Capitalism generates a lot of self righteous and delusional beliefs, one of the worst of which is the “self-made” delusion.
In fairness … no one on the planet is, ever was, nor ever will be a “self made” anything … it is the privilege of our lives which presents this delusion. The reality is this:
- you were lucky not to be born into inter-generational poverty;
- you were lucky not to be born into a military conflict zone;
- you were lucky not to be born into slavery & exploitation;
- you were lucky not to be born into debilitating abuse;
- you were lucky not to be born into debilitating sickness;
… AND CONVERSELY …
- you were lucky to escape any of the above if you were born into it;
- you were lucky to be born into economic, social & political stability;
- you were lucky to be born into a reasonably stable & secure family;
- you were lucky to receive a reasonable education …
… and the list goes on & on & on ad infinitum.
Now I’m not saying you put no effort in at all, but even your effort requires direct or indirect association with pure blind luck for it to pan out in your favour … had any one variable been significantly different enough to cause an unexpected change – and there are billions of such variables (if not trillions or more) that you’re affected by daily – the outcome for you could have been radically different at any stage of your timeline; thus every event you take for granted (happening since then) would also have been different.
Conclusion:
Let’s stop with putting millionaires and billionaires on a pedestal. Perhaps they are the “best adapted” to this insane system (even despite the influence of luck?), perhaps not, who knows … but being the best adapted is not exactly a thing to be proud of anyway, given this system’s track record of human rights abuses, exploitation, warfare, and ecological disasters.
Simultaneously let’s stop having a go at those who aren’t doing so well either through misfortune beyond their control, or a combination of that & not being so well adapted to an insane system. The system assumes such people have no value to offer, but it does so without evidence AND in the face of significant evidence to the contrary.