Why, I hear you
ask? Well, he sold his company (that
created Minecraft) to Microsoft for a cool $2.5 BILLION. Don’t ask me exactly how many zeros that is,
but it’s a lot.
So what has he done with his wealth? Very little, it would appear, other than
bitch about it and piss people off. He
outbid Jay Z and Beyonce on a $70 million house in LA; that would have pissed
THEM off for a start. But he has
outranged his employees by selling the business and running.
I think what is more concerning is the tweets he has been
sending out into the Universe lately. I
mean, I think I understand the
stresses that overnight wealth of this magnitude might possibly lead to. All joking aside, I imagine huge wealth like
that IS a burden and it must be very difficult to ever know if people really
like you for YOU for the rest of your life, or the luxuries and kudos that
comes along with being in their entourage.
He is quoted as sending the following tweets:
‘Human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance.’
‘The problem with getting everything is you run out of
reasons to keep trying.’
‘Hanging out in Ibiza with a bunch of friends and partying
with famous people, able to do whatever I want and I’ve never felt more
isolated.’
‘In Sweden, I will sit around and wait for my friends with
jobs and families to have time to do shit, watching my reflection in the
monitor.’
Now I am torn between thinking what a self-absorbed wanker,
to genuinely thinking it must be a form of Hell.
On the S.A.W side, let’s examine the evidence (Loyd Grossman
style):
·
FFS mate!
You’re rich beyond your WILDEST dreams.
·
Your family will never have to worry about their
security for the rest of their lives.
·
You can treat your friends to the absolute best
of everything in life; hotels, cars, parties, women.
·
Think about the GOOD you could do with that
money!
·
The charity work you could do. Hell, you could fucking eradicate hunger in
an entire third world country (if not more than one!).
·
You could fund a space mission.
·
Think of the medical research you could help
with.
And you’re bitching because a few self-obsessed A list
celebrities don’t meet your expectations?
Who cares? They’re probably
arrogant as Hell because they’ve read all their own press anyway!
However:
·
How soul destroying must it be to never actually
know (deep down) for the rest of your life, whether people truly like you for
YOU, or you vast sums of money. Can
there really be anything more hollow and destructive than no true friends?
·
I imagine the money will ruin your family and
it’s relationships as much as it will your own life. Money is the root of all evil. How much is ‘enough’ to gift family. How much is ‘too much’? Will they think that it is their entitlement
for the rest of their lives for you to keep them topped up. Too much money and time on your hands must
surely lead to temptation and bad choices.
·
Friends….. ahhh!
This is a minefield (pardon the pun) for us mere mortals, let alone your
mate who’s just become richer than Hades.
They would NEVER see the need to dip their hand into their own pocket;
why should they? Can’t see them offering
to ‘do dutch’ on a private jet to the Maldives on a normal salary. This would stress even the greatest of
friendships. And the new doors that
would be opened to the MegaRich programmer must surely alienate Geoff from
Accounts as his mate hob nobs with supermodels.
·
It would be difficult to think you’ve got all
the time and money in the world to do with whatever you wish, but your ‘real’
friends have lives and jobs and mundane existences. People do generally have to live to
work. It’s part of the balance. Skewing this balance takes it’s toll.
·
The burden to ‘do good’ with the money. I imagine it’s well and truly ‘open season’
for the millions of charities worldwide to bombard him with pleas for help from
all over the globe from small, seemingly low profile causes, through to global
charities. Honestly, where would you
start? It’s a serious question. I believe the burden is real.
·
Why would you want your own space mission
anyway? NASA seem pretty good that that
stuff and Mr Branson seems to have that covered for the individual market.
·
Again, the need for money for medical research is
vast – what cause do you support? There
are so many needy causes and so many scammers looking for a quick buck.
So, although I don’t agree with his self-absorbed melancholy
and could almost hear a very high percentage of the population pleading with
him for this problem, I for one, would not be at the front of the queue with my
bank paying in slip. I think it would
ruin any normal decent person.
It’s quite ironic that this ‘positive’ list is completely
mirrored in the ‘negative’ column.
Sometimes there a lot to be said for ‘be careful what you
wish for’
………..lend us a fifty?