The Godlike Royalty of American Celebrity and Wealth
Satoru Iwata passed away five years ago, leaving behind an incredible legacy in the gaming industry. A titan behind Nintendo’s multiple turnarounds and technological advancements, he unfortunately died before one of his greatest contributions to his line of business was released to the public: the Nintendo Switch. Struggling with illness on the final years of his life, he nonetheless worked until his final moments despite deteriorating health. He was featured in online presentations looking pale and worrying the gaming industry, and behind the scenes even from his bed was dedicating his time to working on the new console with his dedicated staff. His passing remains a giant tragedy that hovers over Nintendo as they continue to make fantastic money from the console and its excellent software. That’s because he wasn’t just a leader, he was a friend. An irreplaceable figure in Nintendo history, he had his fans and the full support of his company.
Iwata throughout his life had slowly worked his way to the top, but never forgot his roots. Even after becoming CEO (of HAL, and eventually Nintendo), he would still do some of the coding and technical work usually reserved for the lower-level employees. He was paid magnificently less than other CEOs in his country, and even his industry. Making less than a million a year while being the most important person in one of the great global brands is something that never happens, especially one as hands-on and as publicly recognizable as Iwata. Yet even with the much smaller salary, when Nintendo struggling in order to avoid layoffs he took paycuts along with other top executives.
The company ended up not laying off a single person while surviving the hostile waters of disappointment and their rewards for this patience and compassion are obvious today. He was notoriously open-minded, and accepted ideas from all over the company, regardless of position. This was a leader; he was a boss and a friend, in charge of everything but never appeared to be above anybody. Iwata was about teamwork, was about collaboration, about the joys of life, and his humble nature made him such a likable figure in such a hostile business. He was a true leader. He deserves to have books about his strategies selling in the millions.
Iwata is what true leadership looks like, Iwata combined compassion with intellect to propel Nintendo to unforeseen heights and did it with all the risk being limited to product and not staffing. This man truly cared about his craft and the people that helped develop it. When Iwata passed away, not only did Nintendo shut down, but there were images of a rainbow that had formed over Nintendo’s headquarters the very day he was gone. He was larger than life, but didn’t overshadow or climb over anyone on his ascension to the fame and success he deserved.
The complete opposite of the kind of person Iwata was? The kind of people the United States obsesses over. And that paints a picture of why if Florida were a country, they would be fourth in the WORLD in new cases.
Iwata’s type of leadership that hardly exists in the United States. That’s mainly because this country has this subtle obsession with elevating celebrities and people of wealth instead of actual contributors, and as a result we have the administration we have today, and most of our problems that had been exposed during the pandemic can be traced to the collective mindset that meanders in a me-me-me-money-money-money society.
Donald Trump has never actually been a leader, he’s always been a CEO that’s only focused on himself. The branding of his name everywhere, his survival depends on how much drama and chaos he can conjure up. In the midst of the hysteria, he can fail multiple times (how do you fail at operating a casino!?!?) and disguise it like continuing success or part of the game of business. He’s been sued over 1,000 times, has been linked to shady characters, and is part of the wave of big-name businessmen of New York City that helped crash the economy in the late Bush era. But this is your hero, this is your God, this is the man you felt like should be a leader, even though there’s been a generation of evidence that proves that a man with a golden room, a golden throne, and his name and his name alone being plastered on everything would have told you otherwise. United States’ obsessive attachment to wealth and visual power is what gave an inexperienced politician the presidency in 2016.
Truth is, Donald Trump is a product of American culture’s obsession with being on the very top or as high as you can go, and willing to bring down anyone that could be viewed as potential threat or adversary---whether it be a rival company, a rival individual, or the actual law. The concept of manifest destiny never actually left America, it just kind of evolved and molded itself into American preferences on who to elevate, who to avoid, and who to criticize. We behave like their success was warranted, was part of their God-given path through life.
Through these thoughts, we have these rabid fanbases for money-hungry business-before-all peeps like Elon Musk, the Kardashians, Kanye West, the late Steve Jobs, Kylie Jenner, and smart but still greedy businessmen like Jeff Bezos and Bob Iger, among others, even though each of these folks cause way more harm than good. We have this extra emphasis of value we place on money and position—while dragging those who speak more about community and collectivism like Bill Gates, even despite their wealth. The shared mindset in the United States is this strange correlation between wealth and success, money and intelligence, status and earning the benefit of the doubt, while vilifying those that attack the concept of extreme wealth including Bernie Sanders, the most prominent politician to tackle the concept of wealth in America. We buy the books about Trump, but would never buy books about Iwata.
