• webdoodle@lemmy.mlEnglish
    873·
    1 year ago

    I’ve been trying to organize a protest of the Billionaires since 2019. The richest and most despicable of them meet each year in Sun Valley Idaho, at the Billionaires SummerCamp the week after 4th of July. They’ve held it every year for 37 years, except for 2020.

    This conference is where the Billionaires issue there marching orders to the Operation Mockingbird media: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, but also old media like NBC, ABC, New York Times, Fox News, CNN, etc. It is attended by Musk, Theil, Schmidt, Fuckerberg, etc, but is also attended by several former CIA Directors, CIA propaganda staff and military PSYOP intelligence professionals.

    Sun Valley is an extremely small town, nestled in the rugged Rocky Mountains, with only 3 main entrances. Protests at one or all of these locations would cause significant disruptions for the event, and would be very hard to ignore.

    My 18+ year moderator account on Reddit was attacked, hazed, and eventually suspended for promoting this very protest. I was allowed to be doxxed by Reddit admins repeatedly, including a nasty brigading effort initiated on /r/SubRedditDrama. None of the offenders were sanctioned in any way, and continue to operate on Reddit hazing and harassing other people. At least one person called the FBI and claimed I was a dangerous terrorist, in an attempt to get me swatted.

    About 10 days later, I was interviewed by the FBI, and thanked for my time, including a well wishing that my Sun Valley protest would be a success. I’ve a filed FOIA request on this investigation and other related issues to the FBI, and am awaiting the result.

    • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
      22·
      1 year ago

      Here’s a Forbes (warning: certainly a publication funded by these ghouls) article about it. It sounds absolutely vile.

      The beautiful mountain resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho, will again be overwhelmed with private jets, bodyguards, and entourages, as the world’s wealthiest attend the 40th annual media finance conference hosted and funded by private investment firm Allen & Company.

      …

      The coveted invites to the gathering went out to the top 1% of CEOs, their families, investors, and brilliant scientific minds. Most guests arrive by private jets, (which resulted in a ground stop issued by the FAA last year due to extreme congestion.) For five days, the famous moguls all wear name badges like us common folk, listen to speeches, sit in on panels about politics, healthcare, and the economy, and join in on group activities from golf to fly-fishing, hiking, and cycling.

      …

      The opportunity to take the layer of wealth and fame off the table allows people to really be themselves, to live in the moment, feel humbled (lmao wtf), and appreciate the simple things in life that make this place special.

      …

      Also invited were Lawrence Summers, Hank Paulson, former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, former CIA chief David Petraeus, Warren Buffett, former American Express chief Kenneth Chenault, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Annox Capital’s Bob Myeloid, and Facebook investor Peter Thiel.

      Ghouls. Protest isn’t enough, we need to [REDACTED]

      • Cruxifux@lemmy.world
        4·
        1 year ago

        Man I sure would be happy if a [REDACTED] went off at this event and [REDACTED] a bunch of those billionaires.

    • beteljuice@lemmy.ml
      21·
      1 year ago

      This is wild. Do you have a blog or somewhere where you publish details around this story?

    • Sanctus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      Let me know how I can help spread the word! This might actually be a viable avenue as long as all signs have clear, concise, and unified messaging.

      • webdoodle@lemmy.mlEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        In 2024, I’ll start posting on it on /c/Intelligence in early spring. I had done the same thing on Reddit in 2021. I even created a dedicated Sub, which got nuked from orbit: /r/SunValley2021.

  • uniqueid198x@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    651·
    1 year ago

    I saw someone the other doy talk about the politics of guys like Musk and Thiel and say their politics were “genericaly liberal”. Its a stance you can only hove when you don’t pay attention. Their political affiliation is Billionare, and all Billionares act in a way to preserve and enhance their position.

  • Chariotwheel@kbin.social
    35·
    1 year ago

    I’ve seen an interesting documentary about the wealthy in Germany and how they generally differ from e.g. American wealthy. In Germany most of the wealthy pretend to not be that wealthy. They dress rather ordinarily and keep it lowkey. We don’t even know how many of the richest Germans look like currently, because advertising wealth is not seen as positive here than in the United States.

    Doesn’t mean that the German wealthy are more virtous or anything, they’re just keeping it down and are thus less bothered.

    Most people strive to be seen as Mittelstand. Not poor, but not obscenely wealthy. Which lead to a funny episode where Friedrich Merz, head of the CDU and owner of two private jets, said in an interview that he was upper Mittelstand.

    • edric@lemm.ee
      12·
      1 year ago

      To be fair, that’s true to some extent in the US and most developed countries too. Outside of the popular billionaires constantly on the news, the true wealthy (or old money rich as another comment said) lay low and try not to attract attention to themselves. The ones who flaunt their wealth are newly rich or not actually wealthy enough but want to be seen as such.

      • CaptKoala@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Agreed, my wealth is building, but I’m not well off. I don’t want to be viewed as struggling, though in some respects I still am, and likely will be for some time. That said, I’ve spent the past 10 or so years really focussing on comfort above all else. I’ve got all the tools/toys I need for my hobbies, a stable and livable income (hard to come by these days) as well as growing savings and investments.

        While I’m not well off, the only showy parts of my life are my vehicles. Everything is relatively low-key or intended purely for me, such as gaming rig, 3d printer etc.

        As a former (and possibly returning) shiftworker, having multiple forms of transport is near compulsory due to my location and nearby infrastructure shortfalls.

