Ricki Yasha Tarr
I feel like the conspiracy theorists are just gobsmacked right now, like pretty much all their theories were true, just not about the people they thought.
Feb 10 at 4:50amWeb
Show threadRicki Yasha TarrFeb 10

Okay, some of the people they thought.

I didn't want to believe that every wealthy person was the worst kind of evil, but they are doing their absolute best to convince me otherwise.

Show threadRobert WatkinsFeb 10
@RickiTarr indeed. Does wealth make people evil? Is it just easier to get that wealthy if you’re evil? Is there a feedback loop there?
Show threadClaire, The Ultimate WorrierFeb 10

@twasink @RickiTarr it is significantly easier to become rich if you are a horrible person yeah

at a minimum hoarding the kind of wealth that someone couldn't possibly use up in multiple lifetimes makes you pretty selfish

Show threadskribe 🇺🇦 Feb 10
@twasink @RickiTarr @waitworry there are things that I refused to do (things that are rife in my industry) that would have made me exceedingly rich, but I'd have to live with myself afterwards. I knew the toll was too high.
Show threadGuido JansenFeb 10
@waitworry @twasink @RickiTarr Looks Like it‘s also significantly easier to become a really evil person (as in: acting on one’s dark desires or even developing them out of boredom?) if you are a rich person
Show threadRRBFeb 10
@waitworry @twasink @RickiTarr https://moguldom.com/441671/fact-check-21-percent-of-ceos-in-corporate-america-are-psychopaths/
Fact Check: 21 Percent Of CEOs In Corporate America Are Psychopaths

Fact Check: 21 Percent Of CEOs In Corporate America Are Psychopaths

Moguldom
Show threadwilFeb 10

@twasink @RickiTarr @JuliusGoat has some theories.

https://www.the-reframe.com/where-it-ends/

Where It Ends

Answering the enabler's constant question, and contemplating the depraved depths of the billionaire mindset.

The Reframe
Show threadNeo EhproqueFeb 10
@twasink @RickiTarr yes and yes (and yes)
Show threadKoochulainnFeb 10
@twasink I mean, even back in biblical times they suspected that becoming/being rich was immoral (camels through the eyes of needles, and all that) @RickiTarr
Show threadJhooperFeb 10
@Koochulainn @twasink @RickiTarr "The love of money is the root of all evil"
Show threadFaraiweFeb 10
@RickiTarr they didn't become obscenely rich by being nice and selfless...
Show threadFreekieFeb 10

@faraiwe @RickiTarr

Hi,

Imho what makes rich people richer and ever richer is our current money system and I believe that we can bend it towards one that allows for everyone to have a fulfilling life.

My wish is that I would live to see the day that we join hands and change this system and steer our spaceship to a world with love and care

Show threadLAURENFeb 10

@RickiTarr

Sméagol ----> Gollum

Show threadMarty FoutsFeb 10

@RickiTarr They are in the minority but the non-evil ones exist.

Check out Dolly Parton for an example.

There used to be more though.

Show threadRicki Yasha TarrFeb 10
@MartyFouts To be fair, while she is rich, she could be much much richer, she just gives a lot away. But she should still be fairly taxed and have her income limited. People shouldn't have to rely on charity to survive.
Show threadMarty FoutsFeb 10
@RickiTarr Absolutely. I believe Parton is one of the wealthy who has called for more taxes on the rich; so I think that she would agree.
Show threadMedea Vanamonde 🏳️‍⚧️Feb 10

@RickiTarr @angiebaby

Money is the predator on Morality and Ethics

Show threadRoryFeb 10
@RickiTarr They indeed are, Ricki. If anything, the wealthy are telling us that they are evil... Guilt by association? While all those type may not be like this. They don't need to be, because they are supporting all of these evil, and disgusting people.
Show threadCavyherdFeb 13

@RickiTarr

I mean, evidence suggests that, for net worths above seven or eight figures, evil is pretty much a prerequisite...?

Show threadSparkymikeFeb 10
@RickiTarr I think most of them are so experienced in denial that they will explain it to themselves in a way that doesn't threaten their beliefs, but also that their numbers are dwindling as some realize that they are being dispossessed by the uncontrolled greed of their former heroes.
Show threadburlyFeb 10
@mydogwrotethis oh sweet summer child. Words don't matter to fascists, they have no beliefs other than believing an invisible ethereal spirit has chosen them to enforce the hierarchy, and they will say or do anything to further that cause.

They're 'beliefs' are much easier to understand through that lense. If conspiracy theories weren't a route to power then they wouldn't believe them, because in reality they don't believe anything they say. It's that simple.

The lust for unending political domination over others is what drives even their most intimate and strongly professed beliefs, not the other way around. They don't give a single fuck about the greed of their party.
Show threadDBFeb 10
@RickiTarr Pizzagate - yup true wrong party
Show threadLydia ConwellFeb 10

@RickiTarr I don't think they can handle being right. They're confronted with a real, actual conspiracy and they're like:

Wha? ????

Potatoes!!

Potatoes contain microchips!

They're controlled by the lizard people!

They're coming for us all!!!!!

