"We are very proud of this! We are nobodies, we have no money, nothing!" Tommaso Cacciari, from a group calling itself No Space for Bezos, told the BBC.

"We're just citizens who started organising and we managed to move one of the most powerful people in the world - all the billionaires - out of the city."

The wedding kicks off later this week, and has a star-studded guest list of the rich and famous that is rumoured to include Kim Kardashian, Mick Jagger and Leonardo diCaprio, as well as several of the Trumps.

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[–] 162 points 1 year ago (14 children)

The activists have been heavily criticised by city officials, who argue that such high-rolling visitors are an important source of income.

I hope the voters remember to kick these politicians and officials to the curb. They clearly don’t work for the people they represent

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  • [–] 26 points 1 year ago (12 children)

    Meanwhile, Venice is sinking. But money is more important. :|

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  • [–] 26 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Remember when dolphins actually returned to the city for a little while? That's how it's supposed to be for citizens. Bezos should just tour somehwere that needs more tourism. I think the deep sea is open.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Don't you need money to stop Venice sinking?

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    For temporary solutions, yes. They have three major, perpetual issues that are not solved by tourism money.

    1. Rising sea levels.
    2. Too many boats making waves rocking the foundations more.
    3. Too much groundwater extraction (seawater pressure will push inland with less groundwater pressure).
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  • [–] 161 points 1 year ago (12 children)

    "This event involves just 200 carefully selected guests and will bring major economic benefits to the city," the local politician said

    Tell me you don't understand what is being protested without telling me you don't understand what is being protested.

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  • [–] 71 points 1 year ago (10 children)

    He knows but part of the major economic benefits for the city are already in his pockets

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    Well yeah, most likely that. I want to believe that there are some politicians and city officials and such who are just too stupid to realize the problems with capitalism. I just don't wanna think bad of all my fellow humans, you know. That style of useless universal misanthropy is so 2008-2011 thinking for me personally.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    It's not stupidity. It's willful blindness.

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  • [–] -1 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    tomato potato. and how do you know, hmm? do you divine the exact information on a case-by-case basis from animal bones and cryptic symbolism in your dreams for every non-socialist on whether they are stupid or willfully blind? i often find myself making such grand generalizations, while being myself willfully blind to the stupidity of such endevours.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Because they wouldn't get to that position if they were just plain stupid. But it's amazing what someone can fail to understand when their livelihood depends on it.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Because they wouldn't get to that position if they were just plain stupid.

    Counterpoint: Trump

    The influence of money outweighs intelligence every time, which is precisely why your second statement holds true.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    You both seem to be right. Needless levels of empathy should also be avoided in some sense. i want to believe in aliens though

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    Could you elaborate on "needless levels of empathy"?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    irl i like to believe the best of people, can't really help it, and that has lead me to problems in relationships. so like that, one shouldn't forgive a person their infractions just because they cry.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    There's a difference between feeling empathy and providing grace or forgiveness. It is absolutely acceptable and healthy to set boundaries on what you are capable of forgiving, but giving up empathy is a different story. Empathy is what makes us human, makes us care about each other. You absolutely can (and, IMO, should) keep caring about these people who have hurt you. If someone shares a true human connection with you, that matters. Thats what you should empathize with.

    That said, people are products of their circumstances, environments, and the systems they grew up within. Depending on those factors, people may develop incredibly maladaptive behaviors, or be subject to untreated mental health issues; this can lead to unhealthy behaviors that harm those around them.

    It is not your responsibility to fix them, nor guide them. Even if they recognize themselves as the source of their problems and wish to change and grow, it is still not your job to drag them through that process. Actively caring for someone isn't the only option. Caring for someone can be remote, can be passive or entirely uninvolved in their life. You are absolutely allowed to set those boundaries, or to set more open boundaries and do what you can to help them if you wish.

    To stop caring for them altogether, however, is a mistake. If you genuinely connect with and care about someone, hang onto that. Hang onto your love for fellow humans because that empathy, that love is what keeps humans growing and moving forward. It is okay to separate yourself from those who harm you, okay to leave someone to their journey, but to stop caring for them dehumanizes yourself just as much as it dehumanizes them.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    yeah i hear you, and think you're right. still ain't gonna forgive her, just forget. and when she will inevitably appear in my spaces again (might be because this city is in actuality a fucking backwoods village) i'll remember, and will choose not to forgive again! you only get about a thousand chances with me, 'cause i don't tolerate shit. but once those are done you can consider your ass forfeit. and this person i am constantly referring to used up those thousand chances with me, and then some; i drew boundaries and she crossed them when it suited her. her type of help for a person lying on the ground was to kick them. the years i wasted dealing with that fuckwit kinda really fucked me up, but thankfully i now know not to forgive her.

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  • [–] 180 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Having all those billionaires there gathered at once would be a massive opportunity to create a huge transferable amount of wealth under the right circumstances.

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  • [–] 84 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Even the Romans used to be like “yeah you got too much money, time to kill you and add your wealth to the common fund”

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  • [–] 22 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    You’re only bringing that up because it’s a highly relevant and logical solution to the problem of isolated and ego driven wealth objectively and negatively affecting society on a global scale, way to strawman, libtard.

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  • You forgot to defend the conservative ideal of the Roman empire as the supreme fascist state! You need to talk about how the romans allowed the free market (with the guiding hand of daddy imperator) to determine where the money should go! Tell them that the money was used to build roads, not for trade, but to march their very manly soldiers on against the commies and the libs!

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  • [–] [S] 66 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    They forced him to the suburbs, now they're like the little people.

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I hope the people in those suburbs kick up a stink as well.

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  • [–] 63 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Why the fuck would any of those people want to go to the wedding of a glorified shopkeeper anyway? Mick Jagger? WTAF?

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  • [–] [S] 81 points 1 year ago* (5 children)

    He's probably getting paid a literal boat load to be there. Kardashian already paid trump off to release someone from prison, so she'll go where the wind takes her. Leonardo diCaprio probably wants to see some fresh college age Italian girls. The trumps want to be seen as one of the elites, even though they know everyone secretly hates them by now and see them as white trash. Bezos inviting them is another matter.

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  • [–] 44 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

    Rich people are weird.

    Edit: and by that I mean that I find it hard to believe that at any of these people are still motivated by money, and if they are, they need to seek psychiatric help. I reckon it's more out of boredom. Jagger and DiCaprio are probably there in support of his cradle robbing.

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  • [–] 57 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different. ”

    - F. Scott Fitzgerald

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago*

    That's a great Fitzgerald quote. I had to look it up. Written after The Great Gatsby but published shortly before, The Rich Boy is a novelette. From 1926.

    1. I fucking hate knowing history. I fucking hate feeling like Cassandra.

    Sometimes a DIY icepick lobotomy doesn't sound like a bad idea.

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  • [–] 57 points 1 year ago

    Bezos can be taxed more for sure, good for them.

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  • [–] 39 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I'm with the locals on this one. Bezos should go attempt something anatomically impossible on himself.

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  • [–] 29 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    They can have their wedding in one of their beloved tax havens, not in some crumbling city that should be preserved as well as possible.

    Doesn't Venice take a tax for each visitor? They should up this as much as possible. If you really want to go there you can pay a 100+ euros.

    Don't get me started on cruise ships and the clientele on there.

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    [–] 22 points 1 year ago

    Love to see it

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  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    It looks like Lauren Sanchez has had one too many plastic surgeries.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    This is the actual answer. Remember Greenpeace, who would set sail to interrupt oil tankers?

    Sailors in the Vaca Navy, what's the point in having wealth if you can't enjoy it?

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