Ahh fuck it. I’ve given the tax-dodging mekonthief plenty of my money this week. I really try not to because however you look at it, based on his behaviour as I’ve understood it Jeff Bezos is literally the worst human being alive today.
This is the criterion as laid out by Christianity: We were all going to hell forever. Then Jesus came. Jesus was actually God – the authority dude. He died bad, which means the authority dude personally experienced humanity and pain via his Jesus avatar, who he deliberately jettisoned as part of the humanity project: “oh my God my God why have you forsaken me?”.
He did it for us, guys! Now we can go to heaven. The hard line for Christianity is : “If you refuse to hear the call of the risen Christ despite being taught about it, then bad bad bad hell hell hell aaaargh.”
Who’s to say any of us could run Amazon better then the Mekon. He has made things convenient. He has also made money beyond our ability to comprehend whilst paying very little tax. But maybe it’s because he hasn’t heard the word! Maybe he just needs to stop for a moment and say “Fuck! People think I’m The Mekon! I just need to be better at caring about shit!”
It probably hasn’t occurred to him that if he volunteered taxes in the countries where he operates he could be thought of much more in line with a hero, much like Branson in the early days.
As a result we see this intractable untaxable economyraping monster, separate from culture and distanced from humanity. A huge oversized evil floating head.
“This was our favourite bookshop in San Jose. Now it’s an Amazon bookshop, and they have to keep the front like a bookshop to stop people from protesting,” said a friend of mine last autumn outside a sterile glass shopfront in a silicon valley town that has barely started to understand what an identity is before it’s been pulled away again.
This great big malicious staring head, inevitably deconstructing and squashing small businesses that do similar things. He’s more than that – surely – but somebody needs to teach him to be better at relationships. Fuck knows he’s capable of it and he can afford the advisors if he isn’t. Let’s ignore the businesses he’s built up in favour of the businesses he’s destroyed for just a second and look at his legacy. Then it’s a legacy of destruction.
Jeff! Thank you for the convenience. You were too good at this. Help others. Don’t contribute to making the world boring. Let’s see you actually take a hit through philanthropy?
“When you break the statues you run the risk of becoming one yourself,” said Jean Cocteau in 1932 in Blood of a Poet. I’ve just watched it. His hard work, brought into my living room courtesy of Mubi. Who knows how many hours and how much money he put in, this incredible and already rich artist, to make a film that questions new forms and wonders about monoliths. Bezos is a monolith. He probably doesn’t see himself as The Mekon. I’m blind to my failings or I’ve found ways to justify them. That’s humanity. And The Bezos Mekon is as human as we are.
We are all our own Mekon. (The Mekon is an old figure from early comics. Left brain vs right brain. Mekon vs Dan Dare. Body vs head.)
Those comics were simplistic, but fucking hell I’m consuming Judge Dredd back issues from when I was too old to be still buying 2000AD and my parents were telling me they were simplistic and for kids. They are covering everything – including pandemic.
Teenage Al met John Wagner at a comic convention. He asked for a signature, but rather then capitulation met with a grilling. “Why do you want me to sign this?” I listed other works of his. He was satisfied my desire was genuine. I’ve since discovered he’s a hard signature to get.
The comic is on a shelf somewhere at my brother’s house. His signature is still not worth a fortune so I’m not too worried. But his brain is. I’d sooner see John Wagner as the richest man in the world, anytime, and he’s worked as hard as JB. But Wagner makes things that come with thought. Bezos needs to think outside himself more…
For anyone wondering about my obscure references: who is the Mekon? This guy is the Mekon. A floating head. All brain, no heart. Left brain dominant. We all know the type. Me until I was about 35…
AlBarclay 
The two great enemies of honour… greed and inconvenience.
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The Eagle Comic, loved the cutaways best. Strange things tax laws. Deliberately letting massive companies pay little tax means they will employ thousands of people in your country who will pay taxes. Make them pay and they just decamp to another low tax area, Holland and Belgium, Ireland they are all at it. London is set up for no resident tax free status. It’s an international disease not just Bezos.
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