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> this is the correct way to handle such things. Yes, with conditions. Bezos himself writes, in the article we're discussing: I asked him to prioritise prot
by TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
> this is the correct way to handle such things.
Yes, with conditions.
Bezos himself writes, in the article we're discussing:
I asked him to prioritise protecting my time since I have other things I prefer to work on and to proceed with whatever budget he needed to pursue the facts in this matter. - emphasis mine.
And that:
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.
Thus making it plain, simple, and obvious, that he recognises that having a net worth up around the US$137 billion[1] mark has it's perks.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos
Edit: inconsequential grammar improvement
- pbalau 8y agoAnd? What's your point?
- thirdsun 8y agoI think the user you’re asking tried to explain that not everyone has the means to handle things in such a way. Fair point, but obviously someone like Bezos should be able to make use of his resources in cases like these and I‘m sure nobody is arguing against that.
- rnvhhynr 8y agoSomeone without that net worth won't be blackmailed by the US and Saudi governments.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y agoAt risk of repeating myself, Bezos one words: 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. You’re right, most people are never going to face such an adversary personally. But there are legions of other adversaries, at all sorts of levels, who are out to pray on almost anyone with a bit of money / fame.
- rsynnott 8y agoI don't think that's necessarily true. This sort of thing could very well be happening to individual journalists, and we'd never know about it.
- rsynnott 8y agoAnd, yep: https://www.ibtimes.com/ronan-farrow-supports-jeff-bezos-ami-national-enquirer-blackmail-claim-2761172 https://www.ibtimes.com/ronan-farrow-supports-jeff-bezos-ami...
- Slartie 8y agoIn order to be blackmailed by the US and Saudi governments, you do not need to have a lot of money. They don't really care about that, because they also have a lot of money. What they care about is whether you have something that poses a danger to their (hidden) agendas. If this is true, it may also mean that it is more likely that you have a lot of money (because there appears to be a statistical correlation between having lots of money and having stuff that's dangerous to the agendas of state-level global actors, likely because having lots of money means having lots of power and influence, which results in getting access to "stuff" you wouldn't have otherwise), but the former does not automatically result in the latter, and it also isn't a requirement for the latter. Hence you can very well, through an infinite amount of random circumstances, come into possession of material deemed "dangerous" by the US and Saudi governments, while still being just a normal person living a normal life with a 5-digit net worth. Resulting in you being blackmailed by the US and Saudi governments. Most likely with quite some success.
- coryfklein 8y agoBut if humanity as a whole enforced social norms that rewarded blackmail-refusals, then the value of blackmailing would drop so low as to be not worth it and extremely uncommon. Essentially we could develop a herd immunity to blackmail.
- eggpy 8y agoYeah but scandal attracts eyeballs and people are more interested in spectacle than choosing the morally superior option
- jackfrodo 8y agoI think the consequences of blackmail are inherent in it. All this is is getting in front of the story
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y agoThe solutions to a great majority of the issues facing us begin with: But if humanity as a whole... As far as I’ve been able to determine, much to my chagrin, in many of the ways that matter most, humanity isn’t a coherent whole. And I’ve got no idea what to do about it.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]