But, Twitter user named Aidan Smith thinks differently. According to him, stories about how some of the richest and powerful people became millionaires and billionaires are too romanticized and glossed over, as a result of which, people tend to miss out some of the very important details.
Take these stories for instance.
Earlier this month, Jon Erlichman tweeted about how Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 in his own garage but, he forgot to mention something very important.
On this day in 1994: Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in his garage. pic.twitter.com/vtlu570KeX
— Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) July 5, 2020
Cute propaganda. In reality Bezos’s mommy and daddy gave him $245,573 to stop Amazon from failing in 1995, but you’d never know it from listening to our right-wing mainstream media that blames poverty on personal failure and attributes wealth to personal virtue. https://t.co/vM15SKIcWs
— Aidan Smith ⧖ (@AidanSmith2020) July 6, 2020
This is what he had to say about Bill Gates. He states the story of Bill Gates being a normal guy who dropped out of college to pursue his dreams is not true.
In fact, his mother Mary Gates, the president of United Way, convinced IBM to hire Microsoft to build an OS and that’s how he started his career.
You can find this in the backstory of almost every billionaire. The story of Bill Gates is told as if he was a normal guy who dropped out of college to pursue his dream when in reality his mom Mary Gates, the president of United Way, convinced IBM to hire Microsoft to build an OS pic.twitter.com/OOX1ELjMLb
— Aidan Smith ⧖ (@AidanSmith2020) July 6, 2020
As per Aidan, in reality his dad was a congressman and Warren had already invested in his father’s farmland when he was 14-years-old. So, by the time he reached college, Warren accumulated $9,800 in his savings.
The tale of Warren Buffett is told as if he was a scrappy upstart living in a lower-middle class suburban home in Omaha who had a knack for investing. In reality his dad was a congressman (and Bob Taft’s campaign manager!) and, uh… pic.twitter.com/GmjyMCKYlU
— Aidan Smith ⧖ (@AidanSmith2020) July 6, 2020
If Aidan is to be believed, Mark was sent to Philips Exeter Academy by his wealthy parents. And, his tuition fees for boarding was almost $57,000. OMG! Can you believe it?
Even if you’re not born to mega-celebrities it really can’t be stressed enough how much a leg up children of the wealthy get even indirectly. Mark Zuckeberg’s wealthy parents sent him to Phillips Exeter Academy (tuition: almost $57,000 for boarding)…
— Aidan Smith ⧖ (@AidanSmith2020) July 6, 2020
Apparently, Zuckerberg also got software developer David Newman to give him private tutoring in computer science before he even entered college.
…and got software developer David Newman to give him private tutoring in computer science before he even entered college. Zuckerberg, is, like others mentioned, an intelligent individual in his own right, but if he was born into a working-class family he simply…
— Aidan Smith ⧖ (@AidanSmith2020) July 6, 2020
Aidan further explains how Mark was known as a computer prodigy in college and how that wouldn’t have been possible had he not had wealthy parents.
…wouldn’t have had the same opportunities as he did. Remember: People took such an interest in Zuckerberg to begin with because he already entered college with the reputation as…
— Aidan Smith ⧖ (@AidanSmith2020) July 6, 2020
a computing prodigy, which, again, couldn’t have happened if his parents didn’t hire a software developer to tutor him. The benefits of having wealthy parents, even if they don’t give you a 1/4 million as Bezos’s did, can’t be underestimated. There is no fair playing field.
— Aidan Smith ⧖ (@AidanSmith2020) July 6, 2020
People laugh when Kylie Jenner is described as a “self-made billionaire” as if she doesn’t come from one of the wealthiest/best-known families on Earth, but really, it’s no more absurd then describing Gates’/Bezos’ wealth as being a “self-made” product of meritocracy.
— Aidan Smith ⧖ (@AidanSmith2020) July 6, 2020
After reading this viral thread, people had their own set of opinions. While some agreed with Aidan, others claimed that success had nothing to do with an individual’s family background.
business is business, he took his parents money and flipped it to a trillion dollar business, nevermind how he got there, i will never understand people being pressed about someone succeeding
— lando (@Landoooo15) July 6, 2020
The mainstream media is exclusively left-wing lmaooooo
— TXNIZ (@_txniz) July 7, 2020
let us also note that bruh that garage looks bigger than most people’s homes
— 🦇 The doll goes crunch 🎃 (@MallowyGoodness) July 6, 2020
Yes and that investment made his parents extremely wealthy. To me, that sounds like a great decision on their end 😁
— David Mueller (@David_MuellerMO) July 7, 2020
Exactly. It’s all propaganda.
— Osaji (@ocgeorge_) July 7, 2020
To be wealthy, you either have to stumble on good luck, be a criminal, or be born into relative wealth
His step dad is the real rags-to-riches story. He came from Cuba as a boy with nothing and educated himself up to be a Exon Oil exec. He supplied much of the seed money for Amazon.
— Darryl Cunningham (@AcmeDarryl) July 6, 2020
Just a small loan of a quarter million dollars.
— Definitely not Deidre (@d_veebee) July 6, 2020
This is petty…If I owned a business and I needed capital and I had exhausted all the normal capital paths…I’d ask my parents too. If they have the liquidity in a home or other property, 245k would not have been hard to get as a loan with collateral. Sorry this is dumb.
— World of Warcraft is My Social Distancing (@GDGivens) July 7, 2020
Goes to show that all you need to succeed is blood, sweat, and… *checks notes* multiple generations of amassed assets often built on the labor of the poor.
— Mito (@Mitochondria95) July 6, 2020
So, guys the whole point of this viral thread is to teach us a very important lesson. Don’t beat yourself up for not being able to achieve your goals because even the most successful person received financial help and support.