He sounded like a profoundly lonely individual that was made only more so by his financial success. It doesn't get much worse than paying people to be your friend.

I reject this entire line of thinking. There's this idea that somehow vastly wealthy people suffer more than the rest of us because, after all, they're filthy fucking rich so of course everything they do is "more" in one direction or another. Paying people to be your friends works great for plenty of people. Nobody's sitting around going "Poor Jho Low, wiping his eyes with hundos on his 300-foot Azimut.

I mean it sucks to be lonely but we've got this whole mythology where if you're a lonely asshole it's because you're an asshole but if you're a lonely rich asshole it's because the fuckin' travails of wealth are too much for most people no that doesn't mean you should institute a reasonable tax regime it's far better if we just feel sorry for rich assholes.

CONTROVERSIAL TAKE: Notch was never not an asshole, but as a rich asshole there are far more suck-ups willing to put up with his bullshit so they can lick spilled Krug off marble steps. This doesn't mean "rich people suffer unique problems" this means our culture cuts rich people way the fuck too much slack.