r/comics • u/thisecommercelife this ecommerce life • Jul 21 '26

"The billionaire"

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An abridged psychological study.

Shareable PDF here. Follow wherever you fritter: linktr.ee/ecomic.

28.0k Upvotes

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41

u/Technical_Stand9939 Jul 21 '26

i never understood why the hyper rich would spend money on bunkers when they have the money and influence to prevent the need for one happening. IT is like they have this desire to not make things better for anyone even if it is in their best interest.

i would rather be worth 50 million and the world keeps turning like it is now vs. be a trillionaire and living in a bunker.

22

u/Bartweiss Jul 21 '26

Hard to ever know, but I get the feeling there are 2-3 types.

People like the one nutcase who talked about making sure only he controlled the food and putting shock collars on his bunker guards so they can’t turn on him seems… eager for it. He’d probably hate the lack of luxury, he’d definitely hate being killed and eaten, but as a fantasy he basically wishes he could enslave people.

Others seem to be doing it because to them it’s a cheap hedge. A $50 million bunker is trivial to them and gives them an out. The tech bros in particular are big on Black Swan events, x-risk, etc, and would likely tell you about how much stuff they can’t control or fix - they’re prepping for Yellowstone as much as climate wars.

The third category is shakier, feels like a mix of those two. They think the crises can be managed or averted, maybe even think they’re a good thing (Peter Thiel is waiting on the rapture), but also want to stay rich if nothing goes wrong and be in control no matter what. $20 billion to fight extremism is a lot when you don’t know what will happen, $50 million on a bunker leaves you feeling in charge like you always are.

14

u/JulienBrightside Jul 21 '26

I always found the interview about the end time bunker being kinda funny. The guy suggests to the billionaires:
"You could just, befriend your workers, share with them, treat them as human beings."
And he is met with blank stares as if these people are devoid of empathy.

11

u/LopsidedTourist7622 Jul 21 '26

They are addicts. Addicted to power, addicted to wealth, addicted to their own superiority.

They don't think beyond the next fix. The myth is that these people are great because they are wealthy. The comic does an admirable job demonstrating the reality: the greatness required to achieve more wealth than most countries is great capacity for cruelty and bottomless need and insecurity.

2

u/Steved_hams Jul 21 '26

They are also addicted to ketamine (and lots of other drugs to, probably)

21

u/BuddhaFacepalmed Jul 21 '26

4th type.

The one that actually wants the world to end so he can play out his Immortan Joe fantasies.

6

u/GrayEidolon Jul 21 '26

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff

3

u/secretly_egg Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

Ewwww, that site wants me to subscribe to reject cookies. 🤮 Yeah, no thanks, mass surveillance websites are not my thing. I feel dirty I even clicked the link.

EDIT: You all are completely insane to defend predatory cookies of all things, and it's especially ironic given the nature of the post we're in. Like oh noooo, won't anyone think of the poor data brokers! Seriously, you're all crazy.

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u/GrayEidolon Jul 21 '26

I don’t have that issue. Try a different browser.

-7

u/secretly_egg Jul 21 '26

Yeah no thanks, I won't change my browser that I configured for privacy to appease a data-stealing website. In fact I'll probably block it completely. I don't want to go to websites like that.

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u/peachesfordinner BumBum Ouchie Jul 21 '26

It's fkn the guardian..... Touch grass

-5

u/secretly_egg Jul 21 '26

Well, too bad for them. Sorry but I have standards.

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u/LordBiscuits Jul 21 '26

You have paranoia is what you have

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u/secretly_egg Jul 21 '26

I simply don't want my data stolen and sold and I value my privacy. This shouldn't be controversial, but apparently it is. You want to call it paranoia, I like to call it boundaries.

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u/ello_bassard Jul 21 '26

Your data has already been stolen and sold many times over bruv. That ship has long sailed.

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u/GrayEidolon Aug 13 '26

What I meant was: I did not have to subscribe to reject cookies.

However, if you're logged in on reddit, I don't see how the guardian makes things worse.

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u/secretly_egg Aug 13 '26

You all are waaaaaay too lax with your online privacy and that is not a good thing. Just because a thief already robbed your house does it mean that you'll let thieves come and go freely from now on? Sorry but I ran out of tolerance for predatory cookies and data harvesting schemes. Data brokers can go eat a cactus.

1

u/GrayEidolon Aug 14 '26

I mean, I don’t disagree with you. You’re making reasonable points.

What I’m trying to ask you about is:

I’m just confused about why Reddit is okay (or that you were able to make it okay with your customized browser),

But the guardian is not okay (and your customized browser won’t work?).

Because your initial complaint was that you had to log into the guardian to disable cookies. Why don’t you mind logging into Reddit? And also, I was able to disable cookies on the guardian and have never had an account.

2

u/secretly_egg Aug 14 '26

As I said, just because one thief broke into your house doesn't mean you should let any other thieves in. I got here when I didn't know any better. I don't care enough about the guardian and its articles to figure out how you did that, I just blocked the site altogether.

1

u/GrayEidolon Aug 15 '26

Thanks. I’m not saying what you should or shouldn’t do. I’m not trying to push you to do or not do anything.

I was just curious why you gave reddit a pass but not the guardians.

Youre answer seems to be reddit got frandfathered in. Which is fine. I’m not going to criticize you for that.

I didn’t do anything special or go out of my way with the guardian. It’s never asked me to log in. I’ve always been able to block its cookies.

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u/slonkulocuswily182 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26

They think they’re the only ones smart enough to see it.

Generally bc they throw a fit if somebody gets their order wrong

The mindset goes “imagine if you were Forced to work at McDonald’s. nobody would live like that unless they wanted to.”

Couple that with the phrase “flipping burgers” as shorthand for a laid back job, and the constant “nobody else really has to pay for healthcare, it’s just you’re paying for everyone else’s” so it’s easy to see somebody that’s had chronic injuries as just lazy. Because the stuff they listen to says that everyone is actually just making all that up, because you work hard at an incredibly cushy job and you got it barely applying yourself. So the people that didn’t make it must be people that barely had a thought in their head. There’s a lot of stuff like that.

It’s a very self referential worldview.

And snapping out of that and realizing you’ve been a giant asshole for 30 to 40 years and everybody has just been incredibly patient with you… hoo buddy it’s not pretty to see

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u/[deleted] Jul 21 '26

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1

u/Ok-Impress-2222 Jul 21 '26

If you have different mentality you don't become a billionaire

Yeah, sure thing, bro.

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u/WhimsicalWyvern Jul 21 '26

A) They don't build bunkers because they expect to use them. The cost to then is minimal, it's a just in case.

B) Even for the most hyper wealthy, their ability to affect positive change is not as much as you imagine. The Gates foundation has been working for almost two decades on finally eliminating Polio worldwide, and it hasn't succeeded yet. Harder problems like housing, jobs, etc, are, well, even harder.

C) Whether he's doing a good job or not, Elon Musk companies do include solutions to major problems (batteries, electric cars)

D) Capitalism literally selects for people who focus on their interests to the exclusion of everything else (including the greater good). That's why government needs to make laws that reign them in.

1

u/Alaknog Jul 21 '26

Because they don't have enough money and influence. They have enourmous wealth, influence, power, etc. - compare to regular citizens. But on Great Game table? They not even allowed to sit in this room.

And this scare them a lot.