Politics

Even earlier on people mused on this particular habit. In 1577 French essayist Étienne de la Boétie wrote his Discourse on voluntary servitude where he explored why people seemed to prefer an autocrat who robbed them over freedom.

To him, the great mystery of politics was obedience to rulers. Why in the world do people agree to be looted and otherwise oppressed by government overlords?

According to de la Boétie people prefer being a courtier to a decisive overlord over making their own choices, backseating and deferring responsibility rather than deciding for themselves.

It's ~~dad~~ sad that in 450 years that doesn't seem to have changed.

I've been thinking about this article since you posted it. I think there's one more category that's necessary to include here. Along with the helpless, the bandit, the intelligent, and the stupid, we should also include the plutocrats. Unlike most people, plutocrats are privileged in such a way that they are never forced to develop past that stage most of us do in early childhood when we realized we are not personally entitled to own everything.

The plutocrats are similar to the stupid in that there is much they don't know and don't care to know. Unlike the stupid, they are immune from the short-term consequences of their stupidity. The consequences of the collection of power and wealth in very few hands don't tend to come up for generations, so most plutocrats never have to consider the consequences of their behavior. In the short term, anything that increases their wealth is the only thing they ever have to consider.

When the bandit decides to present to the plutocrats that most of the workforce can be replaced by ChatGPT 4.0, it really doesn't matter to them whether that's actually true or not. The nature of finance means that if the people with the money believe that it's true and put the weight of their valuation behind it, the value of their all their assets increases. They made sure over the course of decades that our economy is not based on production or productivity but financial value as perceived by completely ignorant and selfish plutocrats. They were able to invest in such a way in our government as to capture it from Buckley V Valeo in the 70's and culminating in de jure oligarchy in 2010 with the Citizen's United decision. Their investments, not the invisible hand, have guided the private and public US economy for decades.

Plutocrats are for anything that is against socialism. Anything at all. They are not affected by economics, as they are advantaged either way it goes. Either their current assets are increasing in value or an economic downturn causes assets to be readily available for cheap for anyone who wasn't wiped out by the effects of the economy. Fascism means nothing to them because they are above the limits of nationality. They can live whatever lifestyle they wish anywhere in the world. Literally anything that is against social, political, and economic equity is in their fiduciary interests. This is stupid because they can't solve their deep emotional problems from their inhuman upbringing through the accumulation of wealth however hard they try. They are so clearly sick and it's truly stupid to let such sick people be in charge of so much.