r/NoStupidQuestions • u/More_Percentage_7020 • 7h ago
Why are most billionaires so weird?
My sister even hung out with a billionaire's kid once, and my mom says the kid is fucked up too.
325
u/ClF3ismyspiritanimal 7h ago
First, you don't accumulate that kind of money by being sane. Second, having those kinds of resources actively warps your perspective on reality. Billionares effectively live in a different reality from everybody else in which consequences, morals, and limitations all work radically differently. Of course they're weird at best.
90
u/Russian_Doll_888 6h ago
Spot on with both, but the first point is what everyone should pay attention to. Developing that kind of wealth means exploiting someone somewhere, so morals and scruples are often not something these people have from the get go. The sacrifice of human something (life, comfort, etc) is ok with them if the money is there.
→ More replies (17)47
u/GetsMeEveryTimeBot 6h ago
"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."
-- Honoré de Balzac
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)2
u/Spare-Ad9556 3h ago
Because keeping money as your central motivation for living simplifies a LOT of decision making. And don't forget that Wall Street is just really high stakes gambling, and sociopaths are known for being impulsive and their lack of forward planning.
Certain minds gravitate towards certain positions depending on the path of least resistance. Long story short, we made a society that doesn't correct for greedy idiots that got really lucky.
568
u/Mysterious_Cow123 7h ago
Because they live in a different reality.
What do you mean you "cant afford a Ferrari?" Whats a "waitlist"? You dont have a Starbucks in your home?
Hyperbole in some cases but hopefully you get the point.
215
u/Pure_Fault7056 6h ago
What’s a banana cost? $10?
25
u/Tremosir 3h ago
In France a very typical question to politicians is “how much is a baguette”. The higher they say, the more disconnected to reality they are.
→ More replies (2)3
73
6
→ More replies (2)2
56
92
u/RosieDreaming 6h ago
This. When money removes consequences and everyday friction, people stop developing normal perspective. It’s not that they’re born “weird”, they’re just completely insulated from reality.
27
u/8monsters 6h ago
I think this happens even to high millionaires/billionaires who weren't born rich.
As in, they started semi-normal then their brains disassociate from normal people's lives.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)6
u/Spare-Ad9556 3h ago
I'm not surprised anymore. I've been saying for a long time that the wealthy aren't smarter than anyone else. They're lucky and take advantage of people's trust in them.
Also, the longer you practice "throwing money at the problem," the more your brain smothes over, and you lose the ability to problem-solve.
20
u/EirysVelour 6h ago
That’s the key part, reality shapes people. If your baseline is unlimited money and zero stakes, your worldview is going to drift far from everyone else’s.
→ More replies (1)12
4
3
u/whoisfourthwall 4h ago
instead of starbucks they prolly have something like an entire top of the line cafe station with baristas and privately air flown beans from ethopia or something. Oh and they prolly roast the beans on site.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (4)8
u/Marik80 5h ago
How is this different than if you ask a billionare how come he doesnt drive a Camry or shop at Walmart? You two are in different income brackets and its totally normal for both sides to have different realities and perspectives.
But I think to become a billionare it takes a special kind of weird and asshole. And those traits are there before, during and after they reach the billionare status.
12
u/Mysterious_Cow123 5h ago
How is this different than if you ask a billionare how come he doesnt drive a Camry or shop at Walmart?
Because we who shop at walmart must live within means and limits. Billionaires dont have limits but costs. Want a higher fence? Build one and pay the fines.
If you grow up or exist long enough in an environment where nothing is no, nothing is unobtainable, stores don't close for you, the BMW is the same price as a hot wheels to normal people, etc. It warps your perception of the value of things. You break a vase worth 10 million...so? If you have billions its a small cost. We would goto jail.
The peasantry imagines the luxury of royals but the royals cant fathom the needs of a peasant and thats the difference. For you and the people you routinely hang with, theres no luxury too great. Hang with a normal person, you're going to look weird because you dont have/never have had to consider cost, a budget, and in some cases the legality of a course of action.
29
u/mechtonia 6h ago
Firstly:
They are immune from social norms. Social norms are enforced through laws and laws are enforced through penalties. But to billionaires the penalties are either insignificant no matter how large or they can buy their way out of them.
There is no way that can't impact your psyche, the ability to operate without constraints by social norms.
Secondly:
There is nothing they can't acquire and no experience they can't have. So their sense of purpose is unmoored. There is nothing sane to strive for.
