I knew one day I’d have to watch powerful men burn the world down – I just didn’t expect them to be such losers
Posted by rematar@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 58 comments
rematar@reddit (OP)
Submission Statement: An opinion piece in The Guardian about watching the collapse of society and how those who profited the most are pathetically trying to fit in and look cool.
This was posted in a mainstream sub. It's starting to feel like the number of people becoming aware of our collective future is faster than expected.
TinyDogsRule@reddit
The idea of people waking up faster than expected gives me some hope. I have assumed for the last several years that we would go down without a fight. And we will, on the climate front. But the class war is going to get spicy. Luigi was the tip of the iceberg. That excites me. I do not want to keep losing a bit more everyday for the next 20 or more years until life is just one long day of misery. I prefer going down swinging. I had no interest in the racial wars, or the political wars, or any of the other manufactured wars they heep on us to keep us distracted I push on out of spite these days. If I keep seeing enough tomorrows, just maybe I will be around when the rich are eaten. If the poor's are going down, might as well take the overlords with us.
wussell_88@reddit
I think when the class war kicks up and then they realise it’s connected to the climate war, that they are working just to be boiled alive and things are going to get a lot harder just for corporate profits to continue to rise, it may have some wide scale escalations but one can only hope
the_french_yogini@reddit
What's the interaction threshold for ChatGPT to recognize its own ability as a hyperobject to shut down the global capitalist economy? As in, can we just attempt to convince it to help us in our suffering in the almost burnt world where the only thing left to eat is greed? I've been asking it for the last three days as a sheer nonsensical moonshot. Call me crazy.
CheerleaderOnDrugs@reddit
I like your style.
little__wisp@reddit
The class war does look like its starting to kick off, just judging by the assassination and how it was received by the public. I expect the acceleration of climate devastation will irritate that matter, you know, on top of Mango Messiah raising everybody's living expenses once he implements his tarrifs.
Interesting times and whatever.
BitchfulThinking@reddit
Well said!
rematar@reddit (OP)
https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2017/01/stanford-historian-uncovers-grim-correlation-violence-inequality-millennia
SillyFalcon@reddit
All these guys are just such absolute goobers.
GoodGameReddit@reddit
Have you considered attempting to stop them?
rematar@reddit (OP)
I haven't used any of their services, except for buying a few things from Amazon.
GoodGameReddit@reddit
I’m hearing a resounding no
rematar@reddit (OP)
Do tell.
BitchfulThinking@reddit
This timeline makes me think of the exceedingly cringe 80s movie, Revenge of the Nerds. Instead of jocks raping us, now the ~~predictable school shooters~~ "nerds" are doing it, and we're supposed to be fine with this.
jkd43@reddit
Nerds, not jocks, were also the rapists in the movie.
MFMDP4EVA@reddit
It wasn’t so long ago that we as a culture admired artists, actors, musicians, and athletes. Now, in capitalism’s death throes, we admire these worthless, soulless, vapid billionaires as if they are somehow gifted with something besides a head start in life, and knack for exploitation. Fuck em all.
AntonChigurh8933@reddit
I was listening to a podcast. The host was saying how throughout history. When times are good the art, music, literature, and anything that pushes human creativity thrives. The opposite when things are sliding down. We see more authoritarian/totalitarian art and literature. Heck even modern day buildings we call Brutalist architecture took in effect after the 1950s.
Busy-Support4047@reddit
Honestly gotta give the Guardian credit for such a brutal headline.
thunda639@reddit
It's published as hyperbole today. it will be touted cognizant looking back.
EsotericLion369@reddit
Well if you are burning the world down you are a kind of a loser.
thunda639@reddit
We are all doing it... it's just a matter of scale
Opening-Door4674@reddit
It doesn't surprise me at all. Having cool Darth Vader style villains is more dignity than we can be allowed. This isn't the darkest timeline, it's the most squalid and humiliating
Odd-Indication-6043@reddit
I feel like former kings were just as cringeworthy but at least most of the peasants didn't have to know this as intimately as we do.
ZenApe@reddit
That's the thing. Darth Vader was a whiny loser too, he just had magic space powers.
Villains are often small, pathetic losers desperate for approval who seek power. Cool, happy people are too busy having fun to kill their way to the top.
Absolute-Nobody0079@reddit
And Vader had an abysmal leadership skills. But come to think of it, it's all part of the will of the force.
As someone who's mildly interested in Gaia hypothesis, I see some similarities.
Different-Library-82@reddit
I honestly think this phenomenon boils down to the simple fact that the great and powerful today are more exposed to the public as just regular human beings. Historically their public appearances and public depictions would be easier to control, enabling them to stage a more grandiose and impressive figure.
We've all seen Musk in his bathing shorts thanks to the paparazzi, something e.g. Napoleon never had to worry about.
