What the fuck is wrong with rich people that they act confused when regular people hate their ostentatious displays of wealth?

Like, I don't care whether Bezos's wedding is as "respectful" of Venice or not, and I don't think people protesting care either. It's not about the disruption—protests will cause more disruption—it's about the audacity of Bezos to think people wouldn't pelt him with rotten eggs if they got the chance.

Dude, Jeff, Bezos, my man, people hate you. You are more cruel and greedy and selfish than some of us can even imagine. Enjoy your wealth, I guess, but don't expect people to be nice or treat you well.
Jeff Bezos and the other billionaires are playing like it's Versailles in the late 18th century... Y'all... a day is coming.

Read the room, people! Every display of your sickening wealth in the faces of people just trying to survive and live their lives is going to make people hate you *that* much more.

You think you can just laugh at suffering forever? You've got to be kidding. There are a LOT of us. There are only a few of you, and it's not even like you're particularly clever or anything.

If there was ever a time where it might be a good idea to *stop flaunting your wealth* I really think now is that time.

They won't, but I actually prefer that anyway. Go on, keep on angering people, keep on causing outrage. Keep going—I want to see where this ends.

Lauren Sanchez's brother is quoted as saying he thinks this wedding will be like "a Princess Di" thing.

Um... A lot of people loved Princess Diana. No one—Jeff Bezos included—loves Lauren Sanchez. So no, I don't think it's going to be "a Princess Di thing".

@artemis maybe people will talk about how bloody terrible her wedding gown was, whenever the topic of the wedding comes up even years - nay: decades later?

That would be a Di-like thing she could achieve :-D

@artemis end up in an assassination of the bride by the groom for being more popular than them?

@artemis

The robber barons were just as filled with hubris and self-importance.

FDR wasn't a class traitor; he was their biggest ally. He recognized that the US was poised to do a communist revolution or a fascist takeover, and in the interest of maintaining as much of the status quo as he could he forcibly corrected the outrageous depredations of his own class.

Their resentment lingered until they could regain power in the late 1970s and start dismantling the system that protected them.

@johnzajac @artemis Mechanically this works but I don't feel like there's *necessarily* this level of conniving malice involved.

He could just as easily be someone who was acculturated and brainwashed to believe Capitalism is the only way forward, like most Americans, and these compromises were how he felt peace could be preserved.

@gooba42 @artemis

While I concede that's possible, I do think that the whole "nobody is malicious!" idea is essentially refuted by every personal or anecdotal experience I've had with the wealthy class.

@johnzajac @artemis I think it creates unnecessary friction though.

"These people are right about the economics but explicitly require me to believe my grandparents were Evil in order to participate."

We can arrive at the same practical actions and conclusions without requiring the assumption of intentions.

@artemis Maybe that's a polite way of saying that there are mistresses already...
@artemis if any of these billionaires had any ounce of sense they would be funding hospital wings and scholarships and soup kitchens with their names on, so at least they would appear to be benevolent. That they don’t even do that, even though it wouldn’t make a noticeable dent in their wealth, tells you everything you need to know.
@satsuma @artemis in the world they envision, we are all dead.
@artemis I guess it's people who "have it all" wanting the one thing they made sure they can't have.
@artemis Do Bezos’ wedding guests have to wear diapers or is that just his employees?
@artemis ever since Sarah Sanders was denied service at a DC restaurant I’ve been calling for these hateful folks to be ostracized. Sidelining them is all we’ve got left