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1. Embed this notice
   goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 04:21:50 JST goatsarah

   Imagine being Elon Musk, or Donald Trump, or Boris Johnson. You have more money than you know what to do with. You could literally afford to go to whatever paradise you want and spend the days of your one life doing whatever you please.

   They came so tantalisingly close to having more fulfilling and carefree lives than 99.99% of humans who have ever lived, but instead they want the masses to fear and adore them.

   And they are utterly miserable, because nothing will fill the void, and the more they try, the more they debase themselves in front of billions, and the people they most need to respect them probably think they’re losers.

   Idiots. Fools. Losers.

   Musk is the worst of them. Read some Iain M Banks books, didn’t understand any of then, decided to save the world by becoming a solar power and electric vehicle magnate with space colonies.

   But instead he is approaching old age as the proprietor of a bankrupt nazi chat room, and none of his kids will speak to him.

   How can you have so many advantages and yet fuck up so amazingly completely?

   • Embed this notice
     ⠠⠵ avuko (avuko@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 04:34:15 JST ⠠⠵ avuko

     in reply to

     @goatsarah I’m willing to bet there is quite some (childhood) causation behind that “rich & pathetic” correlation.

   • Embed this notice
     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 04:34:15 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     • ⠠⠵ avuko
     @avuko I wouldn’t bet against you.
   • Embed this notice
     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 04:39:46 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     • Angie 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦

     @angiebaby Well quite, but that has the prerequisite of being a well adjusted person.

     And these clowns … ain’t.

   • Embed this notice
     Angie 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦 (angiebaby@mas.to)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 04:39:47 JST Angie 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦

     in reply to

     @goatsarah

     I cannot possibly consider anything more awesome, if I came into billionaire money, than putting enough aside to keep me modestly comfortable for the rest of my life, and then use the rest of it to change other people's lives.

   • Embed this notice
     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 05:19:22 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     • Bob Thomson
     • Paul 💙
     @bobthomson70 @PGBeattie Yeah. Bit childish of them really. Too scared of dying to live.
   • Embed this notice
     Bob Thomson (bobthomson70@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 05:19:23 JST Bob Thomson

     in reply to

     • Paul 💙

     @PGBeattie @goatsarah personally I think that is their problem - money has given them power to do as they please but they can’t cheat death, the great leveller we all must deal with and it drives them to distraction. They are all terrified of being dead and forgotten and irrelevant.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul 💙 (pgbeattie@mastodonapp.uk)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 05:19:24 JST Paul 💙

     in reply to

     @goatsarah

     So true .. the fact is all these wealthy people will eventually die and rot away

     They will leave their kids wealthy, but in a world a bit shittier because they existed.

     Their kids have a choice of emulating their parents or trying to repair the damage for their kids.

     So it will continue until they either die trying to make the world better or die with their money being of little value in a future shithole

   • Embed this notice
     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 05:23:32 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     • Bob Thomson
     • Paul 💙
     @PGBeattie @bobthomson70 I honestly could not find it in me to give fewer shits about what people think about me when I die.
   • Embed this notice
     Paul 💙 (pgbeattie@mastodonapp.uk)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 05:23:33 JST Paul 💙

     in reply to

     • Bob Thomson

     @bobthomson70 @goatsarah

     I like to think of Nobel who saw his obituary in error when he was still alive

     If they could see how the world will perceive them when they are dead... It might rip their arrogance away from them

     Very few wealthy individuals are going to be thought of well after they are dead.

     The people who suck up to them now... Won't give them a thought in death

   • Embed this notice
     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 06:00:32 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     • Jack William Bell
     @jackwilliambell I had one of those too.
   • Embed this notice
     Jack William Bell (jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 06:00:33 JST Jack William Bell

     in reply to

     @goatsarah

     > How can you have so many advantages and yet fuck up so amazingly completely?

     One word: Narcissism.

     I grew up with a malignant narcissist parent. I know this territory well.

   • Embed this notice
     WMK (weimingkai@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 07:01:46 JST WMK

     in reply to

     @goatsarah

     How indeed?

     It's almost as if concentrating wealth and power in the hands of flawed individuals doesn't produce outcomes that benefit humanity as a whole and may likely be a huge impediment to Democratic societies being able to confront and solve existential threats and shared problems.

     Tax these myopic, irresponsible, and dangerous man-babies so that they can enjoy their lives of luxury without trying to burn down the world to satisfy their deranged egos.

     goatsarah likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Jay Stephens (jaystephens@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 07:35:16 JST Jay Stephens

     in reply to

     @goatsarah yeah I cut Elon slack for a while because of the Iain Banks awareness... Boy did it become painfully clear he read them at an eighth grade level.

     goatsarah likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 07:40:54 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     Did you read Surface Detail?

     He’s Veppers.

   • Embed this notice
     Mastodon Migration (mastodonmigration@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 07:45:20 JST Mastodon Migration

     in reply to

     @goatsarah

     Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer now dead, and I were at a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island. I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than your novel ‘Catch-22’ has earned in its entire history?”
     And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”
     And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”
     And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”
     Not bad! Rest in peace!