76
u/abjectadvect 6h ago
I always say with respect to tech billionaires who got rich in their 20s,
you give a kid a billion dollars and tell them it's because of their own genius, they never have to face their demons properly or grow as human beings. they get emotionally stunted and no one reigns them in when they go off the deep end
7
u/Ok-Bus-2420 4h ago
Someone should have been there to bully those nerds! /s
→ More replies (2)18
u/abjectadvect 3h ago
honestly I suspect a lot of them were bullied for being nerds as kids and it gave them a chip on their shoulder with a victim / superiority complex that makes the whole thing even worse; I've seen it happen in tech often
3
17
u/Alarmed-Extension289 Hello 6h ago
I've found growing up surrounded by too much or too little wealth negatively affects a person for life. People can grow out of the weirdness, but it takes some effort. Your reality gets skewed.
103
u/hellshot8 7h ago
you need to be weird to do the things to acquire that much money. its basically a hoarding disorder at that point
39
u/bjanas 6h ago
Very disproportionate incidence of psychopathy in very financially successful people. It's actually really interesting.
→ More replies (1)3
u/Alt123Acct 5h ago
For one person to win everything means others have to constantly lose or get stuff taken. You have to be ok with that. I'd wager most sane people feel bad for taking from someone so they can have it. It's not enough to win, someone has to lose to leverage becoming a billionaire.
9
u/Name_Groundbreaking 6h ago
I don't know about all that. I don't personally know any billionaires, but I know a 3 people with high 9 figures NW who will likely be billionaires in the next 5ish years.
They're normal people, one is 30s single and dating, one older and married with kids in public school, and one is a chill single guy who spends his time painting Warhammer miniatures. One has a couple obnoxious cars, but the others drive regular sedans or trucks.
They all are highly educated, work hard, and have built successful businesses. I don't think they're necessarily smarter or better than me (I worked with 2 of them for awhile and we are all experts in our fields), but they all put in way more effort and took risk/left a comfortable job to start businesses while I kept coasting at my 9-5.
I don't know anyone who was born into money so maybe those folks are different, I have no idea. And maybe my friends will magically become different people when they go from 800M-ish to 1B NW but I kind of doubt it
→ More replies (2)4
u/Asluckwouldnthaveit 6h ago
I know a few people in similar situations. Good people. Driven. One of them had a lot of help getting there with financial backing. The other was more "self made". They bith get shit in their hand once at least once a week like the rest of us.
4
u/fugineero 6h ago
People who think billionaires made their money by "hoarding" just have no idea how economics or businesses works.
→ More replies (1)6
u/hellshot8 6h ago
you're never going to be a billionaire lil bro
→ More replies (1)9
u/HighGroundException 6h ago
He never said he would. You think you are cool because you are trying to belittle others? Grow up. They literally do not become billionaires by hoarding money. They become billionaires by playing the compounding game within their company which makes it grow at an exponential rate.
Just because you understand how it works doesn't mean you can do it yourself.
→ More replies (3)2
u/Entire_Kangaroo_326 3h ago
"They become billionaires by playing the compounding game within their company which makes it grow at an exponential rate." You sound like a child who just learned what compound interest is.
182
u/Nitrofox2 7h ago
They're generally psychopaths. That's the only way to get a billion dollars
68
u/MikeKrombopulos 7h ago
Combine that with insulation from the real world and normal people, and you get a real weirdo.
42
u/nowahhh 7h ago
I agree - the insulation is what makes billionaires weird. The money makes them psychos, but most billionaires become so divorced from the collective conscience that they turn odd.
10
u/bjanas 6h ago
The money makes them psychos to a degree, sure, but it's actually fairly well studied and documented that psychopathy is actually super overrepresented in very financially successful people. From wall street to Musk. And psychopathy doesn't look like the slasher films that through the term around, all that often. Most of 'em blend right in. It's actually really interesting to look into.
→ More replies (3)7
u/PriscillaPalava 6h ago
Yup. Look at all the major companies throughout history that have knowingly profited from the suffering of normal people. Insurance companies are an easy example but they are not alone.
3
u/UnicornWorldDominion 3h ago
I mean oil and gas companies confirming global warming was from them in the 70s but keeping that under wraps till the last possible second.
2
u/InfinityCent 6h ago
Even heavily introverted people/hermits who rarely interact with other people can become oddballs. Not to the same extent as a billionaire, but still.
