Three of those billionaires made their fortunes by stealing other’s work and exploiting other’s labor. I might dislike Taylor Swift’s music but it is her music and her work that made her a billionaire. When someone stole her work from under her, she re-recorded it from scratch and then put on the most profitable tour in history with each show being 3+ hours long.
I’m not a Swifty, but I also don’t think she qualifies to join that evil as fuck trio.
Of all the things to be wealthy for, making music and brining people a little bit of joy ain’t bad. Don’t condone the jet or the lifestyle. But I don’t think it’s fair to lump her in with exon and zuk
Yeah I’m not a fan of her private jet shenanigans or her music, but the other 3 also use private jets like it’s going out of style, and are nowhere close to her when it comes to societal impact. If you wanted a 4th you can use one of our own billionaires from the old continent like Bernard Arnault (who is allegedly pals with Musk)
Not close to as evil as the others for sure. But there’s a lot of labor that goes into making music and into touring that she didn’t do herself. Does all her talent make it right that she makes thousands of times more money per hour of labor as all those others?
It’s people’s money that made her a billionaire, if she became a billionaire it’s because everyone who ever paid for something that brought her money was overpaying. It’s the same for each and every billionaire, even the ones you appreciate, you’re paying too much for shit so they can have more money than they can spend in a lifetime.
“I got my money’s worth!” Well no buddy, you only think so because there’s always a billionaire at the top inflating the price of everything, your money is worth a lot more if they all disappear.
I guess that all the people who downvoted think that it’s perfectly ok for billionaires to exist…
I think it’s more your implication that every time anyone make a purchase they get duped or scammed as if they’re stupid and helpless.
This is also why all the people insisting “Proof that Valve/Steam are SCAMMING you” are hated and rightfully cast aside. People pay for Steam and enjoy what they get.
Everyone but the ultra rich get duped and scammed in this system, we don’t have a choice but to pay the price we’re being charged, but the price we’re being charged is inflated to enrich the few without and benefits to the majority!
I’m not going to argue that Taylor Swift doesn’t deserve to be on the billionaire list somewhere, but if you were only going to include 4, why would she make the cut?
Insofar as Swifties need to be reminded from time to time that their favorite billionaire is still a billionaire, with all the problems that entails, I support reminding them, but Swift being put up as some major public enemy lately is weird.
Cuz she a billionaire maybe???
That doesn’t explain why she’s on the list instead of the multitude of other, more noxious billionaires.
It makes it look more like someone just doesn’t like TS so they’re trying to say she’s as bad as musk or bezos.
She’s definitely not as bad as these other fuck bags. That is for sure. But she still represents how and why the system we live in is broken.
She is just as selfish tho and I think that’s the real issue.
How does she represent a broken system? People, of their own free will, pay money to go to her concerts. Are you saying they shouldn’t be allowed to do that?
I get the issues around for example Amazon and its algorithmic price fixing and monopolistic behaviours, or with oil companies destroying the environment. But all this woman does is go around playing music that her fans love.
Her concerts aren’t how she makes all her money, but even then her private jets are awful for the environment, and her band does not make anywhere near the money she makes.
She has merchandise, stocks, REIT, etc. All of those have their own baggage and unethical aspects. I’m so tired of you people treating her as an exception. Nobody can become a billionaire without exploiting the labor of vast amounts of other people, including Taylor Swift.
But even if you want to argue music, she’s not a sole instrumentalist and producer. She has a production team. She uses session musicians. All of those people are exploited labor.
Of course her fans should get to see her perform. She should not be allowed to be a human Smaug, and accumulate inconceivable amounts of wealth because of it, especially when the system begets even “individual producers” to exploit the labor of swaths of other people.
Ah so you’re saying that it’s perfectly fine to have billionaires?
If you can’t see what is wrong with a system that creates billionaires then there isn’t much left to talk about.
Just so you know, this is a textbook straw man fallacy.
Sounds like you need to look up the meaning behind what a strawman argument is because you’re way off.
It’s a system where we’re free to give money to whoever we want in exchange for goods or services. Maybe you’d prefer a system where we all are forced to get the exact same thing!
How about a system where those who earn more pay their fare share of taxes? Eliminates the billionaires and still let’s swiftys swift.
Replace Swift with Putin and I’m back on board.
I get that tswift is a billionaire, but she doesn’t belong in this meme.
Quit trying to equate her to the oligarchs. She hasn’t demonstrated any of those tendencies.
This is practically jaywalking compared to the other people in this meme.
The point isn’t to subject them to gradation, it’s to note the damages they all do in their different ways.
Taylor isn’t exempt from being held responsible for her part just because she’s a nice person.
I mean what is she supposed to do, take a riverboat to her next tour? She’s a direct result of a larger cultural fascination, not the problem itself.
There’s plenty she could do and tons of other acts throughout history that managed to do what she does with a smaller carbon footprint.
“She has no choice!” is not an argument to defend what she does.
Perfection is the enemy of good
Asking someone to reduce their carbon footprint isn’t asking for perfection. It’s simply asking them to participate.
And a blatant refusal to do so is what earned her her spot on this list.
I’m sure she’s a nice person- but being nice doesn’t excuse one from the responsibility of their actions.
The cultural fascination with her doesn’t demand that she use private jets to fly almost 200,000 miles a year.
Nobody should be a billionaire. There is no labor that can be done to become a billionaire ethically.
I agree with this take and upvoted you. But she is a billionaire, and also a genuinely good person who’s supported her fans, the people that work with her, etc. I don’t think there should be any billionaires, and I suspect TSwift would likely agree with that.
That’s the difference between her and the actual oligarchs pictured. They’re scum of the earth. She’s guilty of wage exploitation, but capitalism is designed around that idea, so she’s just playing the game.
She’s not off the deep end like so many other billionaires.
There’s shades of gray here. We can agree there shouldn’t be billionaires on principle, and also agree that not all billionaires are using their ill-gotten wealth for pure evil, like the other 3 pictured in the “meme”.
Yeah, I also agree she doesn’t really deserve to be in this meme. She’s not as bad as the others on here. However, I suspect the original creator put her on the meme so this discussion could be had, which is honestly very smart.
At the end of the day, I think it should be criminal to hoard the amount of wealth that constitutes being a billionaire. I would “take action” against any and all billionaires given the circumstances, even Taylor Swift. Eat the rich. Distribute the wealth.
You can’t abolish wealth, it’s practically impossible. Instead, close the loopholes that make them that rich.
You can’t get rid of hard work
I think Bezos, Musk, and Zuck are each much more of a planetwrecker than Swift.
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