Stoicism's appeal to the rich and powerful (2019)

Why Stoicism is (Again) Popular

• Several see Stoicism’s HN/tech boom as cyclical and driven by evangelists: startup culture (YC talks), self‑help marketers (Ryan Holiday, Tim Ferriss), and YouTube/podcast ecosystems.
• Others tie it to a broader trend of tech elites cycling fads: New Atheism → Stoicism → “trad” Christianity/Orthodoxy.

What Stoicism Is Supposed to Be

• Supporters frame it as a practical toolkit: focus on what you can control (your judgments, actions), accept what you can’t, and cultivate virtues (wisdom/prudence, courage/fortitude, justice, temperance).
• Many compare it to CBT/logotherapy: a way to manage anxiety, depression, conflict, and high‑stakes decision‑making.
• Multiple commenters stress Stoicism is not emotional numbness or passivity, but regulating reactions and acting justly regardless of outcome.

Class, Power, and the Status Quo

• Critics argue Stoicism tells the underclass to accept exploitation (“you can’t control working conditions”) and gives elites a moral gloss: whatever exists is “fated” and ultimately fine.
• Others reply this is a caricature: Stoics historically include both slaves (Epictetus) and emperors; the core ideas are class‑agnostic and can coexist with activism and justice.
• Some left‑wing commenters explicitly oppose Stoicism with Marxism, calling the former “serf ethics” and the latter “first philosophy of the proletariat.”

Wealth, Guilt, and Inequality

• Thread branches into whether the prosperous should feel guilt in an unequal world.
• One camp: wealth is mostly luck/privilege, and retaining excess while others suffer creates moral responsibility and often guilt.
• Opposing camp: no guilt is owed for inherited or earned wealth; only specific unjust actions matter. Stoicism can motivate charity and justice without paralyzing guilt.

Marcus Aurelius and Historical Debates

• Big fight over Marcus Aurelius: “good emperor” vs “tyrant, mass murderer” by modern standards.
• Some see Meditations as honest self‑therapy, sometimes bitter and depressive; others see it as a humane, fallible but valuable philosophical text.
• Several note that modern “pop Stoicism” often cherry‑picks and sanitizes the historical context and imperial violence.

Religion, Other Philosophies, and Misreadings

• Repeated pushback against the article’s claim that Stoicism (and then Christianity) teaches “everything is already perfect” and all evil is secretly good; many say that’s neither accurate Stoicism nor mainstream Christian theology.
• Comparisons surface with Buddhism, Hindu meditation, Epicureanism, Nietzsche’s critique, and Marxism; consensus is that Stoicism is best treated as one tool among many, not a complete moral‑political program.