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Comment by Teever | Hacker News Reader

I don't want to derail the conversation too much with this but this is the kind of thing that blows my mind with seeing obscenely wealthy/powerful people like Musk and Trump on social media.

At some level of wealth you reach a point where no one can get to you physically. You're completely physically safe and isolated and can't be hurt. That means that the only way someone can get to you is through communicating with you and making you hurt yourself.

That means that social media is your only weakness. This is how adversaries can affect your plans and goals and disrupt your mind. Yet so many of these people seem so oblivious to this and are as terminally online as your average 4channer or facebook mom.

Does this speak to some sort of weakness in these kinds of people or the addictiveness of social media?

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> Does this speak to some sort of weakness in these kinds of people or the addictiveness of social media?

They're online because their followers are online. Social media may be the actual lead pipes to our empire [1].

So yes, they are absolutely weaker than leaders with digital hygiene. But the reason they're there is because the American public is similarly weaker.

[1] https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/wi...

Sure, I get that there's utility in having an online presence, but these people are wealthy/powerful so they can afford to have someone do that work for them with the public non the wiser.

That wouldn't give that kind of narcissist the same level of satisfaction as they get from the army of sycophants clicking "Like" on their latest hot take.

I think that direct connection is particularly attractive to the right kind of narcissist. Might be the best drug they've ever had.

> Social media may be the actual lead pipes to our empire [1].

In America, the lead pipes of their empire are the literal lead pipes still in use all over the country.

Rich people that eschew fame are largely ignored and rarely talked about. Just like the local rich person that takes private jets to their family vacations every three months, but drives a fully loaded, but unassuming, Toyota is not going to be noticed next to the one driving a purple Lamborghini.

But there probably is something to be said about people that pursue power or money endlessly. That their insatiable need for more money and power could be seen as proxies for a need for validation, so the need to seek out validation online (and to aggressively lash out at criticism) would be just another manifestation of that.

If you are born poor, then maybe you end up telling tall tales at the bar and falling for every get rich quick scheme out there because you cant imagine being wrong. If you are born on third base because of daddy’s emerald mine or real estate company, then you tell your tall tales to millions of people.

> At some level of wealth you reach a point where no one can get to you physically.

Just want to point out that physical security is never 100%. Someone with enough skill, determination, and resources can always get to you.

Sorry, you think it's impossible to hurt Trump? Are you forgetting the bullet that passed an inch from his brain? A crazy person with a gun can change history in a second, and it would've been a terrible violent occurrence throughout society if it had come to pass.

Agreed. As much damage as Trump is causing, I'm guessing that his assassination would increase the chances of an even worse scenario: civil war.

It would be a perfect psyop opportunity (I'm guessing) to trigger Trump's most enthusiastic fans.

Civil war when most people are hooked that much to medias and 60% obese is a really unrealistic development.

I genuinely can’t tell if it would lead to civil war or a collective shrug, Brian Thompson style.

Life is a reality TV show.

There are many, many other possibilities - all the possibilities that almost always happen. How bizarre to limit your options to those two things.

At his level of wealth it's a choice to be that exposed physically, just as it's a choice to be exposed at that level psychologically is my point.

Someone with Trump's level of wealth could retire to an island and be like Elvis in his later years only dealing through people with intermediaries. They could have the best doctors, the best fitness regime and the best diet, and the best security and hundreds of miles between them and physical threats.

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