• @octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    People are in disbelief that they would be making this kid into a hero,” he told Fortune.

    Attending a conference for CEOs in New York this week, just blocks away from the site of the shooting, George found that many were shaken and deeply concerned by the reaction to Thompson’s killing. “They’re having plenty of meetings right now to discuss beefing up security,” he said of the business leaders, even as some question how much security coverage is enough. People are asking themselves, “‘What does that say about our society? Where’s our society going?’” George said.

    So they’ve learned absolutely nothing.

    Plenty of meetings to beef up security. How about plenty of meetings to understand how your greed has caused this? They sound one logical leap (that they are unwilling to make) away from understanding exactly what the problem is.

    They managed to find one and only one CEO quote that reflected anything resembling self-awareness.

    “When I was growing up, CEOs didn’t make millions more than everyone else in the company. I think we have to reflect on why there’s so much anger and do something about it.”

    • ProdigalFrog
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      1 day ago

      All I can think of is a TED talk I saw where the speaker had given some presentation to a bunch of billionaires and had some q&a, and one of them who had built a bunker for themselves asked him how they could prevent their security team from turning on them in the bunker.

      The TED talk guy responded “Be kind to them?”

      And the Billionaire said “But where does that end?”

      I’ll try to find it so I can link it.

      EDIT: Found it!

      • @Zahille7@lemmy.world
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        271 day ago

        I don’t think it was a ted talk, I’m pretty sure it was a seminar put on specifically by the billionaire class asking this guy how best to navigate societal collapse with their vast amount of resources.

        This I believe was one of the exchanges at that event.

        • @captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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          824 hours ago

          And it’s funny because the answer is build an egalitarian compound where your share of the labor is the funding. That’s it. If the guards see it as how they contribute to a shared community then they’re not going to turn on their boss

        • @scarabine@lemmynsfw.com
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          361 day ago

          What’s incredible to me is that they don’t realize that societal collapse will render their resources more or less worthless. Their options are the same as everyone else’s: get a bug out plan, be ready to abandon all belongings, etc. What are you planning to do to keep your bunkers stocked past the first month? How will you pay your security if your banks are gone or your currency is worthless?

          • @Zahille7@lemmy.world
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            261 day ago

            Exactly. These people don’t think rationally. They truly believe they’ll have a group of sycophants who will do anything they say because they had them all this time before.

            When shit hits the fan, you need to be the only one with the keys to the shock collars. You need to basically become Batman.

        • ProdigalFrog
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          14 hours ago

          You’re right, though I was first introduced to the story from the guy telling it at a TED talk. I phrased it poorly.

      • kronisk
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        131 day ago

        The guy is called Douglas Rushkoff and he wrote a book on the subject called “Survival of the Richest: Escape fantasies of the Tech Billionaires”.

      • enkers
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        151 day ago

        EDIT: Found it!

        Wow, that was actually an extremely insightful conversation. Thank you for going out of your way to share it!

    • Alex
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      316 hours ago

      They literally can’t see the light for all their wealth because they’re calvinists believing: the greater the wealth, the greater the morality.

      • @octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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        117 hours ago

        Have been thinking about that movie quite a bit since all this went down, but don’t remember it in great detail. Might be worth a rewatch.

    • Skiluros
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      101 day ago

      That’s a bridge too far for them, especially with particularly oligarch friendly policies of the incoming US administration.

      • That’s what makes it sooo good, they think they just got the keys to the kingdom but forgot the all the residents can bite back at any time.

    • @jballs@sh.itjust.works
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      401 day ago

      The “what does this say about society” question bugs the shit out of me. It means that our society is sick and tired of being the only rich nation in the world where getting sick or injured will bankrupt you. If these people were truly concerned about the good of society, they’d quit sucking us dry for every dollar that they can and would advocate for a better system.

      • @captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        1324 hours ago

        It also bugs the shit out of me because how long have children been being murdered in school in a mass shooting epidemic, but now that the rich are being killed that’s what makes them ask this? Our society has been in bad shape for a long time

      • @octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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        171 day ago

        Absolutely. The entire article makes it clear that they don’t even have an inkling of what it’s like to have to worry about your health or how much money you have.