Bradley's Website

I read a phenomenal post today which hit my radar after being circulated on micro.blog. The post felt, to me, a poignant critique of Silicone Valley’s baffling capitulation to the current administration. It’s one of the best things I’ve read in recent memory and it earned an immediate ‘subscribe’ about halfway through. I highly recommend you do the same.

Included in the post is a quick blurb about the concept of ‘Fuck You Money’, which is a sentiment that I have seen echoed by many public figures:

There’s no point in having fuck-you money in the bank if you never say “fuck you”!

I think this is an amusing and an effective way of communicating the collective disappointment that many of us have regarding the fecklessness of our economic 1%. Life, they say, is wasted on the young— and so perhaps is opportunity wasted on the rich.

However, every time I’ve heard this phrase there is a small rebuttal which surfaces in the back of my mind. This rebuttal (in no way meant to detract from an excellent article) stems from my upbringing in the Christian church and was, perhaps, put most succinctly by G.K. Chesterton in his seminal work Orthodoxy. I would like to use the basis of his assertion for non-religious purposes:  

You will hear everlastingly in all discussions, newspapers, companies, aristocracies, or party politics, this argument that the rich man cannot bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. 

The whole case for Christianity is that a man who is dependent upon the luxuries of this life is a corrupt man, spiritually corrupt, politically corrupt, and financially corrupt. 

Indeed—when we see technocrat after technocrat bend the knee (or bend over, rather) to the powers of authoritarianism, there comes a point where we can no longer be justifiably surprised. We must reckon with the possibility that corruption and cowardice is a feature–not a bug–of the system these men have designed. Perhaps there is no ‘Fuck You’ money in Silicone Valley— only “please leave more cash on the night stand” money.

This is not to imply that there are no good actors amongst the S.V. elite. On the contrary, I believe that there are many and I am privileged to know some of them myself; but these people are by no means the rule. The rich are no more admirable than the poor simply because they are wealthy, nor does wealth make one less vulnerable to the penetrations and leanings which are commonplace in the halls of power. Does an alcoholic become less chemically dependent simply because he’s had a few drinks already? Does a wolf become more trustworthy simply because he’s put in charge of the chicken coupe?

I don’t intend to paint a bleak picture. I believe in the goodness of man and, for all intents and purposes, hope to gain a considerable amount of economic security for my family. But as long as the myth that wealth equals independence equals boldness persists, we will continue to produce craven men. Apathy, not courage, is the endgame of independence. Boldness, however, is a function of radical dependence— of being rooted in the world, connected to others, and having something to fight for. When money is used (like it often is amongst the affluent) to replace relationships and create distance from the world, then it is no surprise when they abandon the world entirely.

What’s needed is not “Fuck You” money, but “Fuck YOUR money”— and, if necessary, “Fuck ALL money.” This is a posture that both the rich and poor can aspire to.

Thinking out loud,

Bradley