, and to be honest, that sucked a lot worse. Under capitalism, you may die if you do not work. Under Soviet-style socialism, someone is going to see to it that you do.

    1 billion Zimbabwean dollar bill, then worth less than USD 1.
    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0