It’s a well-known fact that Jeff Bezos who’s the richest man in the world owns an aerospace company. This company named Blue Origin is set to take him to outer space. On the 20th of July, Bezos will get inside New Shepherd, his own space shuttle, to explore the space, achieving his childhood dream. However, the founder of Amazon will not be the first or the second to launch himself above us. The honor of being the first person to do this belongs to Charles Simonyi, a former software engineer from Microsoft.
Bezos revealed his plan to the public in June. Soon after, Richard Branson stated that he would be going on a space flight in his own Virgin Galactic VSS Unity, more than a week before Bezos. The 70-year-old indeed went on his journey, eventually winning the billionaire space race.
However, not everyone is inspired by this rivalry. In fact, many people find it extremely useless. Jacob Silverman, a writer, called it “a tragically wasteful ego contest”, and he’s not alone. A huge amount of Twitter users agree with Silverman and are criticizing the billionaires for being so inconsiderate of the current situation of the world. According to Silverman, Branson, Bezos, and Musk are not fulfilling a collective goal that will benefit the human race in the long run.
#1
What’s the fucking point of allowing billionaires to accrue all this money if we have to pay them every time their companies lose value?
That’s what the BILLIONS we let you keep are for, dipshits.
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) March 22, 2020
#2
Branson wants to bring space to the average person.
How about food?
let’s do that one first.— ✨☮? Kim Ruxton ?☮✨ (@KimRuxton) July 11, 2021
#3
No one needs billionaires to colonize outer space. We need them to pay their fair share of taxes so people can thrive here on Earth.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) July 12, 2021
#4
Yep pic.twitter.com/o0YSue7FP2
— Kevin Riggs (@riggs_kevin) July 11, 2021
#5
I cannot put into words how much I don’t care about billionaires going into space when people are rationing their insulin but ok
— Meg THEE Intrusive Thot (@meghanttucker) July 11, 2021
#6
If you have billions of dollars and use it to go to outer space instead of saving the planet (which is literally on fire) then you are a horrible person.
— God (@thegoodgodabove) July 11, 2021
#7
I’m more impressed by the girl who won the spelling bee than the billionaire who went to space.
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) July 11, 2021
#8
I don’t want to tell billionaires how they should or shouldn’t use their money.
I want society to be structured in such a way that single individuals never become so wealthy as to have the power to singlehandedly alter the course of society on a whim.
— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) July 12, 2021
Silverman states that Branson has said that he wants to make space travel easily accessible to everyone. The cost of an early reservation on Virgin Galactic flights was $250,000. Also, the price of a seat on the July 20 flight of Blue Origin was $28 million.
It’s true that we can’t expect billionaires to help each and every person to be free from poverty and hunger. However, they are certainly capable of making millions of lives better. So, check out the article share your thoughts about the billionaire space race in the comments!
#9
Just a couple guys being dudes who could literally end world hunger but play space games instead pic.twitter.com/MKArlbwumg
— real chet hanx ????? (@DylanTweetin) July 11, 2021
#10
In the pandemic the world added a record 118 million people who are chronically hungry and global billionaires added a record $4 trillion to their wealth.
The cost to end world hunger ($330 billion) is what billionaires made in one month and instead they’re going to space.
— Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) July 12, 2021
#11
No lie$…….. #SpaceRace pic.twitter.com/DshSKzTHU4
— SheauX⚜️ 2042 (@Sheaux_) July 10, 2021
#12
Do I really need to tell you that capitalism is out of control when billionaires are having their own private space race while a heat wave wiped out millions of coastal wildlife and an entire Canadian town?
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) July 12, 2021
#13
One important takeaway from billionaires going to space is that we should have a wealth tax now.
— Anand Giridharadas @ The.Ink (@AnandWrites) July 11, 2021
#14
Congrats to @richardbranson on going to almost-space in a plane, thus adding to the long list of billionaire “achievements” that are really just mediocre versions of much cooler things we already did decades ago through collective endeavor financed by taxes.
— Dan Riffle (@DanRiffle) July 11, 2021
#15
Poverty isn’t a character flaw. But choosing to play astronaut when you could house every single person in the country certainly is.
— Read Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (@JoshuaPotash) July 12, 2021
#16
PEOPLE: May we have a living wage, please?
BILLIONAIRE: You want me to inspire you by going to SPACE?
PEOPLE: Um, no, just enough money to buy normal things and live somewhere kind of ok, please.
BILLIONAIRES: Space it is!
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) July 11, 2021