        Where convenient I will usually ride my skateboard (eskate) for shorter trips weather permitting, whereas for pleasure I have a motorcycle, and finally for inclement weather or when I need to carry items, the car.

        Apart from these things, the only thing i could want for is to not be renting, I’m glad that is almost the only and largest difficulty currently facing me. I do not envy those less fortunate than I.

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.caEnglish
    162·
    1 year ago

    Billionaires are a glorified version of the local crazy cat person in your town.

    They keep collecting cats even though it is unhealthy, unsanitary, unnecessary, unsafe, nonsensical, useless, unhelpful and detrimental to the health of the person and others around them.

    It doesn’t matter to them because they keep collecting more … no matter what anyone says.

    The only difference is that we call one crazy and we place a picture of the other on Time magazine and call them a genius.

    • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.worldOP
      8·
      1 year ago

      I can’t imagine having that much money and not sharing. I daydream about winning the lottery so I can just help people in need. My community would be helped so much if I could do it, we have people living in tents in parks in the city. I could get them housing and pay their rent and barely make a dent in wealth.

  • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
    143·
    1 year ago

    The wealth of all 2660 billionaires combined is $12.2 Trillion. Spread that wealth around to everyone in the world and every single person, including the billion people who live on less than $1/day, would get $1,550.

    • ramble81@lemm.ee
      18·
      1 year ago

      The issue has never been that some people will ultimately make more than others. With the exception of people on lemmygrad servers, an “everyone gets an equal share” approach is not what most people are looking for. It’s more that the division of wealth is massively unequal and that those with that obscene wealth are wielding it in ways that run counter to the common good.

      Most people understand that you’ll have some rich people, but there needs to be better means to support poorer people in a relative manner and that isn’t possible right now.

      • kugel7c@feddit.de
        7·
        1 year ago

        It’s not everyone gets an equal share but “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” this is the aim of socialism and what most people on lemmygrad probably want to achieve.

        And we are so far away from that, and rich people defend their privilege so violently, that a transition towards it is transformative or in other words revolutionary.

        Capitalism will never approach that because capital will always defend itself and thus always exploit the worker and nature, for it’s own gain. It will always write the laws create the systems and create the plurality of news and culture to support itself. It will spin up system upon inneficent system (…) just to not give up the last bit of profit and control.

        Providing an alternative will never be as easy as “everyone gets an equal share” and every socialist will know that. The only people who will provide this reductive explanation will be people who know next to nothing about socialism, or even just communism / ML. Or have been thoroughly indoctrinated despite good knowledge. At least all the socialists I’ve read or heard have tried to find a much more nuanced alternative, instead of pretending there’s just no point or no need to search for one.

    • novibe@lemmy.mlEnglish
      12·
      1 year ago

      And to be clear, that is not the biggest issue with billionaires. It’s the accumulation of capital, not wealth itself. Capital being in their hands, under capitalism, means they rule the system. So the 2660 billionaires control most of the capital of the world, and thus most of the world. Because y’know, capitalism. The system where having capital directly translates into power. The system the bourgeoisie fought to implement, in violent revolutions, against feudalism. Which is the system where “God” says who deserves power.

      But there were more than 2660 lords and kings…. So we’re literally living in a less equal system, numerically, than feudalism. Lmao good job humans.

      • CaptKoala@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        The duality of humanity, smart enough to fix almost any challenge we’re faced with, but lazy af unless properly motivated.

        Having just spent a significant amount of time recovering from a nerve injury, I can attest most wouldn’t make near full recovery (as I have), or in as short a time, primarily due to a lack of personal drive and motivation.

        This is clear and present in the fact that, the majority of folks allowed to have kids, drive cars and get on a soapbox online to share their “opinion” (useless regurgitated garbage they saw on TikTok) are either not educated enough, or do not care enough to put their effort into something fulfilling and worthwhile, because that takes EFFORT. Something so few seem willing to put in these days, it’s saddening. Convenience over security and safety I guess.

        I’ll sit here with my popcorn and happily watch the human race sleepwalk into dystopia, we’re already so close! That’s not to say I don’t make a significant effort, just that my expectations are so low at this point I’m not sure it’ll make a difference.

    • unfreeradical@lemmy.world
      11·
      1 year ago

      1. For someone living in a marginalized country, on a few dollars per day or less, such a sum is worth far more than for someone in the imperial core.

      2. Taxing the rich, and other activity framed around the concept of redistribution, promises at best a provisional and shallow remedy for the deeper ills of society, which are born of the social relationships by which wealth originally is generated through labor.

        Your objection is as shallow as the remedy it challenges.

    • flipht@kbin.social
      12·
      1 year ago

      They are all using the wealth of a small nation to push their personal agenda.

      So while some might have good intentions, and some might be cartoon villains, it is still a disproportionately powerful individual who is able to subvert all the rest of us without breaking a sweat.

  • Supervisor194@lemmy.world
    8·
    1 year ago

    If you have enough money to personally sway a government you are one of the most dangerous things in existence.

  • henfredemars@infosec.pubEnglish
    5·
    1 year ago

    Why? You can’t possibly check every single one… oh wait it’s actually not that long of a list because that’s such an obscene amount of money.

    • unfreeradical@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 year ago

      We know how they spend.

      Musk makes himself visible, and so many consider him influential, but it remains unclear that his posts and interviews carry greater overall influence than all the media funded by the Kochs and the Wilkses, who hide in obscurity while everwhere spreading their oily money.