there’s nothing about your money that makes you better than anyone else
March 29, 2019 9:07 AM Subscribe
"This is the weird thing about my life: I am usually excited to meet someone in direct disproportion to how excited they are to meet me. I’m kind of a lefty, New York City, Manhattan, pointy-headed intellectual type. Those are the people who hate Disney and think it’s the worst thing on Earth, and that’s where I probably would be if I weren’t actually related to it." (Sarah McVeigh interviews Abigail Disney for The Cut)
QFT: "[I]t’s the easiest thing in the world to make money if you start with money. And then people give themselves credit for being that smart when they’re not."
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:33 AM on March 29, 2019 [22 favorites]
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:33 AM on March 29, 2019 [22 favorites]
I love it. "Just like I watched my father increasingly surround himself with yes men, I started to deliberately surrounding myself with no ladies." And in case anyone missed it, here's what she has to say about tax cuts for the rich.
posted by hat_eater at 9:33 AM on March 29, 2019 [21 favorites]
posted by hat_eater at 9:33 AM on March 29, 2019 [21 favorites]
I really liked this and found her totally relatable and likable. If I ever came into (scads and scads of) money, I hope this is the kind of person who I would be as well.
posted by alleycat01 at 9:36 AM on March 29, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by alleycat01 at 9:36 AM on March 29, 2019 [8 favorites]
I also really liked this. I like her. She does not mince any words about wealth.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:43 AM on March 29, 2019
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:43 AM on March 29, 2019
She isn't horrible; that's nice.
posted by turkeybrain at 10:00 AM on March 29, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by turkeybrain at 10:00 AM on March 29, 2019 [11 favorites]
What a thoughtful and insightful woman. It sounds like the values her family modeled in the earlier years took root with her, and even after the money changed her parents, she stayed true to those earlier values. They raised her to be better than they actually were and it worked!
posted by sallybrown at 10:15 AM on March 29, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by sallybrown at 10:15 AM on March 29, 2019 [4 favorites]
It's ironic: anyone could tell you that "there’s nothing about your money that makes you better than anyone else", but these words are only considered profound or valid when a rich person speaks them.
posted by splitpeasoup at 10:31 AM on March 29, 2019 [27 favorites]
posted by splitpeasoup at 10:31 AM on March 29, 2019 [27 favorites]
It sounds like the values her family modeled in the earlier years took root with her, and even after the money changed her parents, she stayed true to those earlier values.
Yeah, I really related to that bit from the interview, on a much much smaller scale (obviously). My parents were always very comfortably off (by Indian standards) - definitely upper middle class. But what they really seemed to care about was the work they did in the Indian government - they were super passionate about it - things like reducing female infanticide, teaching adults how to read and write and count, stopping indentured labor. But along the way, they made some lucky real estate investments, meaning that by the time I was in my teens, they were in a much better place financially.
And then I left home, and I think they've changed in the 10 or so years since, and not necessarily in a good way. I think at root they still care about the stuff they care about, but they've become more fond of luxuries, less inclined to be uncomfortable - always wanting to travel business class, for example (which is to some extent inevitable as they get older) - their passions have become more about private things, like yoga and remodeling than changing the world. I can actually feel it happening to me too, as I start making more money compared to grad school days. I'm really impressed with how grounded Abigail Disney is.
posted by peacheater at 10:35 AM on March 29, 2019 [5 favorites]
Yeah, I really related to that bit from the interview, on a much much smaller scale (obviously). My parents were always very comfortably off (by Indian standards) - definitely upper middle class. But what they really seemed to care about was the work they did in the Indian government - they were super passionate about it - things like reducing female infanticide, teaching adults how to read and write and count, stopping indentured labor. But along the way, they made some lucky real estate investments, meaning that by the time I was in my teens, they were in a much better place financially.
And then I left home, and I think they've changed in the 10 or so years since, and not necessarily in a good way. I think at root they still care about the stuff they care about, but they've become more fond of luxuries, less inclined to be uncomfortable - always wanting to travel business class, for example (which is to some extent inevitable as they get older) - their passions have become more about private things, like yoga and remodeling than changing the world. I can actually feel it happening to me too, as I start making more money compared to grad school days. I'm really impressed with how grounded Abigail Disney is.
posted by peacheater at 10:35 AM on March 29, 2019 [5 favorites]
This is such interesting timing for me, because I just read DisneyWar about Michael Eisner's reign at Disney, and Roy is considered such a hero in that book. It's sad to see that money can distance people from the rest of the human population in such a considerable way, even though I'm sure everyone suspects that's the case.
posted by xingcat at 10:36 AM on March 29, 2019
posted by xingcat at 10:36 AM on March 29, 2019
I work in fundraising in NYC and I've heard good things about Abigail Disney. She founded the Daphne Foundation, which supports a whole lot of great causes.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:52 AM on March 29, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:52 AM on March 29, 2019 [3 favorites]
It's ironic: anyone could tell you that "there’s nothing about your money that makes you better than anyone else", but these words are only considered profound or valid when a rich person speaks them.
