I don’t know about you, but when I hear “oligarchs”, I always get a nebulous image of faceless, rich and powerful crowd who are into sex cults like Eyes Wide Shut. I kid about the last bit but I am serious about the other descriptors
I think the reason we don’t immediately think of oligarch when we see Zuckerberg, Gates or Musk is because we see them on individual basis. Whereas “oligarch” usually refers to a faceless collective of politically influential, rich folks.
It’s more than that, it’s that we have a very sophisticated media machine that manufactures consent for these ghouls every single day, and it never takes a break.
You think of them as just a bunch of guys, just silly beans who happened to get rich because they and their friends own the media corporations that build the narrative that we believe. We’ve got these very respectable newsreaders who give them nothing but softballs, and frame every story as favourably as possible for them.
Also I lost count of how many times some piece that was critical of US oligarchs and corporations was deleted from the reddit front page. I’m fairly certain they were either taking money for this service or just looking after their friends. Maybe a PR manager working for whoever was being criticised contacted the reddit office and asked politely and that’s all it took.
I think of two things. The goofy ass oligarch commercial from a few years ago and Jeremy Irons when he is monologuing about how the %1 always hides. And it’s true. The ones that really pull the strings are behind the curtain.
Because none of those pictured here are oligarchs, just the only billionaires your average teenager knows.
If you made the meme with the Koch brother(s), Paul Novelly, Harlan Crow or Michael Bloomberg it would be much closer to the truth, but not something that would get upvotes because they aren’t constantly on TV (by design).
I don’t know about you, but when I hear “oligarchs”, I always get a nebulous image of faceless, rich and powerful crowd who are into sex cults like Eyes Wide Shut. I kid about the last bit but I am serious about the other descriptors
I think the reason we don’t immediately think of oligarch when we see Zuckerberg, Gates or Musk is because we see them on individual basis. Whereas “oligarch” usually refers to a faceless collective of politically influential, rich folks.
It’s more than that, it’s that we have a very sophisticated media machine that manufactures consent for these ghouls every single day, and it never takes a break.
You think of them as just a bunch of guys, just silly beans who happened to get rich because they and their friends own the media corporations that build the narrative that we believe. We’ve got these very respectable newsreaders who give them nothing but softballs, and frame every story as favourably as possible for them.
Also I lost count of how many times some piece that was critical of US oligarchs and corporations was deleted from the reddit front page. I’m fairly certain they were either taking money for this service or just looking after their friends. Maybe a PR manager working for whoever was being criticised contacted the reddit office and asked politely and that’s all it took.
I think of two things. The goofy ass oligarch commercial from a few years ago and Jeremy Irons when he is monologuing about how the %1 always hides. And it’s true. The ones that really pull the strings are behind the curtain.
Because none of those pictured here are oligarchs, just the only billionaires your average teenager knows.
If you made the meme with the Koch brother(s), Paul Novelly, Harlan Crow or Michael Bloomberg it would be much closer to the truth, but not something that would get upvotes because they aren’t constantly on TV (by design).