Post by @mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io

🤦🏿‍♂️ No. This is not true. Extreme wealth does not turn you into a fascist.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/sep/12/naomi-klein-extreme-wealth-has-a-deranging-effect-it-turns-you-into-a-supremacist

White people that don't know anything, but that think that they do, and don't talk to or listen to enough Black people, believe this garbage.

Thiel and Sacks wrote a book on their beliefs way back when they were at Stanford. Musk has always been like this. They've always been alt-right.

Mackenzie Scott became extremely wealthy at the exact same time and place as Bezos. And yet her views haven't changed. Melinda Gates' views have not changed. LeBron is not a fascist. Craig Newmark didn't go fash.

The ultra wealthy fashy dudes have been hanging out in the same 4chan boards since when they were SWEs and SDEs, to when they were founders and CEOs, to when they were VCs.

They've been like this. Y'all just don't listen to Black people.

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Jack William Bell

@jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com 21 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke

True. Yet wealth does corrupt.

Statement of fact: Being absurdly rich results in an isolation from reality and being surrounded by people who will feed you information you want to hear and otherwise flatter your worst instincts; for money or to serve their own interests.

Theory: Therefore, being absurdly rich is a risk factor for mental health, especially for anyone already prone to narcissism or delusional thinking or who lacks self-awareness. It's like smoking, but for crazy…

mekka okereke :verified:

@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io 18 hr. ago

@jackwilliambell

But we could say that about almost anything.

For example, having a chronic illness results in isolation from those around you. But my friends that live alone at home out of medical necessity, don't go for fash and don't become disconnected from reality.

And even the extreme wealth based isolation is a choice. There are rich people that choose not to isolate themselves from people, but instead to still be connected to normal human beings. That's one of the perks of being obscenely wealthy: you can set up your situation pretty much however you want.🤷🏿‍♂️

Jack William Bell

@jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com 17 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke

You elided the more important half of that statement. The problem isn't being isolated from reality — it's being isolated from reality while other people deliberately create an artificial reality for you to inhabit based on your preferences and prejudices.

Also I rather suspect it's only choice to a certain extent. Forex, security requires some degree of isolation from potential threats.

And it's not like everyone's affected the same. Some have stronger connections to reality.

mekka okereke :verified:

@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io 15 hr. ago

@jackwilliambell

Stop making excuses for trash people.

Most of the NFL and NBA players that I know personally are by definition, extremely wealthy. Most of the tech founders too. Most of the Hollywood people too. Yes, there are security needs. That's not why people go fash. That has absolutely nothing to do with it. It doesn't cause people to become isolated.

If you surround yourself with people that only tell you your farts don't stink? That's not a money problem. That's a you problem.

Jack William Bell

@jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com 14 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke

I don't think I deserve that response. I was not making excuses for them. I was describing the mechanism by which I believe the worst of them become effectively insane — in the sense of a detachment from objective reality.

In fact, in your OP you give a pass to several absurdly rich people because they did some good. However, with the possible exception of Craig Newmark they have varying degrees of the problem I describe. (I don't know enough about LeBron to comment.)

mekka okereke :verified:

@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io 5 hr. ago

@jackwilliambell

I'm not sure if "deserve vs didn't deserve" is the right framing? You made a declarative statement that I elided the most important half of the statement, and then declared what you thought to be the truth.

Verbatim:
"You elided the more important half of that statement. The problem isn't being isolated from reality — it's being isolated from reality while other people deliberately create an artificial reality for you to inhabit based on your preferences and prejudices."

Paraphrased, you didn't say "I think." You said, "I know! You skipped over the most important part."

I'm OK engaging with folks that way too, as long as it's in good faith as I know yours is. But I do tend to match the tenor.

And I didn't give a pass to anyone. We're not talking about "Has this billionaire ever done anything wrong." Or "Is being a billionaire ever defensible." We're talking about "There are actual world war 2 style fascists, enacting ethnic cleansing, talking about white birth rates, trying to exterminate all trans people, trying to bring back child marriage, trying to end women's right to vote, and planning to invade Canada and Mexico and Greenland and Cuba. Did extreme money make them do that?"

Unless you're saying that Mackenzie Scott or Melinda Gates or LeBron James are pushing for those things to happen, we are talking about two very different things.

Cavyherd

@cavyherd@wandering.shop 21 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke

So basically, extreme wealth has the same effects as booze & testosterone: it just makes you more of what you already are.

Fazal Majid

@fazalmajid@social.vivaldi.net 21 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke being (half) black didn't stop Alex Karp (CEO of Palantir) from being ultra-fascist, though.

mekka okereke :verified:

@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io 21 hr. ago

@fazalmajid

Unfortunately, being Black isn't some magical defense against being fascist or supporting nazis. I wish it were.

Being Black didn't stop Kanye from supporting Trump and the alt-right.

