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Re:No Thank You, Mr. Pecker by ergothus on Thursday February 07, 2019 @07:28PM (#19110113)
Exactly - I'm trying to imagine being in his place and being open about all of this...and it's HARD. It's easy for me to want HIM to do it, but as much as I think being disgustingly wealthy would be great...I'm sure I'd still be really nervous about pressing that button.

And it's easy for us to say "Well I wouldn't be in that place to begin with", but as I much as I not be in this EXACT place, most of us have made mistakes that we deeply regret and fear getting out, or at least have the capability to. I don't have to assume I'd do this particular set of bad acts to be vulnerable. And once socially vulnerable, would money make it go away? No, not entirely, not enough. So how hard must it be for people who AREN'T disgustingly wealthy? Or even wealthy? Or even well-off?

Heck, with the quality of "deepfakes" or whatever now-a-days, all you need to do is find someone vulnerable to BEING vulnerable, and they don't even have to have done wrong. One marriage that has had no infidelity but is struggling, one person with a child/spouse who is suffering from serious depression/anxiety/suicidal/related issues. "hey, I have these pictures, and if you do X they don't have to see the light of day. You can deny them being real all you want...do you think that will really help?"

Or take the gross spectacle of releasing celebrity sex pics, or even just non-celebrity revenge pics. The only answer is for (1) we as a society to reject attempts to abuse this info and (2) to be less puritanical and judgmental about the victims here. To the Bezos example, one person can do wrong and we can oppose another using it to do wrong against them without condoning any of the original wrong.

Bezos has a hard time doing this, and it's far, far easier for him than for anyone else. I didn't care about his personal life before (note: Not the same as saying it doesn't matter) and I still don't, but even if I did I can find the blackmail efforts repugnant without letting adulterers off the hook.

...but that's hard too. Just not nearly as hard.

Re:No Thank You, Mr. Pecker by jupp0r on Thursday February 07, 2019 @08:08PM (#19110378)
> most of us have made mistakes that we deeply regret and fear getting out

Agreed, probably Jeff Bezos has made those mistakes as well. However I fail to see any mistakes of his threatened to be revealed.

Re:No Thank You, Mr. Pecker by munificent on Thursday February 07, 2019 @09:06PM (#19110797)
> However I fail to see any mistakes of his threatened to be revealed.

Cheating on his wife?

Re:No Thank You, Mr. Pecker by rhizome on Thursday February 07, 2019 @09:49PM (#19111079)
During what appears to be an amicable divorce? With an age-appropriate woman? I'm not sure that rises to the level of "mistake," and certainly not to blackmailable acts.

AMI way overplayed their hand here, and we may yet find that they had gone all-in.

Re:No Thank You, Mr. Pecker by doktrin on Friday February 08, 2019 @10:16AM (#19114934)
This isn't the 1950s. The conservative candidate in the last election is literally a serial philanderer. We're way past the point where the public at large is going to wring their hands about hum drum infidelity.
Re:No Thank You, Mr. Pecker by Digory on Friday February 08, 2019 @09:58AM (#19114713)
Jeff was using company money and contracts to keep his mistress happy. The pictures keep that in the spotlight.

And despite the letter, does anyone think he isn’t spending a big chunk of time on this?

Most Fortune 500 CEOs would be gone or forced into retirement.

Re:No Thank You, Mr. Pecker by jupp0r on Friday February 08, 2019 @12:01PM (#19116215)
> Jeff was using company money and contracts to keep his mistress happy.

That would mean he literally committed fraud. What's your source for that info?

> And despite the letter, does anyone think he isn’t spending a big chunk of time on this?

Why shouldn't he spend his time on whatever he wants?

Re:No Thank You, Mr. Pecker by Digory on Saturday February 09, 2019 @12:32PM (#19123480)
> fraud

Blue Origin yanked a super bowl ad after it was disclosed Sanchez was involved in its production team (presumably she was not free, and the ad certainly wasn’t.) It was then shifted to Washington Post at the last minute, with a slapdash ad. [0]

> ... time on whatever he wants?

He can, but that time has to come from somewhere. It’s hard to believe Amazon is getting his full attention. He can own the stock, but I certainly question whether Amazon has a business-focused leader right now.

[0]https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/02/04/jeff-bezo...