From The Heights

 Jeff Bezos came back to Earth last Tuesday, much to the disappointment of a certain segment of the population. More than two hundred thousand humans signed a petition at Change.Org insisting that he not be allowed to return. But, just like Richard Branson before him, this intrepid adventurer went where so very many have gone before: to the edge of space and back again. Like Mister Branson, Mister Bezos was along for the ride, putting me in mind of the old story about Ted Turner's response to the outrage generated by the colorization of the MGM film catalog: "Last time I checked, I owned 'em." 

Which is why, even with this tone-deaf precedent, it is so very alarming that when Captain Jeff (rank assumed) sat in front of reporters he said this: "I want to thank every Amazon employee, and every Amazon customer, because you guys paid for all this. Thank you from the bottom of my heart very much." The first question this raises for me is whether a more challenging endeavor might have been to go in search of Jeff Bezos' heart in the first place, let alone the bottom of it. The next one would be this: "Why don't you spend an equal amount of your vast fortune on the employees who you have treated so carelessly over these past twenty years or so?" To that end, I have some suggestions for some light reading, generated by the folks at Amazon, a reading list of best selling titles about income disparity. Maybe you could pore over a few of those while you're waiting for your rocket to be refueled.

Yes, I hear you saying, but what about that kid he took to space with him? Wasn't that pretty swell of him to do? If you're talking about the Danish teenager who got a seat because the kerjillionaire who spent twenty-eight million dollars to win it cancelled at the last minute. So why not go grab some underprivileged kid off the street and give him the opportunity of a lifetime? You could probably find some lucky eighteen year old in one of those cavernous warehouses with Amazon stamped on the side. No? You would rather take the son of the CEO of an investment firm in the Netherlands. That seems pretty on brand. For a guy who started his empire from a garage in 1994, it seems like it didn't take long for him to forget "the little people." Not that they are in fact any smaller of stature than your average human, they just have smaller bank accounts, allowing them to be overlooked. From the edge of space we all look just like little ants to Jeff Bezos. 

Which is just about the same way we look to Jeff Bezos when he's down here among us. 

We never should have let him come back.