Why Should Americans Hear From a Rich White Man Right Now?
August 31, 2021 1:38 PM Subscribe
Max Abelson relates his "Covid conversations" with a one of America's richest men. [Bloomberg] [Archive]
Bonus: Douglas Copeland defends Elon Musk
Bonus: Douglas Copeland defends Elon Musk
So was Douglas Copeland always this foolish? It's pretty shit rhetoric to say we all can be dicks but ignore the difference in valence between when I act like one and when Elon Musk does. I mean sure, I have murderous impulses but it's not the same problem it is when the leader of a country with a nuclear arsenal has them.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 1:54 PM on August 31, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by lefty lucky cat at 1:54 PM on August 31, 2021 [12 favorites]
Why Should Americans Hear From a Rich White Man Right Now?
Betteridge's Law of Headlines.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 2:00 PM on August 31, 2021 [15 favorites]
Betteridge's Law of Headlines.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 2:00 PM on August 31, 2021 [15 favorites]
Note that the first article is from July 2020. A lot has happened since then. On the other hand, I doubt the subject's opinions have.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:02 PM on August 31, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:02 PM on August 31, 2021 [4 favorites]
My guess is that Coupland is desperately flailing about for some degree of monetisable relevance (after all, he's best known for writing about Generation X, the epitome of irrelevance in 2021 very online discourse), and fluffing Apartheid Emerald Karen as the Leonardo of our era was the somewhat subprime space left over after the approaches to the edgelord alt-right have been staked out by other formerly relevant commentators such as Bret Easton Ellis. Either that or he has succumbed to brainworms.
posted by acb at 2:07 PM on August 31, 2021 [15 favorites]
posted by acb at 2:07 PM on August 31, 2021 [15 favorites]
People think the way Copeland does in that article, because to think otherwise (that more power should mean more responsibility) leads to a dangerous place when you consider the fact that it is humanly impossible to act with responsibility at the levels of power and influence achieved by the likes of Musk. It is literally impossible to be a responsible billionaire which is why there should be no billionaires (or even millionaires after a certain threshold) - the human brain or body cannot achieve it.
posted by flamk at 2:14 PM on August 31, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by flamk at 2:14 PM on August 31, 2021 [10 favorites]
is it purely a reflection of my bad mood, or is that Coupland piece on Musk one of the stinkiest, ripest turds of an article I've read in recent memory? It's possible I'm just in a terrible mood.
posted by elkevelvet at 2:31 PM on August 31, 2021 [16 favorites]
posted by elkevelvet at 2:31 PM on August 31, 2021 [16 favorites]
Apartheid Emerald Karen
call the homicide squad, I ded
posted by supermedusa at 2:34 PM on August 31, 2021 [17 favorites]
call the homicide squad, I ded
posted by supermedusa at 2:34 PM on August 31, 2021 [17 favorites]
Musk has made me, a foaming at the mouth space junkie since early childhood, longing for Starlink to initiate a Kessler Syndrome event just to have him hoisted by his own petard. I don't even care that it would make space inaccessible.
posted by Dr. Twist at 2:54 PM on August 31, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by Dr. Twist at 2:54 PM on August 31, 2021 [7 favorites]
I don't know this Douglas Coupland guy but he seems kinda... well, dumb.
posted by klanawa at 3:04 PM on August 31, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by klanawa at 3:04 PM on August 31, 2021 [5 favorites]
Coupland's social media has been getting crankier - in both senses of the word - for a while, but this really does seem as if it was written not by the empathetic and sardonic author of Girlfriend in a Coma or Eleanor Rigby or Player One, let alone the guy who wrote Microserfs. Everyone is allowed to change of course, but wow, where did his kindness go? His bullshit detector? His curiosity?
posted by minervous at 3:11 PM on August 31, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by minervous at 3:11 PM on August 31, 2021 [10 favorites]
“How would you like it if you didn’t get paid?” he asked. Then he shifted gears.
“Why don’t you talk about yourself?” he said. “How much do you make?” He ventured a guess and was way off. I wouldn’t tell him by how much or in which direction.
I mean, it's one Bloomberg News reporter, how much could it possibly cost, ten dollars?
posted by mstokes650 at 3:14 PM on August 31, 2021 [30 favorites]
“Why don’t you talk about yourself?” he said. “How much do you make?” He ventured a guess and was way off. I wouldn’t tell him by how much or in which direction.
