Post AvgPBr9wFCbEnthHaC by cxxvii@aus.social
(DIR) More posts by cxxvii@aus.social
(DIR) Post #AvejPbwFF1a2Q0CyLQ by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-06-30T12:29:46Z
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Which of the following do you think most people you know would consider "radical" (radical doesn't mean wrong, or a bad idea, just an idea that you'd feel shocked to hear voiced)
(DIR) Post #AvejpDGJbrbPPonuSW by stepheneb@ruby.social
2025-06-30T12:34:20Z
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@futurebird Most people I know world find all those statements quite plausible.
(DIR) Post #Avek2NZKbJfN95ycO8 by mattmcirvin@mathstodon.xyz
2025-06-30T12:36:33Z
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@futurebird At this point most of the people I know IRL would not be shocked by either statement.
(DIR) Post #AvekBtfmblOXJxX6MC by mattmcirvin@mathstodon.xyz
2025-06-30T12:38:26Z
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@futurebird the preview of this cut it off to just the first 2 responses for some reason, which I think is conditioning the reply comments
(DIR) Post #AvekEiaWHIANoJPrwu by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-06-30T12:38:59Z
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@datarama I think many people would agree that "It's impossible to earn a Billion honestly" but at the same time feel like it's "too much" to suggest that anything could be done about it. A guy once said I wanted to do genocide because I said "Billionaires probably shouldn't exist. It's too much power for even the most honest compassionate person to manage properly." Like he thought I was just evil and murderous for saying that. He wasn't even a millionaire and never will be one.
(DIR) Post #AvekH3CmawKsKgQSa8 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-06-30T12:39:25Z
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@mattmcirvin I had to edit it ... it just posted before I was done typing!
(DIR) Post #AvekrFAvZGCHskofEe by oldladyplays@wargamers.social
2025-06-30T12:45:55Z
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@futurebird I...can't vote. Most of the people I know would agree with all of those.
(DIR) Post #AvelynZ8CffmWVIscK by suetanvil@freeradical.zone
2025-06-30T12:58:29Z
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@futurebird I can think of one or two billionaires who probably earned their wealth honestly, and they're basically all just creators who won big. So, people who made something of value and then got extremely lucky.And, I guess, people who inherited their wealth count since *they* didn't commit the crime.
(DIR) Post #AvemLwcyg2OxHz8iLA by mattmcirvin@mathstodon.xyz
2025-06-30T13:02:40Z
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@futurebird Anyway, seeing all four, I think it would not shock me to hear any of them expressed, but whether sometime said #3 or the others would at this point in history be an ideological marker.
(DIR) Post #AvemPaYAhcqHyWd4E4 by WhiteCatTamer@mastodon.online
2025-06-30T13:03:20Z
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@futurebird I feel like the average centrist thinks of billionaires as a mixture of lucky and possessed of incredible business savvy and skill (yeah yeah, I horked too) so while you may be able to walk them through how any given billionaire “earned” their wealth and show how much fraud, mass theft, and ethical and legal violations are necessary, a small part of them will always think “but there must be SOME way to make a billion ethically (because that’s how I’D do it).”
(DIR) Post #AvemXiMDYkkSVOudZA by lffontenelle@mastodon.social
2025-06-30T13:04:46Z
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@futurebird honestly I don't know, I guess they/we almost never talk about billionaires IRL
(DIR) Post #Avenfguwte5sJKWcy0 by Scmbradley@mathstodon.xyz
2025-06-30T13:15:10Z
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@suetanvil @futurebird I'd say there might be some people who acquired their wealth without having *themselves* done anything immoral, but even there I'd hesitate to say they *earned* it.
(DIR) Post #AvenfhzEvB7VcvXZIG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-06-30T13:17:26Z
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@Scmbradley @suetanvil I think it's might be possible to accumulate millions in this way. But billions? To have that kind of wealth you need to use the power that wealth can produce to further enrich yourself. Not just selling a thing people like, or running a company that makes sense, no you need to manipulate the system to keep the money flowing back to you. And people might start doing this to "preserve" their wealth... but at some point it's something else. It's absurd. Grotesque.
(DIR) Post #Aveo1AgpOoFWjGA9su by mattmcirvin@mathstodon.xyz
2025-06-30T13:20:34Z
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@futurebird I think what's disappearing is the sort of moderate-neoliberal sentiment that this level of wealth concentration is a necessary evil that we tolerate to enjoy the general boons of a dynamic economy. In the 1990s, say, I think that was actually a popular idea, even among people who didn't buy into the whole libertarian-right package.