     — Kurt Vonnegut

     goatsarah likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     thestrangelet :fedora: (thestrangelet@fosstodon.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 08:08:57 JST thestrangelet :fedora:

     in reply to

     @goatsarah A combination of narcissism, no self awareness, and huge sense of entitlement? I'd almost feel sorry for them, but they are the cause of suffering for so many others, so I can't.

     goatsarah likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Patrick Hadfield (patrickhadfield@mastodon.scot)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 09:33:01 JST Patrick Hadfield

     in reply to

     @goatsarah your critique of Musk is brilliant, and spot on!

     goatsarah likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Some Guy Named Chris (signalthirteen@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 14:14:15 JST Some Guy Named Chris

     in reply to

     @goatsarah In a world where you can be anything you want to, why on earth do they decide to be them.

     goatsarah likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Tut Willy 🔱 (tutwilly@better.boston)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 14:24:19 JST Tut Willy 🔱

     in reply to

     • Angie 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦
     • PiousunynHeretic

     @PiousunynHeretic @angiebaby @goatsarah
     Cats & dogs aren't broken. 🤓

   • Embed this notice
     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 14:24:19 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     • Angie 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦
     • Tut Willy 🔱
     • PiousunynHeretic
     @tutwilly @angiebaby @PiousunynHeretic you haven’t met my in-laws’ dog.
   • Embed this notice
     PiousunynHeretic (piousunynheretic@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 14:24:20 JST PiousunynHeretic

     in reply to

     • Angie 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦

     @angiebaby @goatsarah

     If I came into billions, I would sponser fixing dogs, cats and Republicans.

   • Embed this notice
     PiousunynHeretic (piousunynheretic@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 14:24:21 JST PiousunynHeretic

     in reply to

     • Angie 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦

     @angiebaby @goatsarah

   • Embed this notice
     mybarkingdogs (mybarkingdogs@freeradical.zone)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 15:12:30 JST mybarkingdogs

     in reply to

     @goatsarah I would gently request removing "i*iot" as it is unnecessarily ableist language and plenty of people with less "intellectual" resources than these assholes have also been far less harmful and more caring. Thank you

   • Embed this notice
     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 15:12:30 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     • mybarkingdogs
     @mybarkingdogs Your request has been given due consideration.
   • Embed this notice
     pettter (pettter@mastodon.acc.umu.se)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 18:33:20 JST pettter

     in reply to

     @goatsarah a good time to plug 'You Are Jeff Bezos' https://philome.la/KrisLigman/you-are-jeff-bezos/index.html

     Though I believe the amounts are from 2018 and no doubt is even more ludicrous now.

   • Embed this notice
     Matthew Daly (matthewbdaly@mstdn.social)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 22:22:57 JST Matthew Daly

     in reply to

     @goatsarah MySpace Tom has the right idea.

     His wealth isn't enough for a personal space program, but it's enough he's free from ever having to worry about money again as long as he doesn't waste it on crap like super yachts. Now he has multiple homes across the world and spends his time travelling and enjoying himself. That's a much more mature approach and I would wager he's far, far happier than Elon Musk will ever be.

     goatsarah likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 22:22:58 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     Irony is, it’s entirely possible to win at life and get the adulation and respect they so deeply want, while leaving their impact on the world.

     Just look at Dolly Parton.

     But their egos get in the way. They all want to be Julius fucking Caesar.

   • Embed this notice
     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 22:36:40 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     • Fish Id Wardrobe
     @fishidwardrobe with Trump it certainly is.
   • Embed this notice
     Fish Id Wardrobe (fishidwardrobe@social.tchncs.de)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 22:36:41 JST Fish Id Wardrobe

     in reply to

     @goatsarah I wonder whether one day we will look back on these people and know that, as well as being shitty as people, they also didn't have anywhere near as much actual money as they claimed; that it was mostly a shell game.

   • Embed this notice
     Angie 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦 (angiebaby@mas.to)'s status on Monday, 29-Jan-2024 08:05:07 JST Angie 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦

     in reply to

     • Fluffy Kitty Cat

     @fluffykittycat @goatsarah

     I paid for the groceries of the woman in front of me at the supermarket yesterday when her EBT card wouldn't work. It cost me less than $30, but it meant the world to her. She started to cry, we hugged, and I helped her bag her things.

     Now imagine that, but billionaire levels of money.

     goatsarah likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Fluffy Kitty Cat (fluffykittycat@furry.engineer)'s status on Monday, 29-Jan-2024 08:05:08 JST Fluffy Kitty Cat

     in reply to

     • Angie 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦

     @angiebaby @goatsarah that's pretty much what I'd do too

   • Embed this notice
     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Wednesday, 31-Jan-2024 13:12:43 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     • enantiomer
     @enantiomer And sure as shit didn't understand Surface Detail.
   • Embed this notice
     enantiomer (enantiomer@stoat.zone)'s status on Wednesday, 31-Jan-2024 13:12:44 JST enantiomer

     in reply to

     @goatsarah

     He skipped Complicity