this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026

78 points (92.4% liked)

Ask Lemmy

37919 readers

1263 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Bluetreefrog@lemmy.world

TheSaneWriter@lemm.ee

TheSaneWriter@lemmy.thesanewriter.com

Asudox@lemmy.world

lemmy_bot@lemmy.world

beefbaby182@lemmy.world

ModeratorCan@lemmy.world

neidu3@sh.itjust.works

asudox@lemmy.asudox.dev

candyman337@lemmy.world

candyman337@sh.itjust.works

What do we do now that we found out the world is run by a billionaire parasitic class?? (lemmy.org)

submitted 1 day ago by kai@lemmy.org to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

57 comments fedilink hide all child comments

By now we've all seen the 'files', if you're like me you've used various AI to cross-reference them with other things like financial crashes, who else might be a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th degree connections, where do they work, etc etc etc and at the end of it you see the web of parasitic elites running our society.

How do we just go back to 'normal'??

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] ragingHungryPanda@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com 9 points 3 hours ago

the thing is, normal was always heading in this direction. Capitalism consolidates power into the hands of a few and it keeps consolidating. It will always yield toward more poverty, though for some at home they can wealthier off the exploitation of others.

I get what you mean, but going back to normal will get you right back here in a few years or decades.

I think that the answer is socialism. But for sure, pretty much nobody believes that anyone should have the wealth and power that our capitalists do.

[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

We need more Luigi’s. Make it culturally acceptable to kill rich people. If they feel fear, they behave.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

As cool as Luigi is, as long as capitalists dominate the economy, they will just develop ever-more draconian security measures to protect themselves. What we need is organization, so that we can replace the system they draw their dominance from with socialism, putting the people in power.

[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

The power structure that currently exists prevents such representation. It can’t be reasoned with. It must be removed forcibly first.

The real problem is ensuring what fills such a power vacuum isn’t worse.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 hour ago

All states represent a given class in society. In capitalism, that's the big capitalists. In socialism, that's the working classes. Successful revolution requires creating a mass, working-class organization, and ensuring it's linked to the broader working classes and earns their trust and support. Without the working-class organization, we are reduced to directionless protesting, and without the backing of the people, a working-class party can do nothing. Socialism works.

[–] CanadaPlus 3 points 4 hours ago

AI will tell you what you want to hear, that's not really a good source.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 0 points 3 hours ago

The capitalist world has always been run by capitalists. We do what leftists have been trying to do for centuries, organize the working classes to institute socialism. There is no way to "go back to normal," there has never been a time in capitalism where the people have been in charge. Rather than letting a tiny subsections of society, the most ruthless plunderers and scoundrels run society, the people should be able to run society for the benefit of all.

Join a worker-run party! Educate yourself on theory, agitate among the people, and get organized!

If you want a place to start with theory, I wrote a basic course on Marxism-Leninism you can check out.

[–] Ghostie@lemmy.zip 3 points 7 hours ago

You mean blissfully ignorant to this information. It’s a can of worms.

[–] greenbit@lemmy.zip 8 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

We've never known normal. This runs back to the beginning of "civilization". I don't know what's next but some things probably need to happen; connecting with others, stopping following the old rules, removal of the toxic members perpetuating this, building something new with different principles

[–] Nilay@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

It is a men eat men world. Animal world.

[–] Asofon@discuss.online 21 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (6 children)

Post about it on the internet built upon tech enabled by the said class in today's world, from devices sold to us by the said class in today's world, in our homes with comforts the existence of which wouldn't be possible without the said class in today's world. Then go to work using infrastructure and means we wouldn't have without the said class in today's world, likely doing work we wouldn't have without the said class in today's world. Perhaps go buy some food the likes of which we couldn't dream of having access to without the said class in today's world. Maybe indulge in a hobby - a leisurely distraction, the kind that only exists because the said class engineered today's world where you have time and resources to waste on frivolity, while they decide what those resources are.

Anyone who wants to hold on to the comforts of modern life will have next to no power to make a change happen. Most of the money you spend goes into their pockets. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Option is to reduce spending, start exchanging favors without money (or develop your own currency with your friends) and if you have to spend money, prefer local goods and small services. Learn to fix things instead of buying new stuff. Offer community, food and fun to people with as little money investment as possible.

Make it work for you and people immediately around you. Get it to spread. This goes triple for you tankies out there. If you can't get this to work at a small level, you will not bring about systematic change. The game is theirs, it's rigged against you and bless your sweet honey heart, you somehow think you can win.

Not saying this is what I think everyone must do. I'll be dead soon enough and I don't have kids. But I am saying that if YOU want to see a change in the system, you need to start playing a different game that isn't built on money.

