
The Sean Parker Wedding Is the Perfect Parable for Silicon Valley Excess - hype7
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/13/06/new-government-documents-show-the-sean-parker-wedding-is-the-perfect-parable-for-silicon-valley-excess/276521
======
whyenot
Federally listed steelhead use the lower parts of Post Creek to spawn. This is
something the wedding planners would have learned if they had sought the
necessary permits. Increasing sedimentation in the creek reduces steelhead
reproductive success, and is considered a take without a permit under the
Endangered Species Act. The ESA has both civil and criminal penalties for
taking without a permit, but NOAA's ability to enforce these kinds of
violations is pretty limited, they don't have the money or the manpower.
Thankfully, the California Coastal Commission has both.

~~~
bsimpson
And instead, they said "it's cool - just make us one of those fancy app things
and we'll call it even." [1]

[1] [http://www.businessinsider.com/sean-parker-was-
fined-25-mill...](http://www.businessinsider.com/sean-parker-was-
fined-25-million-for-his-extravagant-big-sur-
wedding-2013-6?google_editors_picks=true)

~~~
ryanisinallofus
He paid the fee AND promised to make the app, but yeah.

------
andyl
"The Perfect Parable for Silicon Valley Excess"

I disagree. To me, this is the story of a single a-hole. I don't see a larger
story. I live in Silicon Valley, and with some exceptions, nearly every person
I've dealt with over the years, rich or poor, have been super cool.

Many journalists present outliers as representative of the normal situation,
then put up link-bait titles to generate controversy and clicks. It is a
dishonest practice.

~~~
steven2012
I do not disagree with the article. I've been living in Silicon Valley for 15+
years now. When I first came, my office mate told me "You know you're in
Silicon Valley, when you stop asking "How much will it cost" and start asking
"How long will it take". I've seen lots of examples of things like this
behavior, from people taking the car pools lanes to save time, to Steve Jobs
parking in handicap spots. Whether or not it's smarter to beg for forgiveness
vs ask for permission is another issue, but I've seen this behavior often
around here.

~~~
andyl
Steve Jobs is the ultimate outlier. Yeah some folks here are obnoxious,
anxious, ride in carpool lanes etc. Is it so different from other urban areas
- Seattle/Boulder/DC/LA? Not in my experience.

------
dclaysmith
Previous discussion:

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5820590>

------
create028
With a wedding this 'epic', any smart divorce lawyers should start introducing
themselves now.

------
tibbon
For some reason, a Game of Thrones themed wedding feels ill fated. But maybe
he didn't read the books?

~~~
snorkel
This is the Redwood Wedding.

------
paganel
> The event's venue, a luxury hotel in Big Sur, California, will include a
> custom-made fairyland-like setting with fake ruins, bridges, ponds, and a
> gated cottage

Sad to see that SV billionaires suffer from the same kitsch-mania as do the
Russian oil oligarchs.

~~~
sliverstorm
People are people. If it's been done before, it will be done again.

------
copx
Jealously and ideological discord. The Zuckerbergs and Parkers are undermining
the traditional American narrative of "hard work" and entrepreneurship.

It seems wrong based on that world view that a baby-faced geek in a hoodie can
look down on all the traditional businessmen from his mountain of money.

These new rich they did not get rich through "hard work", they just got the
right idea at the right time.

They did not prove themselves in a decade(s) long process of "building a
business", facing countless challenges along the way, but practically got rich
over night - often while having a lot of juvenile fun.

And of course nobody can construct a charming "rags to riches" nonsense story
here, the one Americans love so much. The current generation of silicon
billionaires come from privilege, and can be billionaires shortly after
completing their studies at some elite university .. or even before that.

None of that is surprising. That's how modern, globalized, digital capitalism
works. But it makes people uncomfortable, and yes jealous. These 20-something
billionaires are simply way more offensive to the common man than the
traditional industrial tycoons.