I mean, it's one Bloomberg News reporter, how much could it possibly cost, ten dollars?
posted by mstokes650 at 3:14 PM on August 31, 2021 [30 favorites]
I read the main article and all I got was: I’m not sure this billionaire even sees anyone not in his class as people.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 3:15 PM on August 31, 2021 [17 favorites]
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 3:15 PM on August 31, 2021 [17 favorites]
It’s interesting whenever Elon Musk’s name comes up [citation needed]
and people begin discussing his accomplishments,
such as the reinvention of money, [citation needed]
automobiles [citation needed] and space travel [citation needed], there’s always someone who says: “Yeah, but I hear he can be a real dick.” [this gets a pass]
posted by Cookiebastard at 3:56 PM on August 31, 2021 [8 favorites]
and people begin discussing his accomplishments,
such as the reinvention of money, [citation needed]
automobiles [citation needed] and space travel [citation needed], there’s always someone who says: “Yeah, but I hear he can be a real dick.” [this gets a pass]
posted by Cookiebastard at 3:56 PM on August 31, 2021 [8 favorites]
Thank you for posting, chavenet. I really enjoy Max Abelson's writing, and I hadn't read "Covid Conversations."
When I spoke with my billionaire that day
me: ! oh, no, that's how they getcha
I reminded him that his views on some things had evolved since the pandemic began. Could he eventually change his mind about this? “It’s not ‘the system,’ ” he reiterated. “Everybody’s got to stop with ‘the system.’ ” He didn’t sound exasperated, just amused. His voice had the same tone of charmed mellowness it’d had five or so weeks earlier. It’s a rich sound. “Grasshopper,” he said. “Grasshopper, I’ve got to teach you.”
me: you know better than to worry about Abelson by now
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:43 PM on August 31, 2021 [1 favorite]
When I spoke with my billionaire that day
me: ! oh, no, that's how they getcha
I reminded him that his views on some things had evolved since the pandemic began. Could he eventually change his mind about this? “It’s not ‘the system,’ ” he reiterated. “Everybody’s got to stop with ‘the system.’ ” He didn’t sound exasperated, just amused. His voice had the same tone of charmed mellowness it’d had five or so weeks earlier. It’s a rich sound. “Grasshopper,” he said. “Grasshopper, I’ve got to teach you.”
me: you know better than to worry about Abelson by now
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:43 PM on August 31, 2021 [1 favorite]
There's a limit to the amount of wealth you have compared to the amount of exasperation you're allowed, and he blew past that line decades ago.
posted by rhizome at 4:57 PM on August 31, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 4:57 PM on August 31, 2021 [6 favorites]
In case that billionaire dude ever stumbles across this thread: Fuck you.
posted by HotToddy at 5:40 PM on August 31, 2021 [20 favorites]
posted by HotToddy at 5:40 PM on August 31, 2021 [20 favorites]
Being a billionaire should be recognized as a mental illness and placed under supervision for their protection and societies.
posted by interogative mood at 6:02 PM on August 31, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by interogative mood at 6:02 PM on August 31, 2021 [7 favorites]
Would it be the same as someone having a lot/too many guns?
posted by rhizome at 6:08 PM on August 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 6:08 PM on August 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
Same reason you should always listen to them. They have all the power. You probably don't agree with them, but if you don't know how they think you're going nowhere.
You say that, but there's nothing to learn in this article. Anonymous coward billionaire apparently isn't particularly smart or well read. He doesn't have amazing insight or ideas. He's your garden variety selfish sociopath. We already knew that.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:18 PM on August 31, 2021 [20 favorites]
You say that, but there's nothing to learn in this article. Anonymous coward billionaire apparently isn't particularly smart or well read. He doesn't have amazing insight or ideas. He's your garden variety selfish sociopath. We already knew that.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:18 PM on August 31, 2021 [20 favorites]
Is this "50 Shades of Bloomberg?"
"He told me to be quiet, that if I relaxed it'd be like any other merger, but in reverse. He called it a SPAC, but I knew what Mr. Billionaire wanted. What if his wife found out? She was in the country home, because he likes to refer to everything as if he was a 19th century Duke. But wait, he's reaching in his drawer. I knew the SPAC wasn't right ... but could this be?
He took out a little pill. "I need it to perform," he said. It was Remdesivir and Covid was just beginning, he pushed it in front of me. "I have stock in Gilead... large stock," he whispered. "You think you're the only reporter I let in? I had Forbes in here earlier and spend $5 million for an overseas firm to pump fake social media on Remdesivir treatment. It doesn't help, but it doesn't make them sick. You think I care? By the time I make $100 million off this the media will be onto the next thing."
I shoved the papers off his desk, because for some reason Mr. Billionaire still kept things in manila folders. But I just saw Elon at Elaine's. Was this right? It felt so right, he kept talking about his portfolio and investors. He had two Bloombergs in his office, I assume he could do twice the work with them."
posted by geoff. at 6:21 PM on August 31, 2021 [5 favorites]
"He told me to be quiet, that if I relaxed it'd be like any other merger, but in reverse. He called it a SPAC, but I knew what Mr. Billionaire wanted. What if his wife found out? She was in the country home, because he likes to refer to everything as if he was a 19th century Duke. But wait, he's reaching in his drawer. I knew the SPAC wasn't right ... but could this be?