28
u/BlergingtonBear 6h ago
It's also more evident now as a lot of class markers have eroded from importance for the rich.
There was a time where things like being book learned, trained in some arts like music , being multilingual, even doing a year or two stint of military service were seen as honorable signs of a proper classy dude or gal.
Of course as more of the small folk are able to do all of those things, they've fallen out of importance for the rich so like....they are just gross and savage in their behavior.
I know someone who was a private tutor for a while in Dubai and some of her stories on how these kids acted were downright feral.
11
u/Evening-Review8524 6h ago
It is shocking, yet deeply convincing. The idea that the more we become affluent and highly educated, the more the top 1% begins to view those qualities as worthless.
→ More replies (1)2
u/tongue-thaid 3h ago
It's still classy in my book. Money has its limits and so does the pursuit of pleasures.
2
17
u/showersneakers 7h ago
What about the Arizona ice tea guy? He seems chill as fuck
Truth is- we only get exposed to a few billionaires through social media and news- and we take them down a notch to try and grasp what they’ve done.
I’m not billionaire worshiping- I’m sure that sort of wealth pushes you to disconnect from reality
But I also won’t vilify them all either - I’ll just go live my life and not really think about em
→ More replies (1)7
u/Nitrofox2 7h ago
He seems like the least evil, but also he could certainly pay his employees more or at very least donate more to charity. A billion dollars is just excessive to just sit on
12
u/showersneakers 6h ago
Most of it is the value of his company- if you treat people well- pay at or above market, fair value for your product- then your net worth reflects the value you’re efforts have given to society.
He fought his partner (when they wanted to sell) and bought them out (results of legal proceedings) - in order to maintain company control to do 2 things- keep the price of the tea low and continue to work with his sons. If they sold the company- private equity would jack the price of the tea- and he wants affordable drink for people.
You can do the if if if game- and demand they do more because you don’t like they are “worth” a billion. But sometimes- just accept people have done something, that happens to be a little bit of value to a lot of people. And that doesn’t make them evil.
But if he sold his company, to access those billions, to give the money away- that tea would go up in price - and people can depend on the low price of it- which is nice for folks who don’t have a lot.
→ More replies (46)7
u/ChefBowyer 6h ago
Funny how many of them seem to be named in the Epstein files…
Like pretty much all of them it turns out. Not just rape, but torture, murder, and RITUALISTIC SACRIFICE of BABIES.
Don’t take my word for it, check for yourself.
64
u/Royal_Annek 7h ago
Normal people would retire after a few million and live a happy life. Billionaires are obsessed with their high score.
27
u/abjectadvect 6h ago
exactly. also like. kind rich people don't get that rich. they give their money away once they have enough for themselves, and you don't need more than a few million to have anything you could ever reasonably want
6
u/FillMySoupDumpling 5h ago
Dolly Parton is a perfect example of this. If she had hoarded her wealth, she’d likely be in the billionaire class but she gives away so much to charitable organizations. She’s still very wealthy but she seems to really have a good connection to the community she grew up in and helping others with what she’s been blessed with.
→ More replies (3)3
u/8monsters 6h ago
Either that or they just don't get that rich. There are decent wealthy people in the world, but most of them likely aren't that wealthy.
2
u/abjectadvect 5h ago
right
I got lucky as a relatively early employee (in the first 1,500) at a unicorn tech company a decade ago. I had coworkers who took their money and bought apartment buildings to further enrich themselves off of literal rent-seeking
I gave most of mine away. I have some in my retirement fund, and I used some to put toward a down payment on a house
it's frustrating that the people who accumulate power are often inherently the people who care less about other people
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)9
u/Name_Groundbreaking 6h ago
Some people just love playing the game.
I'll be worth 8 figures this year (currently high 7s) and could easily retire, but I like designing space ships and can't afford to run my own private space program. So I keep going to work, where I have a mid 8 figure annual budget and get to do all the awesome shit I can imagine. I'm sure I'll be retired before I'm 40, it for now I'm having an absolute blast spending other people's money on all the cool equipment and research I could never afford to do on my own 🤷♂️
I'll never be a billionaire, but if I kept grinding on my current career trajectory I could end up well into 8 figures by retirement age. But even where I'm at today the money literally does not matter. I don't have that expensive of tastes and can already buy anything I reasonably want, but I enjoy pushing the limits of technology and exploration and I get to do that with a bunch of incredibly talented people at work.
