For my entire life, I've watched folk reach unimaginable heights, not because they were smart, had morals, or worked hard.
As a matter of fact, these folks were bald-faced liars. Yet they were often paraded in front of the world as geniuses, and for some reason, people suspended their beliefs because the person inherited wealth, was white, and male.
Those three superpowers intoxicate people for some reason. There's this weird shorthand that, no matter how ridiculous the words that come out of these people's mouths, we have to believe it.
There is a fourth superpower, the usage of religion, but it's mentioned less often these days because those with power still want to be able to dabble in their vices without scrutiny. But religion is still very much used to silence the "haters."
Here's the thing: I'm not a hater.
I don't envy anyone's success or wealth. I prefer to study how people reach their goals and apply what works to my life. The advice these so-called successful people give and the information about them seems to be merely superficial and myth-building to provide legitimacy.
But as I mentioned before, inherited wealth, whiteness, and gender give a lot of these people runways to say anything unchallenged.
We are currently witnessing two trust fund man-children, Elon and Donald, duke it out publicly, yet many folks like me remember how they were worshipped in the beginning and aren't surprised at where we are today.
I remember when Elon was at PayPal and followed his journey to Tesla. And knew that he only arrived where he was because of his superpowers.
I am a huge tech nerd. I went to college for Electrical Engineering in 01. I switched majors to Graphic Communications Systems because my gut told me that the web and publishing would be great areas to work in.
Before all of this, for my High School senior paper in the 00s, when I say I'm a nerd, I voluntarily researched the "Impact of Silicon Dioxide on the Semiconductor Industry." I could have written about anything, but I was curious, studied, and followed the conclusions my mind led me to. And in this journey, I realized that for devices to keep getting smaller, we'll have to find another substance than Silicon Dioxide to power chips. Some examples I provided were organic substances, like DNA. (Don't fault me for thinking about making Skynet, I was a teenager.)
I say this not to boast, but to say that I am smart. Not to show off, but I have deep knowledge that I choose not to unnecessarily parade.
I've often come up with ideas far ahead of their time, but couldn't get things moving because of the limitations of that period or my lack of wealth and connections.
So, when I listened to Elon speak over the years, I was never convinced that he knew what he talked about. His interviews were lackluster, and he demonstrated no understanding of the technologies he "ushered in."
To be fair, I felt the same way about Steve Jobs, and the Google Guys, and they were far more convincing speakers. But trust fund kids concern me when they have power. Their wealth shields them from criticism. No one feels safe confronting them head-on because they can use their wealth to retaliate in destructive ways. Mix in whiteness and gender they are damn near indistructable.
As much as I'm into tech, I also love history and entrepreneurship. I like learning about how things came to be. The incremental steps it takes for transformative change. This has made me a patient man. It has grounded me from being bitter. This patience has also led me to pay close attention to folk's character.
Time always reveals the truth.
Donald, the original trust fund king, helped usher in this new brand of machismo. With his daddy's "modest loan" of $60.7 million, he filled the airways with myth-building propaganda that made him synonymous with shrewd business acumen. In reality, his bankruptcies and failures proved otherwise.
Yet he was allowed to fail his way to the "highest office in the land." Those intoxicating superpowers of his provided legitimacy to him and countless other trust-fund kids waiting at his feet.
I would be impressed if I weren't thoroughly disgusted.
The beauty of seeing all of this madness play out is confirmation that whatever this "success" is, I don't want anything to do with it. The Greed is Good ethos, coupled with fragile posturing, isn't appealing to me.
Whenever someone has to flash their cash or credentials, I assume they are insecure. Their perceived power has me sitting with bated breath as they descend to a forgettable Giuliani photo finish.
Regardless of someone's race, gender, or class, if they approach me with a whiff of these men's credos, I walk the other way. When I hear self-ascribed terms like self-made, and when the only thing folks can seem to talk about is their wealth, I distance myself from their teachings. A mature, well-adjusted, successful person knows that other people helped shape their journey. They are self-aware enough to know that they don't know everything and can't do anything alone. They create environments where cooperation and mutual understanding can flourish. The folks around them grow along with them. They are grateful to have enough and don't feel the need to flash it.
I strive to never be the wind that fans another man's destructive ego.
I hope more of us stop letting men's wealth and whiteness talk us into devastating situations.
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