(DIR) Post #AveopWK5F35sInX4sK by jwcph@helvede.net
2025-06-30T13:30:20Z
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@futurebird I took the liberty of interpreting "most people you know" to mean "most people in my society", which is wealthy, safe little Denmark & I'm afraid that Danes, while superficially in favor of social justice, mostly balk at anything perceived as critical of "upward mobility", which would include the idea that wealth in itself can be evil. Similarly, many would interpret anti-billionairism as an attack on personal freedom. So 1, 2 and 4 here.
(DIR) Post #Avep07PoBj3EEoGQVs by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-06-30T13:32:23Z
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@jwcph But this is about a billion not a million or half a million or something. Being a billionaire isn't "upward mobility" it's domination. But I also think you are correctly describing how many people see this. They hear "you can't ever make it big" and that's not even what this about.
(DIR) Post #AvepD8tU0BIEaXM1J2 by Scmbradley@mathstodon.xyz
2025-06-30T13:34:40Z
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@futurebird @suetanvil I haven't looked into every company whose majority owners are billionaires so I can't say there aren't any cases of someone who had a good idea and whose company is now valued at a ten figure amount, but I agree it seems unlikely. However, i can see a case where someone inherits silly money, having not been involved with the running up until then. Now this person could be a faultless billionaire. Whether or not it's possible to remain faultless, or whether having that kind of money puts obligations on you that mean you ought to use your money for good, that's a different question.
(DIR) Post #AveqJXdr0Dif2BevFA by johnzajac@dice.camp
2025-06-30T13:47:02Z
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@futurebird Considering my mother, one of the most middle-road centrist human beings on earth, has expressed all four of these to me at least once in the last six months, I'd have to go with "none of the above".
(DIR) Post #AvesUMpZjmrobAQoXA by jwcph@helvede.net
2025-06-30T14:11:26Z
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@futurebird totally agree - a big part of this problem is that people don't grasp the difference between a million and a billion.
(DIR) Post #AvethF6lrSoiMkB5o8 by Judeet99@mastodon.world
2025-06-30T14:24:57Z
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@futurebird Most people will misread the info then misread the choices and click on the wrong one.
(DIR) Post #AvetqhJ6O6s6QgSDNw by glennsills@dotnet.social
2025-06-30T14:26:39Z
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@futurebird @jwcph "Billionaires are a symptom of something broken" is an interesting one. Given unchecked capitalism, it is the expected result. It is the "you need money to invest to make money" truism run amuck.(I wanted to do this reply to your post, but for some reason I am not able to. Is this on purpose, like BlueSky reply filter feature, or have I stumbled upon a bug of some sort)
(DIR) Post #Avexia81asHrfIesVc by KanaMauna@sauropods.win
2025-06-30T15:09:52Z
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@futurebird Need a none of the above. My circle probably agrees with all of them
(DIR) Post #Avez21psu0Ol3R0hLk by cshlan@dawdling.net
2025-06-30T15:24:24Z
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@futurebird @datarama A lot of people have a hard time remembering that you can make billionaires "not exist" by taking away excess money while leaving them alive, healthy, and still incredibly well off.
(DIR) Post #Avf06oFCxkZQIqhNb6 by Burn_this_@beige.party
2025-06-30T15:36:48Z
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@futurebird I'm not sure I understood the question. I don't know anyone who would say billionaires earned their wealth fairly, so I picked that one.I don't think that's radical, though.I think "eat the rich" is radical.
(DIR) Post #AvfTD0f6bWXZDx7Y1Y by esnyder@mastodon.social
2025-06-30T21:02:51Z
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@futurebird none of these would be considered radical in my social circle, but "billionaires have earned their money fairly" would be considered shockingly naive 🤷
(DIR) Post #Avfou9GEbjs9NltnRQ by bogosity@im-in.space
2025-07-01T01:05:56Z
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@futurebird If you substitute "disgusting" for "radical" then there is one I could pick. Otherwise I'd just say these are center-left or center-right talking points. (Boy do I loathe how "right" can be conflated with "correct" in English.)
(DIR) Post #AvgPBr9wFCbEnthHaC by cxxvii@aus.social
2025-07-01T07:52:31Z
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@futurebird (breaking bad one who knocks meme) "A guy hears something radical and gets shocked and you think that of me? No. I am the one who shocks!"
(DIR) Post #AvkxhDJXaGtLKcVXSC by hazelnot@sunbeam.city
2025-07-03T12:38:01Z
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@futurebird @datarama it's wild that some people think "I think billionaires shouldn't exist" means "kill them all" and not "take their billions away"
(DIR) Post #AvkyuZdxyVFcItzovY by cobalt123@beige.party
2025-07-03T12:51:39Z
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@futurebird Surprised everyone pretty much split evenly for each option. I guess you could have added “all of the above”!