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Fugees Founder Pras Michél Speaks Out: 'I Never Wanted to Be a Spy'

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Re: Fugees Founder Pras Michél Speaks Out: 'I Never Wanted to Be a Spy'

#81

Post by roughly »

sangnoir wrote: post #80
roughly wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s noted a little obliquely in the article that he got paid an ungodly amount of money for his help - at one point, it’s mentioned he got paid $20m to set up a photo op with Obama; elsewhere they suggest $100m total received for his help. I think he deflects on money because it takes a whole lot of sympathy out of his sort of “gee shucks” presentation of all this.

A lot of people got lots of money or high-value gifts. Also curiously his advisor (handler?) worked for the US government - was he 100% moonlighting, or performing government-sanctioned activities? They are throwing the book at Pras because he refused to play ball with the plea bargain.

Oh absolutely - I don’t excuse people the consequences of their actions because they were dumb, but this very much reads like Pras was the one guy without a good lawyer in the room.

Re: Fugees Founder Pras Michél Speaks Out: 'I Never Wanted to Be a Spy'

#82

Post by zusammen »

shepherdjerred wrote: post #74
zusammen wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hated that voice. At first, I told myself it wasn’t right to hate someone’s voice so much because I assumed it had been something she couldn’t control, and in fact it made her slightly more impressive to me that she had gotten anywhere with such an uncharismatic voice. Then I found out that, no, she made it up. All fake. I have a cousin with two special needs children. When I was first told that people in Silicon V…

Did Holmes fake speech issues? I thought her voice was intentionally changes so that she sounded more assertive/less feminine

[dead]

Re: Fugees Founder Pras Michél Speaks Out: 'I Never Wanted to Be a Spy'

#83

Post by bzmrgonz »

roughly wrote: post #77
JKCalhoun wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm a little confused about what he actually did. Launder money? That he deflects when the topic of money comes up is telling enough.

It’s noted a little obliquely in the article that he got paid an ungodly amount of money for his help - at one point, it’s mentioned he got paid $20m to set up a photo op with Obama; elsewhere they suggest $100m total received for his help. I think he deflects on money because it takes a whole lot of sympathy out of his sort of “gee shucks” presentation of all this.

Question: How does a Minimalist spend 100M USD??

Re: Fugees Founder Pras Michél Speaks Out: 'I Never Wanted to Be a Spy'

#84

Post by portaouflop »

svantana wrote: post #21
portaouflop wrote: post #3

Celebrity and money are like a reality distortion field. I hope I never acquire either in large quantities - it does not seem like a desirable thing

Presumably the guy is distinctively not rich, or he wouldn't have gotten involved in such risky business to make money. Most of the hit songs he's been involved with are based one or more older songs, so he may not make much from royalties.

I consider having a seven figure ($ or €) sum in the bank as rich.

Re: Fugees Founder Pras Michél Speaks Out: 'I Never Wanted to Be a Spy'

#85

Post by 20after4 »

dustingetz wrote: post #78
mandmandam wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you are speaking in absolutes. No I'm not. I said "there's something to it". I'm not OP, and I think OP could be understood to be speaking as "in the vast vast majority of cases" rather than an unbreakable now-and-forever rule. It's wise to interpret people in the most charitable reasonable light, generally. > but is it absolutely true, and absolutely true today If it's true in 99% of cases, or 100%, the difference…

> But there is a level of wealth and position where you ABSOLUTELY MUST participate in the most evil parts of society to stay where you are. (emphasis added) I’m a founder of a venture backed seed stage startup, as a missionary not mercenary founder i do not seek extraordinary wealth but my shareholders do and I have fiduciary duty as well as substantial ownership. I struggle to accept without clear demonstration tha…

Being a founder of a startup, even a relatively successful one, doesn't put you into the same class as the top 0.1% of billionaires.

At the very least you have to exploit the labor of the bottom 99% of society in order to attain 1% wealth.

When you get to the level of Musk, I think it's almost self-evident that it isn't possible to attain that much wealth, without being directly responsible for a significant fraction of all the evil in the world.

That's slightly different from "participating in evil parts of society" but I think that it certainly would be difficult maintain that kind of wealth but somehow avoid participating in the activities of your peers.

Re: Fugees Founder Pras Michél Speaks Out: 'I Never Wanted to Be a Spy'

#86

Post by ANewFormation »

dinkblam wrote: post #45
ANewFormation wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don't get involved in criminality, in general, out of desperation, but because they enjoy the lifestyle. Hence the hundreds of successful e.g. rappers who end up in prison (or dead) even long after they had far more than enough money that any sense of wanting was far behind them.

> People don't get involved in criminality, in general, out of desperation, but because they enjoy the lifestyle. ugh. why do you suppose there is a two degrees of magnitude difference in crime between poor and rich nations? there is no connection to theft not sounding that bad when you are starving? also, are you supposing all the gangs breaking into&robbing homes are actually bored millionaires?

There isn't any such causation between rich and poor countries. Most of Asia is dirt poor, even more so a couple of decades ago, yet crime is extremely scarce.

Even in America alone there are a vast number of people living in extreme poverty. And the overwhelming majority will live perfectly normal lives, even if it means on occasion living off iceberg and ramen, as was the case for myself when growing up.

If poverty/desperation drove crime then there would be vastly more criminals, especially in rural areas, yet criminality remains relatively rare.

You'll find far less tolerance for criminal behavior among those who grew up in poverty, because they are the ones who have lived through it all and seen with their own eyes the sort of people who go down the wrong road. And the fault for going down that road lies with nobody besides those people.

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