What do bored billionaires do when their obscene hordes of money can no longer satiate them?
They reach for and align themselves with power, that’s what. And most times that power comes from political alignment, the ultimate megalomaniac fantasy and the only way to describe what is playing out in the global arena, as evidenced at US President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The trouble is that having money and power can be dangerous if one’s moral and ethical boundaries are blurred, and one is not guided by a progressive quest to use it for the greater good of society.
When I was at university learning about how ideologies were developed, contested and took hold to structure our society, the world felt like a place of possibility. It was a world alive with idealistic thinking that one could make some contribution, not only academically but intellectually, and ultimately through one’s actions.
Of course, that was 20 years ago, but when I think about it, that is a relatively short time for such thinking and efforts around building our society to be scuppered.
That is not to say that all ideologies are good, but at least then we existed in a time of contesting ideas about the kind of world we wanted to live in and, most importantly, why.
Strong and inclusive ideologies have the capacity to transform society through planning and capacitating it to be sustainable and responsive to people’s needs. Personally, I have always subscribed to the ideals of social justice, which dictate that we should aspire to create a society built on equality, fairness in relations between individuals and equal access to wealth, opportunities and social privileges. It is the only meaningful and sustainable way of existing as people, in my view.
Capitalism, previously just an economic system, seems to have become an ideology in itself. In the process, it has become the antithesis of social justice or sustainability, promoting an insatiable culture of excess, ravenous consumerism and materialism, and no discernable interest in the collective wellbeing of all in our society.
The seeming paralysis of thought and belief that an alternative way of living can exist – one that is inclusive, not divisive or rooted in destructive consumerism and the thirst to own and have obscene wealth without a purpose – is alarming and distressing.
Men like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Trump represent a deficit in ideological thinking focused on the greater good. If this were not the case, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde would not have felt the urgent need to make a poignant and heartfelt plea asking Trump to “have mercy” on “gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families”, as well as on immigrants and those fleeing war and persecution. She empathised with them, saying they may be feeling frightened at the prospect of the new US administration and what it represents.
Because of these men, the brave voices of people like the bishop are needed now more than ever to gently but firmly assert our humanity and ensure that we do not live in a world where materialism and power take precedence over people. DM
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
