An Amazon wedding

In no way do I begrudge Mr & Mrs Amazon their tremendous wealth. They obviously need the money they possess more than I ever could. Granted it was 30+ years ago, but my wedding came in at about $12,000. And it was absolutely lovely.

I certainly can’t imagine ever feeling the need to spend $25-50 million on a wedding extravaganza in Venice, or anywhere really.

I’ve consumed a lot of Daily Mail ink about the nuptials of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. I understand I have no one but myself to blame for that fact. First, there was the wedding proposal on the most expensive personal yacht ever built, with a multimillion dollar engagement ring.

This past spring, there had been a bridal shower weekend in Paris with big name celebrities and lots of press of the paparazzi kind. The faces of the guests were both taut and pillowy due to the meticulous work of medical and cosmetic professionals, while their bodies were exclusively tight, thanks to personal trainers, silicone and Ozempic.

As the wedding date drew closer, I began thinking about tourists who would, more than likely, experience even more tightly congested tourist areas than usual because of the wedding festivities. I pictured a couple, or family, who had saved and planned for a special trip to Venice, a city which has achieved Camelot status in my mind because I just know I need to see it to believe it, and were now going to be negatively impacted by this garish display of money over class, of extravagance above awareness.

I felt so sad for them.

The tourists, that is.

As for the newlyweds, fuck them.

If nothing convinces you that we’re living in an Oligarchy already, consider this: we have individuals who have more assets than they’ll ever be able to spend.

There’s a statistic somewhere that mathematically expresses how many generations it would take for the Bezos family to take their net worth down to zero. Look it up and share what you learn, please.

The amount of wealth billionaires possess is as far beyond my imagination as my understanding is of why anyone in this country (or world, really) lacks food, housing, medical care and education.

How is this acceptable in a self defined civilized society?

Picture how different this all could have been if Bezos’ empire hadn’t been built upon consumption? If Sanchez wasn’t an attention whore – and it takes one to know one, btw.

Imagine if instead of insisting upon celebrating in one of Europe’s biggest tourist magnet cities during peak season, they opted to schedule at a time of the year when the economy could do with the support?

Or the betrothed couple might have chosen to visit an area with an economy that would have truly benefitted from hosting a four day wedding circus?

Or maybe, just maybe, they might have commemorated their union with a tasteful private event and made a significant donation to a charity or organization they find important and meaningful?

Excess in all things surely must be the Bezos motto.

On a somewhat related note, I try to be conscious about being critical about people’s physical appearances, but a picture I saw of Mrs. Sanchez-Bezos kind of freaked me out.

It’s a striking image, isn’t it? This woman is groomed and sculpted to within an inch of her very life. Makeup, hair, nails – she must occupy hours daily working on her appearance and wardrobe!

The investment comes together and the message it communicates, to me, at least, is “fake.”

It’s all very blow up doll, don’t you think?

Is this woman a contemporary symbol of feminine beauty?

I quit Amazon for good, Prime and all, the day Democrats demonstrated, as is normal, the peaceful transference of power last January. After a couple of pangs of remorse for my choice to boycott Amazon (and Target and Lowe’s and …), I once again grew comfortable with the knowledge that I didn’t need every single purchase to be delivered to my front door in 2-days.

I no longer miss it.

Nor will I miss the honeymooners.

Ciao, ciao.