Being Jewish isn't either. Being Jewish didn't stop Emil Maurice from helping to found the SS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Maurice

Which is why I say that 95% support is effectively everyone.

The Association of German National Jews had a circulation of 6000 readers in prewar Germany before WW2.🤦🏿‍♂️ There were only about 550,000 Jewish people in Germany at the time, so yeah, 6000 was a lot.

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Mad Engineering

@madengineering@hachyderm.io 21 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke Extreme wealth is associated with endorsement of fascism the same way that excessive drinking is associated with thinking it would be really hillarious to put random things in your butt.

It's not everyone, but in both cases, the external condition allows certain people to believe that bad ideas are good, actually.

Franklin Delano Stallone

@fds@mastodon.social 21 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke I would agree you don't magically become racist by becoming rich. Though I think there have been enough studies now that point out there's at least a higher chance of becoming an asshole. Combine that with being racist and society generally letting rich people do whatever they want, I suppose that can give the appearance that people become racist with wealth.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/sep/03/ig-nobel-prize-awards-2026-winners

the Guardian

Rich people more likely to steal children’s sweets, finds Ig Nobel prize-winning study

We round up the winners at awards for achievements that ‘first make people laugh and then make them think’

Niels Nielsen, geographer

@nichni@mastodonapp.uk 22 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke What would you say about Bill Gates or Warren Buffet?

mekka okereke :verified:

@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io 22 hr. ago

@nichni

If either one was full fascist, I think we would have heard them advocating for it by now. 🤷🏿‍♂️

Their wealth is well above the fascism accountability line.

But I haven't heard either advocating for removing women's right to vote, or conquering Mexico and Canada, or ethnically cleansing the United States, or rolling back civil rights, or starting a fund to pay for an army of Brown shirts, or ending USAID, or closing universities, or promoting "camp of the saints" or promoting child marriage, etc.

Reginald

@raganwald@social.bau-ha.us 23 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke

Greg Titus

@gregtitus@social.coop 23 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke The causation is much more in the other direction. If you have fascist tendencies you think power is important and community and people aren't, so you're willing to be a shit person in order to get rich.

Sasha Akhavi

@sakhavi@aoir.social 23 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke more defensible version of Klein’s argument: extreme wealth is one enabling vector of fash radicalization. The 2 things certainly don’t have zero to do with each other; fascists worship immense wealth and the immensely wealthy. Their lack of worship Mackenzie Scott, or Soros, etc. isn’t hard to fathom; to the fash mindset those ppl aren’t legit owners of wealth bc of their demographics (which is one thing about which I & ppl I know *have* listened to Black folks)

mekka okereke :verified:

@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io 18 hr. ago

@sakhavi

Yeah, they have an obsession with Indian people too, and Vinod Khosla in particular.

They are absolutely terrified of Indian tech founders raising money, having successful companies, and earning billions. They are afraid of Indian people *that do not accept white supremacy* taking over the US tech industry. They are more afraid of this than they are afraid of Black people or Hispanic people.

A primary goal of current US immigration policy, is to drive immigration from India in particular to zero. Yes this will bankrupt many US universities. Yes this will decimate the tech industry. They don't care.

In their eyes, Vinod Khosla is not "deserving" of his wealth, for no reason other than he is Indian.

Don Whiteside

@donw@mastodon.coffee 23 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke it’s the big money version of “i didn’t mean that, I was drunk.” Nah, you just didn’t have the inhibitions against saying it. The money just insulates you against repercussions and convinces people that you just be on to something because SURELY some gutter racist didn’t get rich.

Bynkii

@bynkii@mastodon.social 23 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke wealth is like alcohol. Like you said, it doesn’t change, it just removes the filters, or more correctly, removes the need for filters.

🥑 Yours Truly! Unruly 🇨🇦🇪🇺🇺🇦🌻

@unruly@mastodon.social 23 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke

Extreme wealth us just plain bad anyway.

Yadiel Sotomayor

@ysotomayor@mastodon.social 23 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke Yeah, what garbage is this. Wealth just makes more of who you were. Did no one learned anything from Doli?

Scott marsroverdriver Maxwell

@marsroverdriver@deepspace.social 23 hr. ago

@mekkaokereke Extreme wealth frees you to be whatever you are. If you're a racist piece of shit, extreme wealth will free you to show it.

As you say, they were like this before. They're just like this more *openly* now, because they literally can afford to be.

Octorine

@octorine@fosstodon.org 20 hr. ago

@marsroverdriver @mekkaokereke I think it's more that they can't afford not to be. They figured out that your audits go smoother and your mergers get approved if you go on tv and rail against dei, so they do.

Octorine

@octorine@fosstodon.org 20 hr. ago

@marsroverdriver @mekkaokereke It's worth noting that most of these guys were plenty rich when Obama was president and most of them were giving money to charities and giving speeches about how diversity makes us strong, because that's what going along to get along looked like when sane people were running the country.