I feel like a lot of people don’t fully appreciate this point because they are well adjusted and hear no constantly.

You have to view these billionaires as toddlers. They never hear a simple “no”, and when they do they go apoplectic.

Not disagreeing, but these aren't just toddlers, but insecure toddlers who have never been told no and think people pushing back is equivalent to hate. A normal toddler who has caretakers who are loving and accepting does not respond like this.

As a parent (no longer of toddlers... but I had them), I have to disagree with this somewhat. In my experience even the best of parents, with the best of kids, sometimes has them go off the rails when they hear "no". Certainly there are some parents who are (significantly) less able to get their children to accept limitations ("no"), but I don't believe that this is something that is ever perfect.

None of this should ever apply to any even moderately-adjusted individual beyond childhood. Certainly not as an adult.

I see what you're saying, but in my experience children do not have this response unless there's a hyper-addictive product such as modern TV/video or sugary/processed food, which bypasses the normal social circuitry in young brains. I have never experienced/witnessed this kind of meltdown over pre-modern experiences, and almost always if the toddler is redirected to a socially-positive response, it works.

How often do you tell people no? I find it pretty common to get a visceral reaction when I disagree with people, and that's even after spending years working on delivering that disagreement in more friendly ways, both professionally and personally.

I think it's a relatively universal human trait to resent dissent, these guys just have more resources to make their distate known.

Many billionaires, especially the top celebrity billionaires, seem to have extremely disordered and malignant personalities. Narcissism and sociopathy seem to run strong in these individuals. Their money amplifies and multiplies the reach and effect of their narcissism.

Most people when they hear “no” feel a little upset and get over it.

When a narcissist hears “no” he suffers a narcissistic injury and seeks revenge.

When a narcissistic billionaire hears “no”… well, buckle up. 1/6 showed us how bad that can get.

What or who is '1/6' ?

January 6th.

It was the day a narcissistic billionaire (Trump) decided he had the right to burn the whole system (American democracy) to the ground because he was rejected by it.

Which is also the story of Twitter and Musk.

> 1/6 showed us how bad that can get.

I think it didn't even scratch the surface of how bad it can get. But it was already plenty bad.

IMHO emotional maturity is learning to accept these feelings in one’s self, sit with them, and reflect on them. Not make them go away.

Just saying yes as a parent doesn’t help them learn to cope with it. Rather a close similarity to GP’s point!

> How often do you tell people no?

A few times a day.

> I find it pretty common to get a visceral reaction when I disagree with people,

I only find this common with people who are very sensitive (not that there is anything at all wrong with that). An interesting corollary I've found as well: very sensitive people tend to think the rest of the normal world is equally as sensitive (something I've picked up from having a very sensitive partner for over 5 years now; a partner who has many very sensitive friends); they somehow seem to forget that countries like Germany have people that are super direct as the norm.

> I think it's a relatively universal human trait to resent dissent

I hear far "worse" from good friends on the spectrum or from Germany or Russia and it's rather easy to chalk it up to them just communicating in a different way.

I think they do it slightly differently.

One they are billionaires, hearing no is likely exceedingly rare, however to get to prestige, I'm certain they heard no many many times (or the equivalent, say "no way you can do that") so they're so used to people objecting and they succeed anyway - Tesla, SpaceX come to mind here - that no just makes them want to double down on what they're doing, combined with the fact that their inner circle at this point likely isn't saying no very often, if at all, directly to the person at hand, it makes them very resistant to real feedback

> You have to view these billionaires as toddlers. They never hear a simple “no”, and when they do they go apoplectic.

It doesn't have to be just billionaires, one of the startups I worked in had a leadership culture like this. I ended up leaving after the new person I was reporting to took this to an extreme.