Can someone clarify this “taking money from billionaires bad” thing? I know some people are against billionaires existing, but surely diverting money from them to altruistic causes would be the ideal outcome for someone who doesn’t want that money siloed? The only reason I can think of (admittedly I don’t know a lot about real leftism, economics, etc.) that someone wouldn’t want to, assuming said billionaire isn’t e.g. micromanaging for evil purposes, is a fear of moral contamination—or rather, social-moral contamination… Being contaminated with the social rejection and animosity that the billionaire “carries” within said complaining group. To me this seems like a type of reputation management that is so costly as to be unethical/immoral. It’s like, “I’m afraid people won’t like me if I talk to Johnny, so I can’t transport Johnny’s fifty dollars to the person panhandling outside.” Surely we can set that sort of thing aside for the sake of actual material progress? Am I missing something? Because if it essentially amounts to “Johnny is unpopular and if I talk to him I might become unpopular too,” we shouldn’t set a norm of operating under those fears. That seems cowardly.
Can someone clarify this “taking money from billionaires bad” thing? I know some people are against billionaires existing, but surely diverting money from them to altruistic causes would be the ideal outcome for someone who doesn’t want that money siloed? The only reason I can think of (admittedly I don’t know a lot about real leftism, economics, etc.) that someone wouldn’t want to, assuming said billionaire isn’t e.g. micromanaging for evil purposes, is a fear of moral contamination—or rather, social-moral contamination… Being contaminated with the social rejection and animosity that the billionaire “carries” within said complaining group. To me this seems like a type of reputation management that is so costly as to be unethical/immoral. It’s like, “I’m afraid people won’t like me if I talk to Johnny, so I can’t transport Johnny’s fifty dollars to the person panhandling outside.” Surely we can set that sort of thing aside for the sake of actual material progress? Am I missing something? Because if it essentially amounts to “Johnny is unpopular and if I talk to him I might become unpopular too,” we shouldn’t set a norm of operating under those fears. That seems cowardly.