Slightly off topic, but the fact that the world's richest man who owns a tech giant chose to publish this on a closed platform like Medium should be worrisome for the future of the open web. On the other hand, this might just be the biggest brand endorsement for Medium till date.
No Thank You, Mr. Pecker
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Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker
#22I am glad that Jeff Bezos is aggressively going after AMI for their scummy behavior. I was also glad that Peter Thiel aggressively went after Gawker Media for their scummy behavior. Sometimes these badly behaving media outlets need to have a billionaire personally invested in stopping their bad behavior.
Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker
#23I look forward to seeing these scumbags becoming a smoking crater.
Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker
#24> Well, that got my attention. But not in the way they likely hoped. Any personal embarrassment AMI could cause me takes a back seat because there’s a much more important matter involved here. If in my position I can’t stand up to this kind of extortion, how many people can? Can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a prominent person post the details of a personal extortion attempt out of defiance for all to see.
David Letterman also did it very publicly on his TV show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44QgPty17Mc This shows the whole Trump/AMI/Campaign org to essentially be a criminal mafia enterprise.
> This shows the whole Trump/AMI/Campaign org to essentially be a criminal mafia enterprise.
There are quite a few connections with organized crime, it turns out. This isn't just a random slur, but something that merits investigation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/are-trumps-mob-conne...
and of course there's this, too:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/d...
Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker
#25"proceed with whatever budget he needed to pursue the facts in this matter" That's the richest guy in the world saying "I don't give a XXXX what it costs, find out who did it." It's also the moment in your life when, if you get the result that guys wants, he'll be glad to write you a cheque for $20,000,000 and will be happy to do so and he won't be interested in why the number is that high.
That gave me chills, and the phrase, If you’re going to shoot the king, you’d better be goddamned sure you’re going to kill him flashed through my mind. Well, they missed spectacularly, and now the man who has a rocket company for fun is clearly pissed.
You come at the king, you best not miss.
Also, never take notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy ;P
Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker
#26He chose Medium.
@ev is 3 out of 3 (and a podcast pivot).
Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
That gave me chills, and the phrase, If you’re going to shoot the king, you’d better be goddamned sure you’re going to kill him flashed through my mind. Well, they missed spectacularly, and now the man who has a rocket company for fun is clearly pissed.
You come at the king, you best not miss. Also, never take notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy ;P
I think Omar, Stringer and Machiavelli would have gotten along on some level.
"Upon this, one has to remark that men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge." -Machiavelli
Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker
#28Granted, this strategy is very high risk unless you're one of the richest people in the world.
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Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker
#29Important note: This is written by Jeff Bezos himself . Normally, the Bezos affair story would be gossipy, but this alleges extortion , extraordinarily. (Also, why is Jeff Bezos using Medium? He owns a newspaper.)
Also interesting that the writing is a bit clunky. Doesn't seem to have gone through 100 coms people.
Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker
#30> Well, that got my attention. But not in the way they likely hoped. Any personal embarrassment AMI could cause me takes a back seat because there’s a much more important matter involved here. If in my position I can’t stand up to this kind of extortion, how many people can? Can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a prominent person post the details of a personal extortion attempt out of defiance for all to see.
I don't think that this is a great example. The scandal was already out. His wife was already leaving him. The public already knows and already assumed lurid exploits. The rest is just details. It would be different if the decision to publicize this extortion attempt had been what caused his divorce.
They are threatening to post photos of him sexting. Calling that "just details" is a stunning lack of empathy.
Even if you'd personally be unperturbed by a similar situation, the vast majority of humans would find it humiliating and invasive in the extreme.