He took out a little pill. "I need it to perform," he said. It was Remdesivir and Covid was just beginning, he pushed it in front of me. "I have stock in Gilead... large stock," he whispered. "You think you're the only reporter I let in? I had Forbes in here earlier and spend $5 million for an overseas firm to pump fake social media on Remdesivir treatment. It doesn't help, but it doesn't make them sick. You think I care? By the time I make $100 million off this the media will be onto the next thing."
I shoved the papers off his desk, because for some reason Mr. Billionaire still kept things in manila folders. But I just saw Elon at Elaine's. Was this right? It felt so right, he kept talking about his portfolio and investors. He had two Bloombergs in his office, I assume he could do twice the work with them."
posted by geoff. at 6:21 PM on August 31, 2021 [5 favorites]
I live in Vancouver, British Columbia. I am peripherally connected to what understands itself as the art world hear. Every once in a while I hear stories from people who have dealt with Coupland, who is a big timey type tertiary art like person here who makes art like stuff, and they all have the same point; what a prick he is.
So, the musk piece? Not surprised in the least.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 7:14 PM on August 31, 2021 [4 favorites]
So, the musk piece? Not surprised in the least.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 7:14 PM on August 31, 2021 [4 favorites]
Same reason you should always listen to them.
We study diseases, chemical hazards, hurricanes and forest fires too.
posted by bonehead at 7:51 PM on August 31, 2021 [9 favorites]
We study diseases, chemical hazards, hurricanes and forest fires too.
posted by bonehead at 7:51 PM on August 31, 2021 [9 favorites]
Do you want to end up losing your life savings so that the old person you don’t know can live?”
Yes? Am I the only one to whom this seems obvious?
This depresses the hell out of me because while our premier has been playing his violin for the past year for all the small businesses going under I've been thinking, "Yes, this is your family business. You parents started it. Youv'e been working at this pizzeria since you were 13 and that was 50 years ago and now your kids and your grandkids work here. How horrific it would be have this lost....but if I could point to a specific person and say 'saving your business will kill this person." I know that you would let it go." And that's what I thought. I thought if all these people pressuring the premier to reopen the economy really made the connection between saving their business and killing people, they wouldn't be begging to re-open. I guess I was wrong.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:52 PM on August 31, 2021 [6 favorites]
Yes? Am I the only one to whom this seems obvious?
This depresses the hell out of me because while our premier has been playing his violin for the past year for all the small businesses going under I've been thinking, "Yes, this is your family business. You parents started it. Youv'e been working at this pizzeria since you were 13 and that was 50 years ago and now your kids and your grandkids work here. How horrific it would be have this lost....but if I could point to a specific person and say 'saving your business will kill this person." I know that you would let it go." And that's what I thought. I thought if all these people pressuring the premier to reopen the economy really made the connection between saving their business and killing people, they wouldn't be begging to re-open. I guess I was wrong.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:52 PM on August 31, 2021 [6 favorites]
Note that the first article is from July 2020. A lot has happened since then.
No shit. Things have gotten so much worse that the billionaire in question has probably even considered sheltering at his private island, and has probably priced out guards to shoot infected invaders should an even more virulent mutant evolve.
posted by mr_roboto at 10:53 PM on August 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
No shit. Things have gotten so much worse that the billionaire in question has probably even considered sheltering at his private island, and has probably priced out guards to shoot infected invaders should an even more virulent mutant evolve.
posted by mr_roboto at 10:53 PM on August 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
All billionaires are sociopaths.
posted by Beholder at 1:54 AM on September 1, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by Beholder at 1:54 AM on September 1, 2021 [7 favorites]
It's been a while since I read Microserfs, but I was honestly surprised by how genuinely kind the story was. Throughout the book I kept thinking that there's going to be a major blow-up which drives everyone apart or that Ethan would end up stabbing everyone in the back because of course he would.....but no! They stick together through thick and thin and they launch their product--which is a useful and innovative tool, not an industry disruptor--and things more or less work out for everyone. Reading it during the post-Dot Com, post-Facebook era, I was not expecting that.
And now, the same Douglas Coupland who wrote about one character's naive, childish belief that taking the shortest path between buildings on the Microsoft campus by cutting across the grass would get them noticed from high by Bill Gates is defending Elon Musk for being a powerful asshole.
I hope he recognizes and rewards you with a promotion, Doug. How many days is it until you're fully vested?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:25 AM on September 1, 2021 [10 favorites]
And now, the same Douglas Coupland who wrote about one character's naive, childish belief that taking the shortest path between buildings on the Microsoft campus by cutting across the grass would get them noticed from high by Bill Gates is defending Elon Musk for being a powerful asshole.
I hope he recognizes and rewards you with a promotion, Doug. How many days is it until you're fully vested?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:25 AM on September 1, 2021 [10 favorites]
The rich will always be rich, and they’ll always do just fine.
posted by gottabefunky at 9:53 AM on September 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by gottabefunky at 9:53 AM on September 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
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Same reason you should always listen to them. They have all the power. You probably don't agree with them, but if you don't know how they think you're going nowhere.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 1:52 PM on August 31, 2021 [21 favorites]