Show threadwb x64Feb 10

@RickiTarr @lydiaconwell a conspiracy theorist being proven right is actually the worst thing, because then they no longer have special knowledge that insulates them and makes them powerful, and also they might have to actually do something.

A belief that makes you feel powerful and safe, and also requires nothing from you except belief (and maybe watching/reading a bunch of stuff) is a potent thing indeed...

Show threadRicki Yasha TarrFeb 10

@wilbr @lydiaconwell Yes, this is interesting to me.
1. The idea that knowledge is only valuable if they and only a few others hold it.

2. That they think rich and powerful people being corrupt is in fact a conspiracy theory and not a universal truth.

Show threadViolet MadderFeb 10

@RickiTarr @wilbr @lydiaconwell

Thing is, accepting the truth means having to question whether or not there is a benevolent god. People are so desperate to believe in prosperity gospel and blame victims, because if bad things really are happening to good people and good things are happening to bad people, how are we supposed to make sense of the universe and omg who is even driving this thing-- total existential crisis.

That's why the denial and hostility is so intense.

Show threadRicki Yasha TarrFeb 10
@violetmadder @wilbr @lydiaconwell That's why grief is a driving force behind going down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories.
Show threadwb x64Feb 10

@lydiaconwell @RickiTarr like if Fauci actually said "yeah ivermectin is good, take as much of it as you can, here's Biden Bucks to redeem for free ivermectin" they would feel vindicated for two seconds and then start on the next thing (it's obviously too good to be true, Biden ivermectin is laced with 5G chips, that's how they getcha)

I'm guilty of this in terms of surviving this fascism: oh I've been right all along, huh? So where's my fortified antifa compound and leftist resistance army?

Show threadwb x64Feb 10

@lydiaconwell @RickiTarr kinda like the opposite of doomsday cults: when the prophecy doesn't actually come true, the cultists have come to need the cult (or mindset) so deeply that it spurs true believers (or true grifters) on to even deeper levels of belief. Save us from this anguish, prophet! Oh good, it was just a test of our faith and we passed, phew! What's next?

Extremely related: https://theconversation.com/how-conspiracy-theories-help-to-maintain-vladimir-putins-grip-on-power-in-russia-225703

How conspiracy theories help to maintain Vladimir Putin’s grip on power in Russia

Russian disinformation expert Ilya Yablokov tells The Conversation Weekly podcast about the president’s shifting relationship with conspiracy theories.

The Conversation
Show threadwb x64Feb 10

@lydiaconwell @RickiTarr and of course we're in the thick of it... basically everything QAnon believed is now almost literally true, but about the opposite political party. And there's a chance that the very people posting the "Q" dumps were the ones at the center of the evildoing. Like one big DARVO / getting out in front of news.

Related:

Show threadMartyFeb 10
@RickiTarr I think that, at least some of the more thoughtful ones, are also probably having a lot of uncomfortable thoughts about how it seems their tendencies to believe outlandish things were so easily rerouted to deliberately point them in the wrong direction.
Show threadRicki Yasha TarrFeb 10
@martincrownover I really really hope so. Believing something is wrong with the system is a pretty normal thing to feel, I hope people choose the truth when they see it.
Show threadwilFeb 10
@RickiTarr @martincrownover I'm cynical but I feel they've gotten very good at not believing what they don't want to believe. Or even hearing it to begin with.
Show threadEfi (nap pet) 🦊💤Feb 10
@RickiTarr do you mean weird al yankovic is a reptilian??
Show threadRicki Yasha TarrFeb 10
@efi I thought it was Patton Oswalt lol
Show threadMark WhybirdFeb 11
@RickiTarr @efi ¿Por qué no los dos?
Show thread\u1f0a1Feb 10
@RickiTarr The ones who pushed those conspiracy theories a la Pizzagate were the ones who knew, because they committed exactly the alleged atrocities.
Show threadMedea Vanamonde 🏳️‍⚧️Feb 10
@RickiTarr @angiebaby
Onion peelings of true perversion
Show threadliferstateFeb 11

@RickiTarr Don't worry, they're pivoting. Jeffrey Epstein personally being a monster is now prima facie evidence that every single antisemitic conspiracy theory is really true.

Conspircists don't want answers or explanations. They actively reject such things. Every new piece of information gets filtered through their priors, whether that's "Trump can do no wrong" or "(((those people))) are behind all the world's ills."

Show threadRicki Yasha TarrFeb 11
@liferstate YEP, I read that, they don't really want the truth.
Show threadMortenFeb 11
@RickiTarr I thought the "murdering Epstein in his cell and making it look like a suicide" sounded too cartoonish but then I read about how Epstein and Leon Black tried to get Black's mistress throw in jail.
Show threadCavyherdFeb 13

@RickiTarr

I worked out a while ago that, while I have a pretty vivid imagination*, I ain't got a patch on The World.

If I can think it up, it's pretty much a guarantee somebody somewhere will have tried it.

(That said, my conspiracy theories tend to run to the sort: Gene Roddenberry Was Actually A Time Traveler.)

* Like, whenever I hear the phrase, "How bad could it be," my response is always, "Oh honey—😬"