Copyright sluggerotoole
“They are very rich and powerful, so they must be very intelligent,” goes the logic and it seems credible. After all, would not every one of us want to be very rich and powerful, if only we were intelligent enough to make this dream come true? But could there be other factors than simple genius at play? Rich parents, inheritance, the killer instinct necessary for success in a cut-throat business? Human nature tends to assume the best of the most powerful in our society. Before children’s stories became “politically correct”, most children were exposed to fairy stories where the hero living in poverty usually turned out to be a prince or princess, hidden away at birth who then reclaims their inheritance and defeats the villain who has stolen their birthright. Do you remember the tale of the Princess and the Pea? She was identified because she was so sensitive (or spoiled) that even a dried pea under her mattress made it impossible for her to sleep. As a child from a working-class family, I wondered why, in most stories, the good people came from well off families and the working class were the villains. (I did not discover until my twenties that the word ‘villain’ originated as a description of a bound labourer or ‘serf’ who worked at a rich man’s villa, only later morphing into meaning someone of low standing and coarse manners, and then to someone who was evil.) Many of us, when we think of the story of our lives, see ourselves as the protagonist, the person who is the centre of all the action, the person who makes things happen, sometimes as the hero. In some ways that is why religion is so attractive, this powerful god who controls the whole world is focused on us and our success. For some of us this tendency diminishes as we age, because we experience so many situations where our efforts or wishes are deemed irrelevant, but very rich and powerful people will find their self-belief reinforced. Last year on Slugger I wrote an article comparing Trump to a Roman Emperor like Caesar, pointing out that was not intended as a compliment – I used this analogy to point out that Caesar ended a 400-year-old Roman Republic and questioned where Trump was taking the USA. I fear that many of the tech-billionaires surrounding Trump are infected with this inflated self-belief and that this coincides with another portentous idea that is popular currently. The role of Christian Evangelicals in USA politics has been growing in recent decades and influencing political ideas and language. The Bible (book of Revelations) reports the Jews retaking control of Israel before Armageddon and recent political events are interpreted by some as taking us closer to this event. Consequently, we read of people like Peter Thiel giving lectures where he talks about who the antichrist could be, and warning that Armageddon is coming. So why does this matter? Peter Thiel is not just a lone voice; he is widely believed to be a mentor to JD Vance and to be responsible for helping him on his path to become Vice President. In July 2024, JD Vance who already had a record of accusing the Democratic Party of having ‘Demonic’ policies said “I believe the devil is real and that he works terrible things in our society”. (And remember that as Trump declines, it is likely that VP Vance will take over as President in the very near future.) During the latter part of the 20th Century the world was moving towards democracy, where the needs of the ordinary person in the street became more important. Those days are gone, and today the very rich can purchase political parties and take control of countries. If these modern day ‘Kings’ or ‘Emperors’ embrace strange prophets or beliefs it could affect us all. Ideas that Greta Thunberg is the ‘anti-Christ’ (Thiel) or that we can go and live on Mars (Musk) are easy to laugh at, as were some of the beliefs of Rasputin in Russia during WW1. However, some historians believe Rasputin’s ability to get sensible ministers who opposed his influence dismissed, added to the instability within the Russian government, hindering effective administration at an important time. No Mastermind or Master Plan Our vanity makes us susceptible to divide the world into heroes (ourselves) and evil masterminds (those who oppose us), but far too often our disasters are caused by incompetence, inattention, and chance. If you saw the first Incredibles film you will remember that the villainous mastermind is revealed at the end to be a boy who responds to rejection by inventing weapons to destroy real superheroes so he can “save the day” by taking their place, destroying anyone who ever said ‘No’ to him. The comparison should be obvious. The very rich are unlikely to be our friends.