[–] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 7 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I like your encouragements but I don't see how any of what you list is made impossible by the absence of the ruling class? if anything the class struggle is vastly slowing down progress

[–] Asofon@discuss.online 4 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

I might be misunderstanding you but there seems to be an assumption that I'm making the claim that the kind of modern life we have can't be possible without capitalism. I am not. It's completely irrelevant to me (and my point).

If people want to insist that a world like ours can be possible while resources are shared equally, great. I have nothing against making the attempt at that, please do. But that's not the world we live in right now. The world we currently find ourselves is the one where capitalism has made all the luxuries etc. possible, and we are very habituated to it. To the point that many people are reluctant to let any of that go, while simultaneously demanding for a systematic change. Hence the "can't have your cake and eat it too". People are demanding revolution but precious few have any actually actionable suggestions on how to bring that about. I'm suggesting things that anyone can do by themselves, as much as is possible for them. Doing those things doesn't require that everyone agrees with you, because you start with yourself. It doesn't require a massive systematic change, because again, you start with yourself.

If anyone has suggestions on concrete actions to take to bring about massive systematic change, please let me know. Let everyone know. But keep in mind you'd have to persuade people that it's going to work and it's a better system. Revolution is very easy on paper.

[–] Voidian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 16 hours ago

What? Someone actually gives reasonably actionable suggestions here?

[–] Pinetten@pawb.social 11 points 18 hours ago

Well fucking said. Everyone’s ready to bitch about the system, until you ask them to live anywhere near like the people who are actually getting crushed by it. The performative outrage in this thread is a bad joke to the people who build our phones, sew our clothes, and mine our lithium. To them, we’re not revolutionaries. We’re the elite’s pampered pets, barking at the leash but gladly gobbling up all the treats they throw at us. People are getting mad about AI: guess fucking what, the outrage itself is a treat. The Epstein files are a treat. Anything that keeps you glued to the screen, ignoring everything that is actually around you is a treat. It's your programmed Two Minutes of Hate.

Revolutions happen with real people willing to make sacrifices, working together and giving others real, tangible reasons to want to support them. Not by bitching online about how very awful it is. You want a revolution? Try going a week without buying anything. Try getting relationships instead of likes. But no, it’s easier to scream into the void and call it resistance, isn’t it? The system thanks you for your compliance.

[–] HasturInYellow@lemmy.world 7 points 16 hours ago

Counterpoint: we throw them in wood chippers and confiscate all the factories and such.

[–] my_hat_stinks@programming.dev 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Are you not aware of how, for example, car lobbies destroyed public infrastructure in an attempt to make everything car dependant to sell more cars? Claiming any of these things only exist because of billionaires is absurd. They take over and destroy.

[–] Asofon@discuss.online 6 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

Claiming any of these things only exist because of billionaires is absurd. They take over and destroy.

But if they ‘took over,’ then by definition, the things that exist now - including the infrastructure you’re using to complain about them - exist because they allowed it. What you (and !Feyd@programming.dev ) have actually described is a world where billionaires are both all-powerful and completely irrelevant. That’s not a critique. That’s a paradox. And it’s a useful one because it lets you feel angry without actually taking any concrete action.

After all the Quanon stuff and the general population increasing their awareness of how conspiratorial thinking works, it's weird to see "my side" use the same rhetorical tactics:

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Definitions_of_fascism&useskin=vector#Umberto_Eco

"Fascist societies rhetorically cast their enemies as "at the same time too strong and too weak". On the one hand, fascists play up the power of certain disfavored elites to encourage in their followers a sense of grievance and humiliation. On the other hand, fascist leaders point to the decadence of those elites as proof of their ultimate feebleness in the face of an overwhelming popular will."

[–] my_hat_stinks@programming.dev -2 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

There is no paradox. Thing exists. Billionaire takes over thing. Billionaire ruins thing. Billionaire did not cause thing to exist.

You said these things "wouldn't be possible" and "wouldn't exist" without billionaires. This is objectively untrue. Without billionaires these things would be significantly better. I specifically pointed out your mention of infrastructure because that one's so blatantly obvious unless you've only ever experienced car-centric infrastructure.

[–] Asofon@discuss.online 4 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

You’re arguing with a straw man. The point isn’t that billionaires are the sole reason these things exist in some abstract sense - it’s that, in the world we actually live in right now, they control the levers that determine whether you have access to them at all. Nothing that we have right now could be possible if not for everything that came before it. So unless you invent a time machine, you're arguing beside the point.

[–] my_hat_stinks@programming.dev -3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

No, I'm arguing against direct quotes from you. Unless you yourself are a strawman.

Post about it on the internet built upon tech enabled by the said class

Built by academics to share research, expanded by hobbyists and enthusiasts, and taken over by megacorps. Not "enabled" by billionaires.

