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Did you know that Mark Zuckerberg wants to be Caesar? It seems that being a fabulously wealthy tech entrepreneur and the greatest media mogul in history is not enough for Facebook’s CEO.
Instead, Zuckerberg ostensibly craves the absolute power held by his idol, the ruthless Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar. Notably, Zuckerberg has consistently praised Augustus’s harsh rule in interviews.
During his honeymoon in Rome, Zuckerberg took pictures of statues and monuments to Augustus. He even went so far as to name his daughter August as well.
Augustus Caesar or Octavian is the absolute dictator who destroyed the Roman Republic and set up an absolute monarchy. Augustus ruthlessly repressed Roman freedom and murdered his enemies.
Mark Zuckerberg Wants To Be Caesar Like His Hero Augustus
In fact, Augustus was so ruthless that his four greatest enemies: Brutus, Cassius, Mark Anthony, and Cleopatra, all committed suicide to avoid being captured by his legions. Furthermore, Augustus had his own cousin, Cleopatra’s son Caesarion, strangled. Caesarion’s father was Octavian’s famous uncle, Julius Caesar. Also, he had another child, Mark Antony’s eldest son, executed.
Moreover, Augustus was the first Roman emperor even though he never used that title. Rather, Augustus called himself “the first citizen.”
In reality, the first citizen was an absolute dictator that destroyed representative government in Rome. For example, Augustus reduced the Senate by 40% and probably had 300 of its members killed.
Modern historians regard Augustus as the role model for modern dictators such as Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. Both Mao and Stalin even claimed to rule in the people’s name as Augustus did.
Zuckerberg Wants To Be Caesar So He Can Enforce “World Peace”
However, Augustus’s history of bloody repression does not stop Zuckerberg from admiring the Emperor. Zuckerberg further reveres Augustus as a “prince of peace.”
“On the one hand, world peace is a long-term goal that people talk about today,” Zuckerberg tells The New Yorker. “Two hundred years feels unattainable. On the other hand, he said, that didn’t come for free, and he (Augustus) had to do certain things.”
Zuckerberg is referring to the Pax Romana or Roman Peace (27 BC-180 AD), a period of relative tranquility in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. Augustus laid the groundwork for the Pax Romana by crushing all independent nations and abolishing representative government.
Consequently, Zuckerberg appears to want a ruthless global empire capable of enforcing “world peace” at gunpoint. Additionally, Zuckerberg wants to be Caesar because he believes only a merciless dictator can build such an empire.
Zuckerberg May Be The Greatest Media Mogul In History
Mark Zuckerberg wants to be Caesar, and yet he is already a rich and powerful man. Amazingly, he may now be the greatest media mogul in history.
Facebook had 1.8 billion users in September 2018, Statista estimates. Furthermore, the encrypted messaging app WhatsApp, which Facebook owns, has 1.5 billion users.
So, these two social media applications have a combined audience of 3.3 billion. As a result, Zuckerberg is building the largest audience and the greatest media empire in history.
In contrast, America’s five broadcast TV networks had 26.5 million viewers during the 2017-2018 season, Variety estimates. Moreover, the largest network, NBC, had 7.8 million viewers. Meanwhile, Statista calculates that Facebook had 214 million American users in 2018.
Given these circumstances, traditional media outlets like broadcast TV cannot compete with Facebook. This means that Zuckerberg can exert a considerable influence upon public opinion.
Mark Zuckerberg Could Run For President
Zuckerberg wants to be Caesar and he has presidential ambitions. In particular, many journalists believe Zuckerberg was laying the groundwork for a presidential run with a national tour in 2017.
Notably, Zuckerberg has employed the former campaign managers for presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, The Nation reveals. Tellingly, Zuckerberg is now giving political speeches. Specifically, he proposed the idea of basic income in a 2017 commencement address at Harvard.
Under basic income, the government pays everybody a specific amount of money to prevent poverty. Significantly, Augustus’s Rome had a type of basic income through the distribution of free food to the poor.
Mark Zuckerberg Is Now The World’s Fourth Richest Man
Zuckerberg wants to be Caesar and he also has the money to run for president. In fact, Zuckerberg has a fortune of $55.6 billion, thereby making him the world’s fourth richest man.
Presently, Zuckerberg’s presidential ambitions appear to be on hold. Nevertheless, his admiration for Augustus Caesar is bigger than ever.
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