JA Westenberg

The fox had missed the party.

Nobody even noticed he was gone.

When they realized he was back, they ate him.

And he was bloody delicious.

So it goes.

https://www.joanwestenberg.com/on-bunkers-and-billionaire-exit-strategies/

On Bunkers and Billionaire Exit Strategies

The billionaire with the bunker in New Zealand isn't actually preparing for the apocalypse. Not really. He's telling us a story. It's a story about scarcity and exclusivity, about knowing something others don't, about having options when others won't. The ultra-wealthy don't build elaborate escape plans because they necessarily believe

westenberg.
Mar 24, 2025 at 12:35amPubler
Show threadWilliam ThorpeMar 24, 2025

@Daojoan

Córy Doctorow had a good short story on this theme - "The Masque of the Red Death"

Show threadRaj Patel Mar 24, 2025
@Daojoan If its any consolation a lot of ANZ people hate these billionaires too.
Show threadTheOcarinaOfPrimeMar 24, 2025
@Daojoan we don't have to wait for the storm to eat
Show threadsu_liamMar 24, 2025
@TheLegendOfThrill @Daojoan But the funniest thing would be to send the cement trucks while the plane is in flight.
Show threadzl2todMar 24, 2025

@Daojoan

Leaving aside #CitizenThiel just for a moment, this from 1981:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ6Oprdmivk

Dream Home in NZ (2012 Remaster)

YouTube
Show threadMastodon MigrationMar 24, 2025

@Daojoan

Joan, your excellent essay calls to mind a fantastic short story written by Norman Spinrad called Carcinoma Angels that was published in Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions anthology in 1967.

https://talesofmytery.blogspot.com/2014/03/norman-spinrad-carcinoma-angels.html?m=1

Norman Spinrad: Carcinoma Angels

Tales of Mystery and Imagination.The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown

Show threadDianeMar 24, 2025

@Daojoan

I have sometimes wondered if we should remind the billionaires who believe they can escape is that there is no bunker that cannot be opened with enough explosives.

Show threadMosenMar 24, 2025
@Daojoan good points made as per usual! I think the bunker reveals even more of the billionaire psyche. It says that they don’t see society as necessary, but rather something that exists because they want it to. I say this because the bunker is kind of this encapsulation of self sufficiency with no need for anyone else. It’s a very narcissistic view of survival.
Show threadBuckRogers1965Mar 24, 2025

@Daojoan

Those bunkers only work until I drive up with a full honey dipper truck and pump it all into the air intake.

Show threadN8Mar 24, 2025
@Daojoan This is the absolute best fable.
Show threadpenbyeMar 25, 2025

@Daojoan don't be alarmed people, the rich love to invest in things who doesn't give them profit or power and are driving lambos all the time, yee, they are greedy just whenever we want them to be, we will do cannibalism and shi.

...

I just can't take you-all seriously fr.