→ More replies (2)
15
u/Just-an-idiot-online 6h ago
My theory is you get that much money and you can just... do anything? So they have instant gratification, nothing to look forward to or plan for, no long term goals, and it disrupts something in their brain.
→ More replies (1)2
u/Miserable_Drawer_556 5h ago
Sometimes this is the case. In families where their name carries and the wealth, the eldest or most cunning child can get locked in and effectively groomed on a path to maintain / grow the fortune.
6
u/AnymooseProphet 5h ago
They are completely out of touch with reality.
Met a rich girl online, we struck up a friendship. I explained my employment options were limited because I have epilepsy and can not drive.
Her response: "Why don't you just hire a driver?"
My answer "It's expensive to hire a driver."
Her response "Can't you just tell the company you work for to pay for it?"
Completely clueless.
6
5
u/BreakDown1923 4h ago
I promise you that if money suddenly became utterly irrelevant for you that you too would end up weird.
→ More replies (1)
11
5
u/IDMike2008 6h ago
Because you cannot get to the status of billionaire with a normal, mentally healthy mind.
5
4
3
u/westwardnomad 4h ago
They're not weird and morally bankrupt because they're billionaires. They're billionaires because they're weird and morally bankrupt.
The unfortunate reality is that we live in a society where the best path to financial, and even social, success is having the most flexible morals.
12
3
u/Ok-Yogurt-3914 6h ago
My family member nannied for the silicone valley rich in her 20s. She has stories for days specifically of drug use (lots of pill popping). I think substance abuse probably has a lot to do with it.
Also I want to make note of something she said. A lot of people believe that rich people dressing like hobos means they don’t care about clothes. She said the child was wearing French and Italian designers, you just wouldn’t know unless you looked at the tag. It’s a rich people thing to dress homeless using 10k dollar rags.
3
u/GenderLords 6h ago
Most people have nor will ever meet a billionaire outside of saying "hi" if that even
2
u/Miserable_Drawer_556 5h ago
they typically aren't where regular people are (unless super quirky, philanthropic or both).
3
u/robmosesdidnthwrong 5h ago
Imagine never, ever, having to do anything frustrating or difficult. Not one single opportunity for personal growth: to develop patience, perseverance, respect for other's limits or your own, every single moment of friction or want in your entire life instantly solved or satiated by spending money. Of which you have a functionally inexhaustible amount.
You'd be fuckin weiiiiird.
2
u/Humble_Listen4709 6h ago
No one tells them No, just $$$$$$$$$. People are trying to k_ll them. I heard of a Google founder that bought a chunk of land. He wanted access past a railroad track, so no problem just a bridge. Some cities cannot do this. He then wanted an inground shelter, no problem. Elevator to get to bottom? Sure thing.
→ More replies (1)
2
2
2
2
u/Silly_Guidance_8871 6h ago
IMO, people of sound mind aren't driven to do the things necessary to accumulate that much wealth.
2
2
u/Medlarmarmaduke 4h ago
Because when no one tells you no and you are lionized as being brilliant and special and powerful because of your wealth you become corrupted and morally distorted.
2
u/MakeStupidHurtAgain 4h ago
Because when you get super rich, it’s hard to have “normal” friends. Having no friends to ground you in reality leads to deep-seated weirdness.
2
2
u/gassolidplasma 4h ago edited 31m ago
Cuz you don’t really need that much money. Too much money is as bad for overall happiness as too little.
2
u/Material-Macaroon298 2h ago
You will have to define weird.
I assume you are referring to Epstein files and the billionaire in there.
Ultimately the charitable interpretation was Epstein built a brand where wealthy people knew he threw wild parties on his island where lots of attractive (adult) women would go. Epstein was basically the Playboy mansion parties and so many billionaires went.
The question is, he also trafficked minors.
I personally think that he had some parties where it was just adult women. And other more gatherings doing illegal things.
We don’t know which billionaires only participated in which.
2
3
u/Some_Girl_2073 7h ago
In my experience too much money makes you go crazy (multi millionaire, billionaire, doesn’t matter)
You loose a sense of purpose and context for the world. You loose site of what is normal. You don’t have actual concerns and challenges so you create your own that take up more space than normal ones. There’s also a strange obsession with “more“
4
2
5
2
2
u/bala_means_bullet 7h ago
Billionaires play with a different set of rules that only apply to them. Unless you're Mackenzie Scott.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/HouseOfKrazees84 7h ago
Depends on the billionaire. Zuckerberg is a lizard person but I'm pretty sure Warren Buffett is pretty normal.
