[pydry]

Ive also run into a few and they were without question some of the biggest assholes I ever met in my life.

I don't think theyre special. Years of being surrounded by yes men and sycophants will probably do that to most people.

One of them in particular was much less toxic and relatable pre-billions.

[zdragnar]

> I don't think theyre special

Where did you get that from the comment you replied to? They merely pointed out you couldn't paint everyone with the same brush, which is pretty much the definition of 'not special'.

[pydry]

I didn't. The point was that that amount of money turns most people into assholes.

Many of them donate money but it doesnt make them any less of an asshole.

[epistasis]

Power, including financial power, reveals who people really are without constraints. President Johnson has to be my favorite example of this, he spent a political career kowtowing to racists, enforcing racism where he needed to in order to acquire power, and then when full power was finally thrust on him by JFK's assassination, he flips and pushes through key legislation from the Civil Rights Movement.

I certainly didn't put forward an idea that having money makes people less of an asshole. Somebody who gives it away in a non-assholish way certainly makes them less of an asshole.

Or is your contention that anybody with money is an asshole, without exception?

[jfil]

I just thought of an interesting thought experiment. Inagine a politician who kowtows to racists and does their bidding for his whole career and then, just before grabbing the presidency, he has a heart attack and dies. How would you see his legacy? What can you say about the essence of this person?

[joquarky]

At the very least, I would question the motive of people who defend billionaires.

[epistasis]

Who do you believe is doing this? The implication, I guess, would be me, but I wasn't talking about strictly "billionaires". What is the wealth cutoff here, and how?

[pydry]

zdragnar, not you.

[zdragnar]

If we're casting aspersions, I guess based on my personal experiences of people in poverty, lower, middle and upper classes, then

> most people into assholes

might just be a you problem. Get out and meet more people, and if you're still surrounded by assholes, then the real asshole is probably you.

People are people everywhere. Money really doesn't change that as much as you're implying.

[pydry]

you seem weirdly committed to defending the billionaire class.

most people probably do have the capacity to be raging assholes but society doesn't indulge their every whim and prejudice or stroke their ego constantly. so they aren't.

[greenail]

maybe it doesn't turn them into assholes. maybe it just frees them to act naturally.