Considering the way there are people completely out of touch with reality (Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos come to mind, among many others), is it possible that maybe all that greediness made them lose their humanity? Probably not literally but I guess moreso in a metaphorical way.

  • crypticthree@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I’ve spent a lot of time around the wealthy. The vast majority are living in a highly distorted reality. I think it comes from the fact that they are surrounded by yes men and sycophants. They never get told no, no matter how shitty they behave or how stupid their ideas are .

  • Bacon@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 years ago

    I don’t like the rich, and I do think that to get that kind of money you fundamentally have to give part of yourself away. But lizard people specifically is an antisemitic trope, and also just outright a lot less believable than them being human but deeply flawed. That sort of thinking can happen to anyone if they get enough money and power, after all.

    • animist@lemmy.one
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      2 years ago

      Exactly. Calling people who do terrible things “animals” or some specific type of animal almost separates them, as if the only reason they did something bad is because they have a fundamental flaw. This line of thinking allows us to believe we could never be that bad because we are humans and not animals like them.

      • Cralder@feddit.nu
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        2 years ago

        From what I can tell, the lizard people conspiracy theory was started by David Icke, an antisemite and Holocaust denier. There are lots of conspiracy theories that come from the belief that Jews control the world either through media, some secret society or, in this case, by being shapeshifting lizards. This is just another iteration of the idea that Jews are different from everyone else and are trying to control the world.

  • trachemys@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    All I’m saying is that there has been a conspiracy to get us to burn oil, avoid clean energy, and it just so happens that lizards like higher temperatures.

  • Gadg3tm@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Oh absolutely. I’d argue they were barely in touch with their humanity in the first place. How else can you accumulate that much wealth off the backs of others without stopping and saying to yourself, “who have I become”.

  • manitcor@lemmy.intai.tech
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    2 years ago

    Billions

    If you manage to make it through life to retirement you usually are a multi-millionaire in many countries.

    I don’t know where the line is though I suspect its somewhere around the level where buying regulations becomes pocket change.

  • timeisart@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Actual psychopaths have brains that are wired differently than normal people, they are literally not capable of feeling empathy or are able to feel the pain they caused that allowed them to amass their fortune. So yeah in a way I think that makes them less than human.

  • webghost0101@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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    2 years ago

    Greed is a horrible addiction, these people have sacrificed so much time and energy they could have spend on loved ones simply because they where thought that your life worth is measured cash. There is no way back for them, its literal investors fallacy. They can spend the rest of their life in luxery leissure while tipping generously to anyone poor they face and they still wouldn’t be able to spend the majority of their fortune.

    And yet they chose to do whatever it takes to gain even more. Truly sick and really really sad.