Can having too much money and power destroy you?

submitted by WalkingIn2Madness from self.AskSaidIt

all 40 comments
sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun

[–][deleted] 7 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

Money and power can enable you, not change who you are.

[–]jet199 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

For a lot of people it's the enabling which is the problem.

[–]Tiwaking 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Melodic_Programmer 6 insightful - 1 fun - 9 hours ago Money and power can enable you, not change who you are.

The people who want money and power are always the people who will abuse it

[–]chottohen 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (16 children)

I'd like to find out and report back.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (15 children)

Ditto.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (14 children)

Ditto.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (13 children)

Handed the wife the phone and told her to read the thread chain till the end and click the "GIF". She laughed, big fan of Pokemon. She's playing Pokemon Legends Arceus.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (12 children)

Hahaha! What does she think of the game? I used to love the Pokémon games, red/blue/gold/silver were my shit, the last game I actually liked was black and white tho.. it feels like a completely different game now..

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (11 children)

She loves it. We hadn't played any of the other games though except the mobile app.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

I'm glad she's enjoying it and you guys are having fun! Tbh, I miss how pkmn was as a game before the Pokémon Go era.. like if you just look up black and white 1 & 2, it has a pretty deep story even adults would enjoy on a philosophical level.

Ngl tho, if they wanna go in this direction, Arceus looks like a step in the right direction. I haven't rly looked into it since launch trailers tbh (I rly don't play games like I used to anymore for some reason lol), but it seems a lot of people are enjoying it and a lot has been fixed since their last few releases.. maybe ima try it!

Thank you and her for making me look into it, deadass I didn't even realize it came out like a week ago until I saw your comment lol, so thank you!

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

Not sure if you like the franchise, but we're both looking forward to Horizon Forbidden West, although I'm a little concerned if it's going to suck on a PS4.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

I'm an hour in, can't say how I feel about it yet!! Lots of hand holding and explaining in the beginning, geese! This is what I don't like about the new Pokémon games. The mechanics are kind of cool so far tho. I just miss new starters and pkmn. That was always part of the fun, I'd avoid spoilers like the plague. I wanted to pick Cyndaquil so bad as a starter lol, went for Russet cuz he's a white owl and I never use grass starters.

Ty and your wife for reminding me and the recommendation! Also, ima check HFW out, never heard of it.

I was never a PlayStation person, but found some of my favorite games like Detroit become human on ps... do you have any recommendations if you wouldn't mind sharing them with me (or maybe your wife if you guys don't mind?), I really like choice-based games. Where there's multiple endings and there's consequences for your actions. Haven't been able to find a good one of those in a while.

In middle school and then hs oblivion/Skyrim/Fallout, as well as the fable series, were my favorite games.

Thanks again for the recommendation, to both of you!

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

Where there's multiple endings and there's consequences for your actions. Haven't been able to find a good one of those in a while.

I'll have to think about it. That seems rare in games these days.

[–]StillLessons 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's not exactly having the money/power which causes the destruction.

There are people (though in the minority) who have significant amounts of money and maintain their humanity and decency.

Money is power. The two are interchangeable. A person with money can get power, and a person with power can get money.

There are people who orient their lives around other elements (legitimate humanitarian causes, for example) but who have the ability to convince others to help them in their cause with significant money. There are also people who - through pure stroke of luck, usually through the birth lotto - find themselves with lots of money/power with no effort put in on their part. Some of these go on to be decent human beings and use their gift for beneficial purposes.

All this said, however, nobody who orients his/her life around money/power will maintain their humanity. The belief that money/power is the end toward which we should dedicate ourselves is indeed - as you are getting at - the root of personal destruction, the belief that the priority in this life is to accumulate money/power and then use it to change the world around us. Unfortunately, more than 90% of those with the resources to put them in the club of the rich/powerful believe their money/power is what defines them. And yes, those people simultaneously destroy themselves as they create the destruction around them that we witness daily.

[–]zyxzevn 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Socially, money and power are part of a corrupt system.

In spiritual sense, a lot of money and power binds you with a lot of people and their (karmic) problems.
It will also make you a target. So you can get entangled in a web of power struggles and karma (and the press).
This means that people and situations trick you into wasting a lot of your time and energy and money into things that are spiritually meaningless.
You will meet great "friends" like Epstein and Bill Gates, and waste money on building a hyperloop and trying to safe the world from global warming.
Or you may create your own private army and start deals with corrupt locals to get monopolies on resources.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Can having too much money and power destroy you?

Money is a mechanism of power and influence over others.

Power and control often ruins an individual's humanity.

[–]jet199 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think the trick is to only use money to control your own life and not others.

Use it to buy the shit you want and do what you like but other people are always going to come and go as they please.

[–]jet199 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

I recommend everyone in this thread read the The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles.

It's out of rights so you will be able to find a free copy.

If you are too dumb/lazy to read the audio version is also free.

https://youtu.be/MEmRnzIDeMU

[–]Tiwaking 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

jet199 1 insightful - 0 fun - 32 minutes ago I recommend everyone in this thread read the The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles.

It's out of rights so you will be able to find a free copy.

If you are too dumb/lazy to read the audio version is also free

How dare you call me dumb and lazy in such an incredibly accurate fashion! Im insulted!!

[–]Tiwaking 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

All I ask is the chance to prove that money can't make me happy. - Spike Milligan

[–]Entropick 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I always think of this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Feeney

He is the founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies, one of the largest private charitable foundations in the world. Feeney gave away his fortune in secret for many years, until a business dispute resulted in his identity being revealed in 1997.[2] Feeney has given away more than $8 billion.[3]

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Yes. It creates the very real problem of hubris and the god complex. That might not seem like a way to "destroy you", but it leads to ideas, views and behaviors that open the door to such events.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

For the sake of argument, I can say that firearms can create the problem of murder and violence. Because it leads to things that open the door for such, does that mean all or certain groups of people should be prohibited from producing and owning firearms?

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This question is impossible to answer, since it depends on the culture, nation and history of any given people about whom this might be asked. I also don't know how this relates, even on the analogy level of things.

Well, I'll try to humor you: owning a firearm can lead one to overconfidence in their own safety out of carrying a handgun on their person at all times, for example. And then, you can still take a bullet like anybody else no matter how many guns you have, since they are OFFENSIVE weapons. There's an analogy for you.

[–]xpat 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Usually they help you destroy others

[–]iDontShift 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

money and power can drive fear of loss

the fear drives behavior which destroys you, and the power/money accelerates this

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Money is economic power, and those who seek power for its own sake are evil or stupid. Those who seek power for another end are easily corrupted, so yes, too much power can destroy you.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

The only way to stop one power is with another equal power.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Then that is seeking power for the sake of justice.

There are some cretins who seek to amass and consolidate power because it makes them feel important or satisfies their god complex.

[–]Brewdabier 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

back in 1997 I came into a huge sum of money within a month I started getting calls from friends and relatives. Yes money does bring power, well the power to tell them to fuck off.

[–]yabbit 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

It's better than being a broke incel thats for sure