Is he trying to look like a jerk? Or doesn't he care?
I ask these as serious questions.
Jeff Bezos wore a cowboy hat and cowboy boots into space.
Jeff Bezos, space cowboy.
His warehouse employees work under close supervision and punishing quotas. Bezos thanked his employees for making him so rich. “I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this."
Really???
It didn't seem like he was sharing a sentiment of humble appreciation. It was the grin of the winner at the poker table letting the losers know he is walking away with their chips.
I questioned myself: Are my impressions unfair and just my own? Did others see what I saw? I scouted around the internet to look at reactions to him. Others saw the same thing.
He must have wanted to project a certain kind of image--or at least been wantonly unconcerned about how he came across. Yet it seems so counter-intuitive for the CEO of Amazon at this moment, when regulators are looking closely at Amazon and other technology firms. Amazon uses its market domination not as a neutral "common carrier." Some of its business practices are openly abusive to third-party sellers on its platform. Rockefeller did this in the early 20th century. It causes companies to get broken into pieces. Plus, his company was criticized for extracting concessions from cities to get a second headquarters. Amazon was an unapologetic bully. Bezos personally was outed as being one of the billionaires who paid zero taxes.
One would think this might be a time for Amazon to stress its corporate good citizenship. Yet his rocket took him on a joy ride into sub-orbital space for some three minutes of weightlessness. It had a fiddling-while-Rome-burns look to it.
Possibly this is utterly personal. Bezos is not just a CEO. He is also a man post-divorce, possibly just acting out. After the Bezos' marriage dissolved, Mackenzie Bezos married a high school science teacher and changed her last name. She has been giving billions of dollars away. She isn't putting her name on things; she isn't showing off. She announced the gifts in a simple blog post on Medium that concludes with this poem by the 13th century poet Rumi:
A candle as it diminishes explains,Gathering more and more is not the way,Burn, and become light and heat and help. Melt.
In her philanthropy and comments she is making a moral and philosophical statement that material things are not the center of life. Mackenzie chose empathy and philanthropy.
Here is one explanation: Mackenzie Scott chooses to go in one behavioral lane and Jeff Bezos is grabbing the opposite one. She wants to be Mrs. Nice? OK, Jeff will be Mr. Naughty and be proud of it. Maybe Cowboy Jeff wasn't a big "F---you" to the world. Maybe it was toward his ex.
The other thought is the bigger picture one. America is going through another era marked by dramatic income inequality. There was the famous "robber baron" period of the late 19th century age when great fortunes were created through flagrant stock manipulation. The great winners felt triumphant, and they built mansions to show it off. The "roaring twenties" were a second period, when easy credit and flagrant lawbreaking surrounding Prohibition created an environment of high-living show-off wealth, the kind described by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby.
We are in a similar era, now. Credit is easy, the economy is great for people who are already wealthy. Joy-rides into space substitute for mansions in Newport, Palm Beach, and the California coast. It may be a blow-off gesture signaling the crazy exuberant end of a period. Bezos' space ride is the equivalent of Hearst's castle at San Simeon--a mansion over the top but unapologetic, with gold fixtures, objects moved from European cathedrals, exotic animals. Why not? Hearst and Bezos could afford anything.
Or not. Possibly Americans still have an appetite for admiring the extraordinarily wealthy. Possibly their attitude isn't yet one of an economic order out of balance. Possibly Americans look at Bezos and think "why that could be me!"
But I think we are close to the end of an era.
8 comments:
There has been an abusive ruling class since we stopped being a hunter gather people. Some of the time the ruling class has presented themselves as GODS. The Magna Carta was a step toward diversification of power, true democracy a further step. The ruling class will always try to take advantage if they can. I personally don’t mind the cowboy act. He is rich, let him do whatever, but everyone rich should pay their fair share. I think a change is coming for the aristocracy and their unlimited power at least I hope so.
The vast majority of folks I'm in contact with are hugely disgusted with Bezos and the other billionaires he's engaged in Penile measuring contests with. I keep think that what he did was accomplished by a chimpanzee named Ham 60 odd years ago, along with other Chimps, most of whom died in the process, so Bezos, etc. is no hero, just a huge ego cruising for a big fall, if History is any guide.
And yet Republican Senators refuse to even consider increasing the funding of the IRS so they can go after assholes like this.
Great topic, with many avenues for discussion. I'll pick a couple.
As a culture we are overly obsessed with the people who chose to put themselves in front of cameras. One reason is cinema. In order to market films studios elevated the actors into larger than life personalities. An entire industry, public relations, was tasked to make sure they were seen outside of the theater living glamorous, mostly fictional, lives. Over time this included other entertainers, businessmen, to the point where now the craft is so refined that people can become famous for literally doing nothing. A big part cult of celebrity is criticizing them to feel better about ourselves. It's petty and stupid. His hat?
Now, Bezos and the others are in a position to do what Lindberg did for aviation. A ship that could fly above the atmosphere could go from LA to London in literally minutes. This is a potential gain for humanity that is as difficult for some to imagine as flying over the ocean was in 1927. Perhaps the technology will be of value combating climate change. Bezos mentioned putting factories in space, who knows?
Amazon's labor practices are legal. If we don't like them let's change the law, if we can't shame them into doing what we'd like.
Throughout history, eras of great wealth and excess have all been met with a crash and ruin. Some civilizations crashed so fast and hard that nothing is remains of their empire except the sands of time blowing over the ruins. "Look on my works, yea mighty and despair".
It took a second cup of coffee, but I just realized that picture of Bezos could have been GW Bush landing on the carrier in history too tight flight suit to stand in front of his Mission Accomplished banner, a whole bunch of years before President Biden declared an end and finally brought most of our troops home. Of course, there is little to no discussion about the 40 thousand odd US Mercenaries still in Afghanistan/Iraq.
40% of Americans thought an immoral, ego-driven, narcissistic sociopath would make the best leader. And half of Congress still does. But to your point Peter, I don't think it matters what Americans think about Bezos and neither does he (although the hat and boots reminded me of Slim Pickens in Dr. strangelove).
We'll keep hitting the "proceed to checkout" button, shop Whole Foods, watch Amazon Prime and talk to "Alexa", because we are addicted to convenience - even if we suffer from self-loathing from feeding the beast.
I saw little rich white boys bouncing up and down on the motel mattress. No reverence to the great scientists who brought forth space exploration and suffered death in experiments that ended badly. Pigs at the trough slurping up tax payer money and the expendable lives of the worker bees that fill Jeffies sweat shops. All it takes is one unhappy worker…watch out Jeffie.
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