(Side-Note: Some will point out Kardashian’s social work during the Trump Administration. But, it makes no sense to seek this social justice while allowing your husband to support the man that helps cause the issues that leads to the injustices Kardashian is trying to overcome. Also staying mum while Kanye fucks with the 2020 election undermines her supposed philanthropy. You cannot have it both ways, Kim.)
This is why corporations get more attention and sympathy than small businesses. This is why team owners are revered and less-criticized than players in sporting leagues throughout the country. This is why tax breaks aren’t as critiqued as say someone who is using welfare and food stamps. Not doing your taxes or finding loopholes to avoid taxes has none of the backlash as say an illegal immigrant who is earning money under the table.
CEO making 30, 40, 50 million a year? Crickets. Ideas about employees making $15-$16 an hour? Unacceptable. When Prince Harry escaped England and made his way to North America, nobody batted an eye---and they shouldn’t, by the way. But that family from Central America trying to enter the country as refugees? Potential terrorists and leeches of the system. The overvaluing of money and wealth and the over-attachment to power causes us to overvalue people who have the levels of wealth we strive for—regardless of how they obtained it.
So fast-forward to today, as we have Donald Trump playing golf in the middle of a pandemic and pretty much not caring about it anymore. We have an administration that manifest destinied their way to the top and now we’re all paying for it, as they fortify their finances and statuses as thousands of people die and tens of thousands of cases are continuing to pile up before the cold season even arrives. They reopened the country early only to try to bolster the economy and help their fortunes some more, even willing to open schools to pretend like the worst of the pandemic is over and the United States fully defeated Covid-19.
But yet, he STILL has supporters, his party is STILL backing him (DeSantis’ decision-making relies strictly on how Trump would react), there’s STILL doubt that someone like Joe Biden would do way better than him, even though in these past three years its CLEAR Trump is unfit for this position. Why? Because he is their God, he is American Culture’s God, and He should never be questioned. His wealth clouds the doubt people should have towards him.
This is why the mask-wearing remains controversial. This is why the numbers apparently are being questioned. This is why the demands to re-open the economy happened in the first place. This is why the United States’ cases and success rates are varying wildly from state to state. This is why as the rest of the world slowly opens up and slowly overcomes the pandemic, the United States lags dangerously behind. All this is happening because our lack of success doesn’t quite match up with the expectations and the power we had given our American God, Donald J. Trump.
So the only logical conclusion is that everything happening around us, all the tragedy, is fake and exaggerated. Trump’s supporters politically are behaving like everything is fine, just to appeal to their God---he is someone that didn’t even have to rise the ranks of the Party, he just showed up with the illusion of wealth and sold himself as the answer---and his party bought it.
Any other country whose leader is sympathetic towards dictators, completely botched the response to a pandemic, sent 40 million to unemployment, attacked multiple minority races repeatedly, and displays a lack of compassion and intelligence would have an approval rating in single-digits. Nonetheless, his chances in November still exists. The elevation of money and fame rises above criticism, especially if that person appeals to the culture’s desires for the same money, power, and glory.
As long as the mindset and obsession over money and power remains in the country, while supporting a system that guarantees the wildly tall hierarchy remains intact and oppressive, the United States will continue to follow and obsess over the wrong people, will continue to cheer for the wrong teams, and will continue to shoot themselves in the foot when true obstacles arise; whether it be mass shootings, health care (why should BUSINESSES pay for POOR PEOPLE!?!?), a pandemic, or a white supremacist administration hellbent on battling Black and Brown Americans while desperately keeping their status quo and keeping their feverish obsessive fanbase satisfied. There will always be Trumps and Kardashians, but the goal is to never allow them enough influence to damage the country. Billionaires could never be truly great leaders, because it requires a trampling of morals in order to reach said level of wealth.
Between Trump’s inactions that have killed hundreds of thousands in the past seven months, or Kardashian supporting his shit husband trying to attention whore his way to a half-assed presidential run to sell t-shirts even though the future of the country is hanging in the balance, these past few years proves that the United States needs a cultural reset, a re-establishing of values, beliefs, and mindsets about what really makes a good leader, who truly should be making the big decisions, who should be the people to focus on.
If the pandemic is any evidence, this country is doing and following everything wrong.
No more Trumps running the show, its time for more Iwatas to be elevated.