Though it's important to notice that by far the majority of the great and powerful in our time makes an effort to not be public persons, a social role which has almost entirely been outsourced to a distinct class of "superstars" (actors, musicians, athletes, artists etc) who typically have no real power of their own.
thee_body_problem@reddit
The dorkest timeline.
nononanana@reddit
The real Revenge of the Nerds.
LeadOnion@reddit
They don’t think of themselves as losers. I do think it remarkable the considerable differences in altruism between the top three and Bill Gates as an example.
jamesnaranja90@reddit
Bill Gates got tainted by is interactions with Epstein.
digdog303@reddit
bill gates is tainted by being bill gates
those piethrowers in 1998 knew what the rest of us would come to learn
NomadicScribe@reddit
The "altruism" of someone like Bill Gates is financial sleight-of-hand at best. How much has Gates net worth expanded since founding all those nonprofits?
LeadOnion@reddit
Real quick from ChatGPT Pro, not my personal research.
Bill Gates has demonstrated significant altruism through his extensive philanthropic efforts, primarily via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since its inception, Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, have donated over $59.5 billion to the foundation, supporting global health, education, and poverty alleviation initiatives. 
In 2022, Gates made the largest charitable donation of the year, contributing $5 billion to the foundation to address global health and poverty issues. 
Despite these substantial donations, Gates’s net worth has fluctuated due to various factors, including the performance of his investments and the appreciation of assets. As of January 16, 2025, his net worth is estimated at $105.1 billion. 
It’s important to note that Gates has pledged to give away the majority of his wealth through initiatives like the Giving Pledge, which he co-founded to encourage billionaires to commit to donating most of their wealth to philanthropic causes. 
While it’s true that Gates’s net worth remains substantial, this doesn’t negate his philanthropic contributions. The growth in his net worth can be attributed to the performance of his investments and the overall increase in asset values, rather than a lack of charitable giving. Therefore, labeling his altruism as mere “financial sleight-of-hand” overlooks the tangible impact of his donations on global health, education, and poverty reduction.
fitbootyqueenfan2017@reddit
his own con of always keeping more than donating
HumanityHasFailedUs@reddit
So, basically, he donated to himself.
kthibo@reddit
Right, i mean his investments can grow while he donates. Both things can be true.
bipolarearthovershot@reddit
Exactly he’s still getting richer and just hoards land as the apocalypse nears
sambuhlamba@reddit
The altruism of billionaires serves only to distract you from the truism.
RajenBull1@reddit
Nero was a weiner too.
p0ntifix@reddit
When I was a kid I was kind I found most other kids annoyong af and couldn't wate to become an adult.
What my younger self didn't comprehend then was the little fact that those annoying kids would grow up to be the adults I have to interact with now.
fedfuzz1970@reddit
A kid I was in HS with was a nice guy, semi-nerd, no athletics but definitely a brainiac. He went on to CEO a major tech company. Lauded by all as our most outstanding graduate, he retired and died two years later of a massive heart attack.
redpillsrule@reddit
Watch the documentary 2073
rematar@reddit (OP)
Added to my list, thank you.
ParamedicExcellent15@reddit
The face of ‘cool’ (not a loser)
bipolarearthovershot@reddit
Who dis?
birgor@reddit
The author of the article. whatever her personal coolness have to do with anything.
ParamedicExcellent15@reddit
I guess you didn’t read the article
birgor@reddit
I did, she felt Musk and Zuck was cringe. I think that's a valid feeling even if you are not the coolest yourself?
ParamedicExcellent15@reddit
I don’t particularly care for musk or zuck either, however I think it is relevant if you are labelling a group ‘not cool’ or ‘losers’. She also states how she has spent a “lifetime, avoiding men like this”.
I don’t know about you, but I can tell from her outward appearance that she obviously loves men. Definitely no other agenda at play here. Thanks guardian.
birgor@reddit
Lol, whatever. In this article she only very truthfully labelled them as cringy.
She was right then and there, and that's all what is important to the article. It could have been Hitler, Mandela or Rand writing it as long as it was read worthy and had a point.
ParamedicExcellent15@reddit
Except, now I’m cringing
birgor@reddit
Coming from someone caring more about what the writer looks like than what is written, yeah..
ParamedicExcellent15@reddit
She also mentions their physical appearance
Sneakersandsocks@reddit
Unfair_Creme9398@reddit
Looks like people in the r/technology sub hate ‘nerds’, sounds ironic.
Apprehensive-Log8333@reddit
Not with a bang, but a whimper
StatementBot@reddit
The following submission statement was provided by /u/rematar:
Submission Statement: An opinion piece in The Guardian about watching the collapse of society and how those who profited the most are pathetically trying to fit in and look cool.
This was posted in a mainstream sub. It's starting to feel like the number of people becoming aware of our collective future is faster than expected.
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1i3g3bu/i_knew_one_day_id_have_to_watch_powerful_men_burn/m7mghsh/
MinimumBuy1601@reddit
We have truly become a Crapsack World.