Wealth: The Religion of the Capitalist Era
In today's wealth-driven world, morality fades as money reigns supreme, fueling unethical behaviors and scams.
In the capitalist era, the pursuit of money supersedes everything else, making everything a means of earning money, devoid of moral judgment. From a moral perspective, activities like drug trafficking, running casinos, or organized prostitution are clearly unethical because they are detrimental to sustainable human development. Across cultures, moral guidelines universally advise people to avoid such activities.
However, in the capitalist era, the pursuit of wealth completely overshadows other principles, with wealth becoming a new religion. While different religions have their own scriptures and worship different gods, wealth has become a universal new religion that transcends linguistic and cultural boundaries.
In the capitalist era, those with the most money naturally become secular gods. Previously, Rockefeller, Bill Gates, or Buffett were gods; now, Musk is the god. No matter how ridiculous Musk might appear on the social media he purchased, to many followers, he is a deity. The worship of the world's richest person is blind and direct, surpassing national and racial boundaries. Merely hearing that someone tops the global wealth ranking is enough for people to internally deify them, treating their nonsensical utterances as divine revelations, regardless of their character or personal knowledge.
Traditional religious gods each have their purpose, but capitalism's god has only one: pursuing more wealth. As a god, Musk can leverage his influence on US elections, but it's all business—supporting a presidential election is no exception. This can help him secure more government orders, earn more money, and solidify his godly status.
The US presidential election is also a business. As the world's most powerful country, the US president naturally gains maximum media exposure, quickly becoming globally known. Taylor Swift became a world-famous celebrity through hit songs, while Trump became famous by becoming US president. Farmers in remote Chinese regions might not have heard Swift's songs but would likely know who is the US president. Fame can be converted into money. Those with nothing can transform their notoriety into wealth.
Businessmen like Trump can generate massive income after becoming president. Presidents who aren't in business can leverage their fame to earn substantial income through book writing or speaking engagements after leaving office.
The number of lies told, rumors spread, or exaggerations made during campaigns is irrelevant. For business, not doing so would be counterintuitive. These actions might be unethical, but in this era, having no money is the greatest immorality. Musk or Trump's moral standards are hardly higher than a street cleaner's, yet they and their followers believe they are far superior.
If pursuing wealth is the ultimate goal, any action that cannot generate wealth becomes taboo. In the US, with its high university tuition, students no longer enroll in philosophy, literature, or anthropology—disciplines that cannot "recover the investment." In China, social media influencers continually warn parents against letting children study journalism. Doing something one enjoys but that doesn't earn money, like studying humanities, is slowly becoming a taboo.
Because everything aims to pursue wealth, moral taboos are no longer barriers if they can be bypassed. In fact, abandoning moral constraints can provide a business advantage. Engaging in black or gray industries is no longer taboo; telephone fraud is just one of many such industries.
Even in less technologically advanced times, telephone scams existed. Nigeria, a former British colony where many citizens are fluent in English, early on discovered they could exploit their English skills to scam worldwide, using paper mail or fax in the pre-internet era. Today, young Nigerians don't feel ashamed of scamming, queuing at internet cafes to scam globally, coining the term "Nigerian Scam."
Chinese scam teams contributed the term "Pig-butchering Scam." Globally, these remote scams originated in Nigeria, with pig-butchering being a variant, but it must be acknowledged that Chinese are better at business, both historically and now. Chinese scam groups quickly mastered and improved this business model.
In September 2024, a US court convicted Michael Smith of fraud for uploading AI-generated music to Spotify since 2018, earning over $10 million. In this era, many would likely marvel at his innovative money-making technique rather than condemn his immorality.
Regarding telephone fraud, while some victims are coerced, most participants are voluntary. For these job seekers, such work isn't much different from factory labor, with potentially higher income due to higher risks.
In an era pursuing wealth at all costs, morality no longer constrains actions, relying solely on law. However, due to cross-border law enforcement challenges, penalties for telephone fraud remain light, creating a high-profit, low-risk industry.
The growth of telephone fraud is closely linked to communication technology development. Technology not only makes human connections more efficient but also facilitates money laundering—both crucial for this "business." The AI era provides new tools, generating fake videos or voices to deceive people.
Ultimately, in an era where everything is business, new technologies often exploit low-cost illegal advantages. Cryptocurrency, blockchain, metaverse, AI pornography—we've seen too many such phenomena. Regulation typically lags behind, and by the time it catches up, new scam businesses have already emerged.