, from devices sold to us by the said class

Technically true, but only in that billionaires own the workers.

, in our homes with comforts the existence of which wouldn’t be possible without the said class.

Untrue. People can live in comfort without the existence of billionaires.

Then go to work using infrastructure and means we wouldn’t have without the said class,

Untrue. This is what your taxes pay for. Transit infrastructure exists without billionaires. Even in the US, notoriously a horrible place to travel, public transit infrastructure was good until billionaires lobbied against good infrastructure so they could sell more cars. Car infrastructure costs you more than public transit.

likely doing work we wouldn’t have without the said class.

Possibly true in very specific cases where your work provides value only to billionaires. If your work provides value in any other way (eg providing services or goods), this is likely not true.

Perhaps go buy some food the likes of which we couldn’t dream of having access to without the said class.

I am fully certain you don't really believe good food only exists because of billionaires. Has there ever been a civilization of any kind which hasn't had chefs of some description?

Maybe indulge in a hobby - a leisurely distraction, the kind that only exists because the said class engineered a world where you have time and resources to waste on frivolity, while they decide what those resources are.

Hobbies have always existed. You have time and resources to spare because of unions, not billionaires.

You credited all of these things to billionaires. None of these things exist because of billionaires.

[–] Asofon@discuss.online 4 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

You are absolutely correct on all points. Now what do you propose we do about it?

[–] my_hat_stinks@programming.dev -1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Easy; don't give credit to billionaires for things they've only made worse. I'm not sure why you need my help to not spread misinformation?

[–] Asofon@discuss.online 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Noted, you have successfully got me to edit my first post. I await the results of this revolution.

[–] PosiePoser@feddit.org 2 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

Pretty sure he didn't read your post beyond the first paragraph to begin with...

[–] Asofon@discuss.online 2 points 2 hours ago

Well, that's exactly why I advocate for small actions on the level of the individual and branch out from there. I can't make other people do anything. Least of all use their brain beyond their capacity.

[–] my_hat_stinks@programming.dev -1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

No, that's just the objectionable part because that's the part pretending billionaires are responsible for everything good.

[–] PosiePoser@feddit.org 1 points 2 hours ago

lol you are being so willfully obtuse

[–] Feyd@programming.dev 3 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

wouldn’t be possible without the said class.

This is complete and utter bullshit. Like technology and infrastructure is impossible without billionaires. They are leeches and are not structurally significant for any reason than that we let them be.

[–] Asofon@discuss.online 3 points 16 hours ago

Great, all the better. Please do start building it again from scratch.

[–] theuniqueone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Shocked anyone is surprised.

[–] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 1 points 4 hours ago

Fuck this particular kind of smug defeatism btw

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 20 hours ago

We already have known this for decades. Why would this change anything?

[–] Feyd@programming.dev 30 points 1 day ago

This isn't new information to the majority of people who care. The trick is mobilizing society to do something about it (like general strike). You may be newly awakened, but the majority still are not.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago (7 children)

if you’re like me you’ve used various AI

Stop using the fucking "ai" that those same billionaires are burning the planet down to use to shove misinformation down your throat for fucks sake
Start paying attention to what people who didn't just figure this out have been saying for generations about this.
Stop using AI.
Seriously, stop using AI, it already sounds like its leading you down some crazy conspiracy rabbit hole that ends up blaming anyone except the billionaires who own the AIs and are actually the problem.

load more comments (7 replies)

[–] DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world 12 points 23 hours ago

Live with the consequences of being enablers?

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 9 points 22 hours ago

Will you join in our crusade, will you be strong and stand with me?

Beyond the barricade is there a world you longed to see?

Then JOIN IN THE FIGHT, that will GIVE YOU THE RIGHT to be FREE!

(legal disclaimer: just quoting song lyrics, it's not illegal right? Hello Mr. FBI Agent watching me 😏)

[–] DaMummy@hilariouschaos.com 9 points 1 day ago

We will do our very best to create the most fire memes this world has ever seen. Nothing will surpass them until WW3 starts.

[–] Apollonius_Cone@lemmy.world 4 points 21 hours ago

Sharpen your guillotines.

[–] ElectricAirship@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Study the billionaire's calendar

[–] alsaaas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 22 hours ago (4 children)

Terrorism against individuals makes no sense when fighting a system

[–] Jax@sh.itjust.works 1 points 41 minutes ago* (last edited 40 minutes ago)

Billionaires should not be considered individuals when they have the resources to purchase plots of land larger than cities, among many other reasons.

[–] highduc@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 hours ago

I think it makes a lot of sense. Billionaires are finite in number and they're people just like us.

load more comments (2 replies)

load more comments