It’s not that they’re profound or valid, it’s that so few of them say and mean that. Like a straight white dude speaking up against the patriarchy and being truthful—it’s not that their opinion is more important than the victims’, but it’s almost unicorn-rare.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:46 AM on March 29, 2019 [25 favorites]
It’s not that they’re profound or valid, it’s that so few of them say and mean that. Like a straight white dude speaking up against the patriarchy and being truthful—it’s not that their opinion is more important than the victims’, but it’s almost unicorn-rare.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:46 AM on March 29, 2019 [25 favorites]
I keep trying to tell them that money is morally neutral. It does not, in and of itself, make you a bad person. It also does not, in and of itself, makes you a good person. You are who you are and the least important thing about you is what you have.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that hoarding resources when other people don't have enough to get by makes you a bad person. Also, it's very easy to say that what you have or don't have is unimportant when you have no idea what it's like to not have what you need.
posted by bile and syntax at 1:29 PM on March 29, 2019 [11 favorites]
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that hoarding resources when other people don't have enough to get by makes you a bad person. Also, it's very easy to say that what you have or don't have is unimportant when you have no idea what it's like to not have what you need.
posted by bile and syntax at 1:29 PM on March 29, 2019 [11 favorites]
Related, NPR's the1a did a show on Inside The Minds Of The Mega-Rich
posted by gen at 3:21 PM on March 29, 2019
posted by gen at 3:21 PM on March 29, 2019
I’ve worked with and for her, and she’s very nice, but she didn’t have to take the risks and meet the payroll that Walt and Roy did.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:24 PM on March 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Ideefixe at 8:24 PM on March 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
When I get duped, I just chalk it up to the rent I’m paying for not living on Planet Suspicious.
I like her.
Just FYI, that's out of Howards End.
posted by praemunire at 9:26 AM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
I like her.
Just FYI, that's out of Howards End.
posted by praemunire at 9:26 AM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
"nothing about your money that makes you better than anyone else"
Except, of course, that people will actually seek and post your opinions about the subject.
It may not make you objectively better ... if we can decide why that is a thing.
posted by Twang at 1:19 PM on March 30, 2019
Except, of course, that people will actually seek and post your opinions about the subject.
It may not make you objectively better ... if we can decide why that is a thing.
posted by Twang at 1:19 PM on March 30, 2019
When I get duped, I just chalk it up to the rent I’m paying for not living on Planet Suspicious.
I like her.
Just FYI, that's out of Howards End.
She's got a Ph.D. in English Lit so I'm giving her a pass.
"Yes, I think the apostle spoons could have gone as rent," said Margaret. Seeing that her aunt did not understand, she added: "You remember 'rent'? It was one of father's words-- Rent to the ideal, to his own faith in human nature. You remember how he would trust strangers, and if they fooled him he would say, 'It's better to be fooled than to be suspicious'--that the confidence trick is the work of man, but the want-of-confidence trick is the work of the devil."
posted by mecran01 at 9:01 PM on April 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
I like her.
Just FYI, that's out of Howards End.
She's got a Ph.D. in English Lit so I'm giving her a pass.
"Yes, I think the apostle spoons could have gone as rent," said Margaret. Seeing that her aunt did not understand, she added: "You remember 'rent'? It was one of father's words-- Rent to the ideal, to his own faith in human nature. You remember how he would trust strangers, and if they fooled him he would say, 'It's better to be fooled than to be suspicious'--that the confidence trick is the work of man, but the want-of-confidence trick is the work of the devil."
posted by mecran01 at 9:01 PM on April 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
Responding to criticism directed at her for taking a stand against excessive executive [in this case, Bob Iger's] pay, Abigail Disney said: “Pointing out the incongruity of pay at the top and pay at the bottom provokes a reaction because it so violates our innate sense of fairness, it is impossible not to wince.”
The Twitter threads in question: 1, 2
posted by trig at 1:44 AM on April 23, 2019
The Twitter threads in question: 1, 2
posted by trig at 1:44 AM on April 23, 2019
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