That's one of the dangers of high economic inequality. There is now a class of people who are essentially insulated from the social consequences of their actions.

Look at Geffen's "garage" - http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/25/4554132/david-geffens-beac...

It's not a garage. He's had the curb shaped like it's a driveway, and painted like it is, but it's not. Everyone, including the city know it's not.

But try and park there and you'll be fined like it is. Towed like it is.

Hah. While the fake garage he set up is a clear loss for the public, it is actually quite ingenious.

You know, where I am right now (India), if someone like this decided to antagonize their whole neighborhood by allowing Africans to rent their room (particularly African bachelors), they'd end up having to leave.

Passive aggressive mob justice doesn't sound so hot when the victims are members of our tribe, does it?

(Background for westerners: Indians don't really like Africans much, particularly in the abstract. I have no idea why. Various non-Nigerian Africans blame it on the fact that Nigerians are all criminals and give Africans a bad name.)

> Background for westerners: Indians don't really like Africans much, particularly in the abstract. I have no idea why.

It's because quite a few Indians are super racist. Especially against anyone (even other Indians) that are dark-skinned.

It's no surprise that bleaching cream is incredibly popular in India, and that all the Bollywood actors are incredibly fair-skinned. Hell, usually their music video dancers, cheerleaders at IPL games, etc..., are all just white people. Historically the higher castes also consisted of fair-skinned Indians.

Doesn't surprise me that Indians would object to 'questionable' (ie. African or Black) neighbours...

I don't think it has much to do with fairness. Africa has fair&lovely too. But from what I hear they love black people. (Never visited myself.)

It's the particular distaste for Africans that I don't understand. All foreigners face a degree of racism, but Africans seem to get it the worst. Women tend to be the most racist, morality police and spurned vixen depending on the situation. If an African woman wears shorts in her housing society it's a danger to good morals. And if an Indian woman tries to pick me up but I don't feel like dumping my (Mozambican) girlfriend right there, somehow the black girl is the problem.

I've found Americans pretty apathetic about injustice like this. They just think there's nothing they can do, nobody raises a fuss... currently dealing with this on the opposite coast...

Well when many effective firebrands like MLK, RFK, MalcomX and the like keep getting assassinated, you get a population that knows it shouldn't get uppity.

Not even talking about grand scale things like that. Little things -- the construction next door has been negligent and constantly wreaking havoc on neighbors, the environment, etc. Nobody other than me complains. Nobody files complaints. Nobody cares. Police don't care. Americans are brainwashed into thinking complainers are losers/weak and we all just have to "suck it up" and deal with it.

Because Americans foolishly still believe that 'one day they can make it too'. How else could one explain why millions vote for 'lower taxes for the rich' if they are quite poor themselves?!

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires" -- John Steinbeck

Just brilliant. Thanks.

> It's no fun to be unable to buy groceries or gas.

He can just use Instacart, and he probably drives a Tesla.

Which is not a good thing.

What if the community decided to "shun" someone for being gay? or having a different political opinion?

That also has historically happened. It is a problem.

No fun for the hired help who need to buy the groceries or gas perhaps. I doubt a billionaire would notice or care if their neighbours don't like them.

That's actually something I noticed when I moved here, people are a lot less likely to know their neighbors (even if they have fewer neighbors than I'm used to).

I bought a condo in San Rafael, and when I did a round to introduce myself to my neighbors, I had TWO people ask me if I was a sex offender! That made me wonder what kind of crazy place I had ended up in!

Then someone explains to me that sex offenders have to do that by law, and just about nobody else does that.

At least nobody yelled at me for doing deliveries by unmanned rover.

Then I left for India for work for a couple of months, and when I came back, someone was living in my place... Americans are very interesting :)

He's a billionaire. I don't think he'll have a hard time finding someone so sell him food.

Social justice like this is great. But If you have a 35 million dollar estate - the likelihood that he buys groceries or gas himself is slim to none.