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No Thank You, Mr. Pecker

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Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker

#161

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

loeg wrote: post #138
woodruffw wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (Also, why is Jeff Bezos using Medium? He owns a newspaper.) Using his stake in the WaPo to boost a personal rebuttal would be a tremendous ethical lapse.

Could just publish it as a letter to the editor, no? Papers public random screeds all the time.

As Bezos states in his post, he already gets tons of crap from Trump and other idiots that he uses WaPo for personal ends (mainly because these other amoral characters couldn't believe themselves owning a newspaper and not using it as a personal propaganda outlet). He's wise to post this on a neutral platform and not give his enemies any more ammunition.

Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker

#162

Post by peteretep »

seanwilson wrote: post #153

I'm impressed he didn't censor out the text that says what the photos contain. The post would have had a similar impact either way I think. Nobody should have to be embarrassed about harm-free personal activities though.

Is there anything particularly embarrassing about them? All sounds pretty vanilla to me?

Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker

#163

Post by everdev »

minimaxir wrote: post #18

Granted, this strategy is very high risk unless you're one of the richest people in the world.

> If in my position I can’t stand up to this kind of extortion, how many people can? (On that point, numerous people have contacted our investigation team about their similar experiences with AMI, and how they needed to capitulate because, for example, their livelihoods were at stake.)

Sounds like precisely why he felt the buck had to stop somewhere.

Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker

#164

Post by seanwilson »

peteretep wrote: post #162
seanwilson wrote: post #153

I'm impressed he didn't censor out the text that says what the photos contain. The post would have had a similar impact either way I think. Nobody should have to be embarrassed about harm-free personal activities though.

Is there anything particularly embarrassing about them? All sounds pretty vanilla to me?

If they have no value in causing embarrassment, what value would they have as blackmail material?

There's nothing embarrassing about being naked but I'm sure most people wouldn't want naked photos of themselves made public.

Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker

#165

Post by everdev »

Balgair wrote: post #111
creaghpatr wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although, it did, I assume, trigger the divorce which will cost him a couple billion dollars

Then all the more kudos to Jeff for doing this. Taken from the point of view of the divorce court, this is a LOT more ammo for his soon-to-be-ex-wife and her side. These photos are very soon to hit the greater web/papers and WILL be used against him in the proceedings. You are correct, this decision by him to speak out is likely to cost him Billions .

I don't think it works that way. You can't get the majority of someone's fortune because of bad behavior.

Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker

#166

Post by inopinatus »

philwelch wrote: post #160
stupidcar wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem I have with most super rich people is that they consider genuine risk far less important than potential embarrassment. E.g. they won't dare taking a stand politically because of the chance that someone will go public with some scandalous nonsense. Bezos on the other hand seems willing to calculate differently. I have to say, this has changed my opinion of him a lot in his favour. On the very remote chance…

Jeff Bezos has mentioned before that he tries to make big decisions from a “regret minimization framework”.

The "Principle of Least Regret" is an excellent way to make decisions, particularly binary ones:

Given a choice between action X and action Y, and given all the facts and experience and self-knowledge currently at one's disposal, which option will you look back on in future with fewer/lesser regrets?

You then commit to the path that you currently judge minimises your future contrition.

The very literal minded will take this at face value and miss the point of the construct, which is that having committed to a given path you have minimised your regret even if it turns out to be the wrong choice. Because you can look back and say "given the information I had, it looked like the right one". Which is another way of saying, "if I had my time again, I'd do it the same way", only now with rational evidence of this claim.

Thus turning confirmation bias into an affirmative and effective decision tool, by preforming the outcome around it.

If you follow this procedure, you may still turn out unhappy, but you won't blame yourself. It is especially recommended for people who may otherwise experience chronic decision paralysis comorbidly with crippling imposter syndrome.

Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker

#167

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

andrewstuart wrote: post #16

Having read the whole thing, man Jeff Bezos has a great deal of courage. It helps to be backed by untold wealth but here is a guy who stands tall in the face of ghastly behaviour and in the face of deep personal embarrassment. +1 Bezos.

I'm going to push back against this characterization as "ghastly personal behavior". For one, it's not clear if he and his wife were already separated, at least at a personal level, before this affair. But this general idea that it's somehow "ghastly" to send a paramour love notes and sexually suggestive pictures is a sad remnant of our puritanical history, and the sooner we rid ourselves of this notion, the better.

Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker

#168

Post by buboard »

reitzensteinm wrote: post #30
hypochondria wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

i don't know if "in the extreme". certainly not extreme enough to be extorted over. There is vastly worse things to be ashamed about, most people understand that other people are not flawless, esp. when it doesn't affect them.

Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker

#169

Post by ShriekBob »

dangban wrote: post #101

Jeff Bezos, if you're reading this: Do a Playgirl spread, for charity. Spreadeagle. Defang them. -------- Edit: defang them (pun intended... get it? "fang") by doing Playgirl now, and publishing those sext images alongside. And do it for some great charity. Everybody will have a huge laugh over it, Jeff will be a hero, and National Enquirer will have nothing to publish.

I agree.

Once you've torn them limb from limb, once Pecker is rotting in a jail sell and the only thing the National Enquirer is useful for is recycling them into cup holders; then you walk into Playgirl and do a photo shoot of these exact photos just to make sure they all know it was never about the pictures.

Re: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker

#170

Post by buboard »

rdiddly wrote: post #150

Thought experiment: Try taking them at their word for a sec. "...an exploration of Mr. Bezos’ judgment... is indeed newsworthy and in the public interest." Wonderful! Looking out for my interests! My heroes, fightin' for me against all the bad judgment! So grateful! But then, if he'll agree to comply with their demands, suddenly it's not newsworthy anymore. "AM agrees not to publish, distribute, share, or describe un…

And now we have to live in a world where Mr Bezos' unpublished "materials" are patiently waiting to be found among other junk in somebody's hard disk. How can humanity sleep at night...
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