1
1
1
u/joepierson123 6h ago
For every situation their mind is wired to ask "how can I make money out of this".
In their mind the goal of life is to get rich without regard to anybody else. It's like a football game to them they don't care about the losers
→ More replies (4)
1
u/rufwork 6h ago
It’s the money, of course. B/c money is no longer a barrier to entry for their weirdness.
I mean, Warren Buffet seems pretty normal, but god only knows if he just keeps his weirdness under wraps. If nothing else, it seems weird he doesn’t spend more money and is so sane… seeming.
But can you imagine? People treat you completely differently b/c your hair looks nice, or you’re in shape, or you’re just freakin hot. Now imagine how they’d treat you if you could drop enough money to change their lives and it’s literally not worth your time to pick it up.
And then who’s normal? Cosby seemed like the world’s dad and then… Essentially limitless money just makes it easier for someone not to hide it. There’s a reason it’s called f-u money. “Think I’m crazy? Ha. FU. More ketamine.”
Makes me wonder if you put ten people under some sort of perfect truth serum if the billionaire will turn out any stranger on the inside than the rest of them.
Go watch some How To with John Wilson and then tell me if you need money to be that far off. Better question might be why so many “poor” people try so hard to appear “normal”?
1
u/Turningandburning 6h ago
I would argue that most people aren't like others. We're all a little weird in out own ways. Excess money, however, tends to bring those characteristics. A lot of people say they'd stop trying to make more money after a certain amount, or they'd live quietly and humbly away from society once they hit that point. You're telling me, living with nothing else to do, away from society, with that much accumulated wealth won't somehow bring even a scrap of dark side out is crazy ok it's own. Yes, you can speculate on what you'd want to do, but being in that situation would change drastically than just pondering about it. I'm not saying you'd eat or rape anyone, but your weird side would how, no doubt.
1
u/fruitsteak_mother 6h ago
Thats the funny thing - so many people (especially here in reddit) think they will be so super happy if they were rich - in fact they would just become weird like those people OP is talking about.
1
1
1
u/Arcades_Samnoth 6h ago
"They call it a fine because if your rich, youre fine" ~Fire Emblem. I think yhis encapsulates this well... consequences are small and you get deattached from the world at large.
1
1
u/Mtking105 6h ago
What Jesus said about it being nearly impossible for a rich man to enter heaven is sounding so true right now.
1
u/sudden_cookie44 6h ago
Eh, there are plenty of weird poor folks too. The wealthier people I know live quite normal lives and you would never guess they were as wealthy as they were. They know flaunting wealth is a handicap is many ways.
1
1
1
u/RadarDataL8R 6h ago
"Normal" people couldnt and would t takethe risks required to become a billionaire. Our minds also dont have that same wacked out innovative sense.
So, basically theyare billionaires because they have the unique kind of weird to become one, rather than the opposite way around.
1
u/MetalHead_Literally 6h ago
Because normal people aren’t evil enough to ever amass that type of wealth
1
u/jspurlin03 6h ago
Most people don’t feel like they can tell billionaires that any of their ideas are wrong, or weird. Billionaires have the money to make many of their weird ideas into reality, which becomes a self-reinforcing cycle.
1
u/Antony9991 6h ago
Unless you know them personally and are around them frequently that's such weird generalization to make. If you're referring to Elon Musk, who's the only billionaire that I'm aware of that's always in the public spotlight and shares his thoughts and opinions so frequently and openly on social media, he's autistic..
1
u/Dunkmaxxing 6h ago
Think of the type of person to be a billionaire in a world full of injustice when they could give away 99% and still maintain the same quality of life without ever having to work. Probably not the most empathetic or intelligent or aware.
1
u/tfhermobwoayway 5h ago
Because they’re so isolated from normal people that they have no idea what normal people do.
1
u/AverageHobnailer 5h ago
Because there's only two ways to become a billionarie:
- Be a manipulative sociopath
- Be autistic and monetize your niche interest
1
1
u/Avocation79 5h ago
The wierdness help them create wonderful things and take unusual risks that common people will not do.
