February 19, 2020
Bezos to Potlatch
Timothy Birdnow
Recently, Jeff Bezos announced he was donating ten billion to fight "climate change".
A friend on Facebook made the following observation:
That brought to mind a memory from history.
It is sometimes called Potlatch and the term is often associated with giving away wealth in order to affirm your social status, but the practice was not just about helping poor people. Sometimes the wealthy would pile up expensive goods and burn them to show he was so rich he could violently waste his wealth. It is frequently associated with Native Americans, but it has a long and venerable history, going back into the mists of time.
In many ways we see that among our wealthy today with so much of the foolishness they indulge to waste money.
Clearly, Bezos is preparing to burn his wealth on a funeral pyre of carbon dioxide.
How many billions have the uber-wealthy wasted on left-wing causes over the years? Quixotic political campaigns, Global Warming, campaigns to promote social justice, etc. They know this money is simply lost but they sacrifice it anyway. It is, I believe, as much to show they can as anything.
If Jeff Bezos was doing this for the public good he would donate this money to feed the poor in the Third World, or to provide electricity for them, or clean water. That he has chosen so useless a cause speaks volumes. He's potlatching.
Recently, Jeff Bezos announced he was donating ten billion to fight "climate change".
A friend on Facebook made the following observation:
Something happens to great men at some point after they achieve
tremendous successes. They decide to basically destroy part of their
wealth, wasting it on things that are worth less than nothing.
That brought to mind a memory from history.
It is sometimes called Potlatch and the term is often associated with giving away wealth in order to affirm your social status, but the practice was not just about helping poor people. Sometimes the wealthy would pile up expensive goods and burn them to show he was so rich he could violently waste his wealth. It is frequently associated with Native Americans, but it has a long and venerable history, going back into the mists of time.
In many ways we see that among our wealthy today with so much of the foolishness they indulge to waste money.
Clearly, Bezos is preparing to burn his wealth on a funeral pyre of carbon dioxide.
How many billions have the uber-wealthy wasted on left-wing causes over the years? Quixotic political campaigns, Global Warming, campaigns to promote social justice, etc. They know this money is simply lost but they sacrifice it anyway. It is, I believe, as much to show they can as anything.
If Jeff Bezos was doing this for the public good he would donate this money to feed the poor in the Third World, or to provide electricity for them, or clean water. That he has chosen so useless a cause speaks volumes. He's potlatching.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:21 AM
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