Unveiling the curtain of fame, we delve into the lives of five personalities who, despite their global recognition, may not be as deserving of their acclaim as we think. Let's challenge the status quo and question the worthiness of their celebrity status.
Din Moh Yaman
If you want to go viral like Homer did circa 800 BC, write a listicle about one of the world’s mega-billionaires and explain some little secret about their success.
- People love reading these articles because they want to be like the person they’re reading about, and these articles make it look immensely doable.
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs didn’t invent the computer, but his friend Steve Wozniak did
- Jobs almost stopped Apple from releasing the first iPhone
- He abandoned his family and forced his daughter to grow up without a father, even after DNA tests proved his paternity
- Silicon Valley turned him into a saint because it sells gadgets
Tony Robbins
The father of contemporary self-help, Tony Robbins has done very little to address the systemic inequalities that often keep his advice from working like it should
- Instead, he doubles down on it and refuses to consider the fact that maybe believing in yourself isn’t enough in the twenty-first century
Elon Musk
Elon Musk has been promising us an affordable electric car for over a decade now
- He’s used that promise to win billions of dollars in tax breaks and seed money, while actively undermining any green projects he sees as a threat to his own enterprise
- Tesla’s stock is plummeting now because people are finally starting to realize that other companies will be the ones to save us from our dependence on fossil fuels
- Critics say Tesla’s solar technology will enable grid defection
These People Have one Thing in Common
They have the most money and influence.
- Questioning their status would mean questioning a lot of your society’s values and principles, but it’s easier to just keep praising the same handful of elites, no matter how truly predatory or self-interested they are in reality.
Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos is infamous for abusing his employees and creating toxic, hostile work environments.
- He cuts health insurance from his employees, then has the audacity to say in public that he has no idea how to spend his immense wealth, other than moving to Mars or cloning himself.
Oprah Winfrey
She caters to the suburban housewives of America, who need to feel special and important because nobody else treats them with any respect.
- Oprah rode to fame on satanic panics and woo-woo spirituality, and is a chief architect of the magical thinking that now fuels QAnon-style conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine movements
- The most important thing to Oprah will always be her image, her image is influence, and her money.