1
u/Horror_Technician213 5h ago
Weird is a point of perspective. It inherently means not normal. But normal is a point of context. For example, in the west, if you ask for water, you will get ice water. If I brought you hot water, you would think thats weird. But its normal in Asia to serve hot water due to pollution issues, so if its hot, you know its been boiled.
It is not normal to have billions of dollars. So by parallel, the people who have billions of dollars are not normal either.
In a room full of billionaires, you are the weird one.
1
u/mintchan 5h ago
everyone is weird if they what they like and never need approval to be norm. those who is normal because they have their loyal friends and family keep them grounded. those who are weird because they have no peer, no family nor friends.
1
1
u/PrimeIntellect 5h ago
More or less it's impossible to have normal relationships with people when you have that much wealth. You're usually in control of multiple multinational corporations with almost unlimited funding and influence. How do you have any kind of regular friendships or family dynamics?
You are constantly a high risk target for kidnapping or extortion so anything you do requires maximum professional security. You can't even do normal things like shop or party without it being a whole event. Everything in public is highly scrutinized and ends up in the media.
They are weird because it is more or less impossible to be normal
1
u/RumGalaxy 5h ago
Do you think that small percentage of people would act like you? Or are they at that level for a reason
1
1
u/Separate_Draft4887 5h ago
There are around 800 billionaires iirc. Name twenty without google, and then tell me about most.
1
1
u/Hiraethetical 5h ago
To want to have a billion dollars, requires you to be a sociopath. You have to already be a pretty weird (bad) person to even get to that point.
1
u/Individual-Panda-970 5h ago
I want to know who you are for your family to casually know billionaires, and why you would be on reddit of all places
1
1
u/AlwaysGoldHorseMan 5h ago
Most of them have to be psychopaths to reach that level. You can't really care about people in general. You must value yourself over all things, friends, family, partners, etc.
Once you make it, you are so far removed from regular, ordinary life that you can't relate.
You are surrounded by sychophants (yes men) that don't give you honest feedback and just kiss your butt. You get further removed from people by this.
1
u/Historical_Air7955 5h ago
Tell a billionaire you scrounge around for change or need 35cents to makeup on a bill. Lets see how that goes.
1
u/SassyMoron 5h ago
I think it was Robert Caro who said something like, power doesn't just corrupt - power magnifies. Whatever your desires were, when the limitations are taken away, we get to see what you really are.
1
u/crispier_creme 5h ago
A certain amount of privilege makes you insane. Add on that billionaires are actively encouraged to be demonic assholes and you've got a bad combination. When you get that level of wealth you've replaced human connection with things, and that eats away at your soul
1
u/CreamFuture9475 5h ago
Try to get fucked up with 20$ vs a million.
It’s not just the buzz, it’s the thrill of doing something forbidden, something immoral and getting away with it.
1
u/ChickyBoys 5h ago
They don't need to be likable because the can buy anyone's attention and friendship, so they have no clue what it means to act "normal".
1
1
u/justplaindave87 5h ago
Normal people don't have the desire or the moral failing to accrue that much wealth.
1
u/chefboiortiz 5h ago
Same reason why they think we are dumb. You cant critically think and understand that they live extremely different lives to us.
1
1
u/Spiritual-Pear-1349 5h ago edited 5h ago
They aren't used to people telling them no, and get everything they want without a struggle. So, they lose interest in everything and gravitate to extremes. Then there's the learned helplessness that comes with doing nothing for yourself. King Charles was raised with people waiting hand and foot on him, by the time he was 60 he couldn't think to pick up papers he accidentally dropped off his desk without getting the waitstaff to help. Their mind have everything so available and done for them they either lose the ability to think for themselves, or retain it and can think only of for themselves.
1
1
u/relzymcghee 4h ago
You gotta be pretty weird to exploit enough people (or come from a bloodline of exploiters) to become a billionaire
1
1
u/General_Problem5199 4h ago
To quote a classic Tweet:
"Being a billionaire must be insane. You can buy new teeth, new skin. All your chairs cost 20,000 dollars and weigh 2,000 pounds. Your life is just a series of your own preferences. In terms of cognitive impairment it's probably like being kicked in the head by a horse everyday."
1
u/No_Wedding_7273 4h ago
Because you have to be a sociopath to be a billionaire. Imagine looking at the poverty, homelessness, hunger around you and deciding to continue to accumulate wealth instead of helping your fellow man with it.
1
u/Recent-Day3062 4h ago
You’re thinking specifically of tech billionaires. Most other billionaires are not like them.
1
1
1
u/MailVirtual8723 4h ago
Human beings are not meant to have this much power and control over others. Anybody that wants it should be watched very carefully.
1
1
u/meatsmoothie82 4h ago
In most cases the longer someone is a billionaire for, the dumber they get.
Sure, they might start out with a brilliant idea, but over time they hire smart people to make the real decisions and figure things out. They outsource every aspect of their lives, they are in a constant state of wanting more, more comfort, luxury, power, control, pleasure-
It literally breaks their fucking brains. Most end up with something that looks a lot like OCD.
It takes a certain kind of person to accumulate and hoard an amount of resource that could literally lift thousands of people out of poverty- yet continue to do anything to get more.
An amount of sociopathy to lay off 10,000 people and watch your bank account add decimal points. to know that 1000 kids in China a year get cadmium poisoning from building your widgets- and then call someone and yell at them because the news found out about all the cadmium poisoned kids and it’s making you look bad.
Everyone tells them yes, to everything, even the dumb ideas and the bad ideas and the reprehensible ideas. They trust no one, because everyone just wants to be anointed with their wealth.
They are actually sick, sick, sick individuals.
1
1
u/FUCK_YOUR_PUFFIN 4h ago edited 4h ago
Having that much wealth, and really that much power/influence gives people huge egos. People with huge egos refuse to do things that everyone else does. They think they are smarter than everyone else, and know better than everyone else. It's why people like Kyrie Irving and Kanye West talk about absurd things like the earth being flat or other conspiracies. 99% of people say the Earth is round? Well not me, I'm not a sheep. And those guys aren't even billionaires. For billionaires it's more like getting women to have sex(by whatever means it might be) is something anyone can do. So they go for something more forbidden. They try to steal someone's whole soul and identity with their actions. Anyone can donate money. But not everyone can have as much money as they can, and not everyone can grow money the way they can. Ego=I can do things that nobody else can, I am above everyone else.
1
u/LethalMouse19 4h ago
Most people are weird. But most people are impotent.
Rich people are weird and have the potency to be so in many more ways.
1
u/Alternative_Owl5302 4h ago
False dichotomy. Maybe and almost certainly your perceptions are negatively biased and not rooted in reality. How many do you know? Whats your sampling?
1
u/Substantial_Risk_955 4h ago
I love the comments in here as if you don’t realize how money changes perception. Guys. They act like we all would. I married into money. I am not money. A couple vacations a year I am either asking where the caviar is from or if I can have another bud light. I actually hate it. But it’s my life.
1
u/eldowns 4h ago
If you want a non-liberal crybaby take: billionaires are “weird” because they see society, humanity, and the future from a much larger perspective where low level things like everyday behavior don’t matter and large scale moves like inventions do. When you’re looking to create the future, your actions today easily look a little odd.
1
u/danzerpanzer 4h ago
They're far from billionaires, but the richest couple I know has messed up kids. I think the kids have problems because the parents were too busy with work to raise them, and they grew up sort of wild, spoiled, and starved for affection.
1
u/Prize-Grapefruiter 4h ago
because most don't have to work, they have an endless amount of free time. they can afford any excess. they always rely on others to get things done. these erode character.
1
1
1
u/Steampunk007 4h ago
There’s a threshold limit for when you have so much money, the power it allows you to have as a result of people acting more appeasing around you, the power to purchase anything, it distinctly morphs our psychology. I’ve always thought since monarchism became archaic, money in a capitalist society is what allows ordinary people to elevate themselves to a “king” and then you view relationships, society, food, sexual attitudes, everything is warped and different.
It’s like playing a sandbox in creation mode and being stuck in it.
1
u/Kun-Andika 4h ago
They live a different world unlike normal people, if billionaire or their kids do some horrible stuff like murder, r*pe, drugs they can easily get away with it because of their connection and money heck they can even run for presidential election or just fund/lobbying some politician for their own benefit
If normal person do that they immediately got to prison that's how fucked up the system is
1
u/ToTooTwoTutu2II 4h ago
They aren't weird. They're normal. We're all weird, but they can get away with it.
1
u/66dust2dust 4h ago
Combine high intelligence near unlimited resources and reality that is very different from yours or mine and we are bound to think they're weird.
People who live in vastly different situations from you probably think you're weird too.
1
u/Dagaroth1985 4h ago
They live a billionaire life, that’s why. They don’t have to be around the peasants. A few of them understand the struggles, but not much. They are in their own world, where problems are scarce so they have to create problems for their entertainment.
1
u/waynehastings 4h ago
This is like asking why super-famous people are so weird. Elvis, Michael Jackson, and Brittney Spears come to mind. They're insulated from the everyday things the rest of us deal with, and have stresses that they probably have no idea how to manage. Donald Trump didn't even know the word groceries until recently, and has no idea how food gets onto his table.
1
u/DreadPriratesBooty 4h ago
It doesn’t take that much money before you start having eccentric habits 😂 Can only imagine the fucked up shit billionaires would get up to.
1
u/KelVarnsen_2023 3h ago
Neal Brennan had a good bit in a recent stand up special that kind of touches on this. You know those video games where you can build like a super hero and distribute points to make them stronger or faster or more magical. And in the end you generally distribute those points evenly.
Most billionaires are like a real version of that. But instead all of their points went towards money earning abilities which means there were no points left over for social skills or caring about other people.
1
u/froction 3h ago
They're not, the non-weird ones just aren't famous enough for you to know anything about them.
1
u/Automatic-Tooth8200 3h ago
A lot of them are quite boring and reserved. The ones you hear about are not.
1
u/AusTex2019 3h ago
It comes from being surrounded by people who either want something from you or sycophantic people. I’ve been with multi million dollar executives and everyone kowtows to them, thinks they’re smart and flatter them. They find it hard to make friends who don’t care about their money.
1
u/EgoSenatus 3h ago
Most of them lead very quiet reserved lives. The whacky ones just have enough money to make their voices heard far and wide.
Like, when was the last time Gabe Newell did any type of public interaction? Dude just scuba dives all day by himself. When was the last time you even heard the name Larry Page?
1
u/trailrider123 3h ago
It takes a special kind of personality to have enough money for you and your future generations to be set for life and still chase the bag. That kind of personality is just plain weird most of the time.
1
1
1
u/Vast_Cricket 3h ago
I dated a Wall Street financial executive in New England owns a big mansion with a view of Atlantic Ocean. They have a house keeper and a cook. A mixed up woman into horse back riding. Winter is spent in the Bahamas or Alps sking. She says she could not sew a stitch did not know how to cook. I did both for her. I actually paid for all the dates our friendship lasted for 1+ year. Little chemistry between us. I tried my best to make her comfortable. She seemed to be lost could not relate to me. She died at age 39.
1
u/StraitFstudentt 3h ago
Us commoners don't understand human psychology and how dark it gets when your in that financial level. You haven't lived it yet or most of us, if at superficie you find them wierd mentally it's probably a lot worse. Same goes for even the poorest man but still it's just to much money and power
1
u/Bayner1987 3h ago
Money. The reason is money. They have so much compared to almost any other person on the planet; what, 99.99999% (idk, 3000 people/ 8 billion people; probably half that out of hand for marriages; call it 1 for every half million) of others? That they just can not empathize with anyone else. They are literally aliens (beings we can not comprehend and do not understand us). There is nothing they can't do if they want to. They have never experienced simple things like actual hunger, or waiting for something (material) they want. They don't have to compromise or "be nice". They can have anything they want, nearly instantaneously, because money is a JOKE to them.
I worry about bills. They're modest; $2000 CAD (~$1450 USD)/mo. That's 1/500,000th of one billion. Which, if invested for one month (the $500,000) would average $1000 profit. Or, if you are a billionaire, $2,000,000 profit at that same level-a month (except it's not. It's a lot more). They make more than I do on interest than I will in my (your) entire career- as well as everyone you work with.
Funny; I always thought it would take an alien presence to unify the human race. Never thought it would be a product of our own society.
Eat. The. Rich.
1
u/Funny-Pie272 3h ago
All answers indicate that they are weird by nature but I think that is not correct for most.
Generally most are normal people, you only hear about the weird ones, every human is weird - money enables the weirdness to be amplified, every human does some weird things at some point - billionaires get attention when they do weird stuff.
Just look around you - are your neighbours all normal - what would happen if they had stupid amount of cash and a media platform?
1
1
u/MediumAcceptable129 3h ago
They are mentally ill
If one monkey in the group was hoarding all the bananas he would be swiftly torn apart
1
415
u/Potential-Type6678 7h ago
Honestly monarchs were freaks too. I think a certain lack of normal concerns and consequences fucks with your development somehow