Very, very few people will have the right idea at the right time. It is not
something you can plan or work (hard) towards to. Also the software business
is elitist by nature. In contrast, it is much easier for most to relate to the
traditional American entrepreneur story, which for example begins with his
first job making pizza, then his first small restaurant and ends with him
being a billionaire chain restaurant tycoon decades later.

It is obvious that among the capitalists there are subgroups which are seen as
less deserving and sympathetic by the general public. Traditionally bankers
and - it seems - for quite a few people Sean Parker-types too.

Of course it is unjustified to hate people because they found a legal way to
easily and quickly make a hell lot of money. But well.. humans being humans.

~~~
potatolicious
This doesn't jive with history. The world had the same disgust for the robber
barons of the late 19th century - and those people fit your stereotype to a T.
They spent decades building traditional businesses that everyone could
understand, they didn't get rich overnight, and they weren't fresh-faced
children.

There is, perhaps (though IMO not really) a larger issue with how Americans
perceive the Silicon Valley elite (or, more accurately, the self-anointed
"elite") and how it ties into perceptions of success and the American Dream.

But that's not what's happening here. This article is about how someone rich
shit all over public property, illegally, and in a flamboyant manner. Invoking
"they be jelly" is a giant cop-out. The narrative would be largely the same
regardless of if they were European royalty, or a 50 year-old billionaire.

This sort of behavior is unacceptable no matter which way you slice it, so
let's not make excuses just because they are "one of our own" (which, let's be
honest, they're actually not).

~~~
copx
>This doesn't jive with history. The world had the same disgust for the robber
barons of the late 19th century

Actually it didn't but I really don't feel like starting a long historic
discussion here..

>This article is about how someone rich shit all over public property,
illegally, and in a flamboyant manner.

See my other comment. If Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had done the same nobody
would give a damn. Bill Gates could probably easily get away with stuff like
this too.

>This sort of behavior is unacceptable no matter which way you slice it

You misunderstood me. I wasn't trying to defend Parker. I have no sympathy for
such decadence in general. My point was that his decadence wasn't his actual
"crime" and neither was any violation of the environment.

~~~
potatolicious
> _"If Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had done the same nobody would give a
> damn. Bill Gates could probably easily get away with stuff like this too."_

This is where we disagree. The core of the story is someone wealthy doing
something against the public good in a particularly flamboyant way.

The backlash would be the same regardless of who they are. It's the sheer
flamboyance that's the core of the story. Larry Ellison had similar coverage
when it came to being incredibly loud and obnoxious - and he's as close to a
traditional industrialist as the software industry gets.

> _"but I really don't feel like starting a long historic discussion here.."_

Pardon me for saying so, but you've made some big claims and controversial
statements, and your response to any refutation has been "well, I don't want
to start a discussion here..." - so what _do_ you want to do, besides drop a
big, bombastic claim and walk out?

[edit] I'd also like to point out that whenever stories about the shenanigans
of Silicon Valley appear, there is frequently the argument made that everyone
else is just jealous, or that they are sore losers. This argument has a bad
smell to it (in the code smell sense of the word).

I've also felt, recently at least, that this community has a nascent
persecution complex, like everyone else is out to get us - usually because
they're jealous, or they're luddites, or they're just evil in a laughably
generic way. This particular trend I find highly annoying.

------
atirip
Nothing too see here. This is totally acceptable behaviour globally - if you
have money, do whatever you want, then pay. The most popular TV show on the
globe is Top Gear where 3 middle aged assholes with pockets full of greasy
money do exactly that all the time - buy, demolish, destroy, whatever, then
pay. And as this is the most popular TV show - we all like such assholic
behaviour.

~~~
jiggy2011
They don't tend to destroy national parks though, just old cars and maybe the
odd building that was condemned anyway.

~~~
downandout
Don't worry, because this didn't come remotely close to "destroying a national
park". I realize that Northern California is the natural habitat of the insane
tree hugger, and that many joints have been smoked while pondering Sean
Parker's evil deforestation plot. But that report found no evidence of actual,
permanent damage to _anything_. It asserted that activities of this general
nature, carried to extremes, carry the _possibility_ of some amount of damage.
His temporary, aesthetic changes did nothing and no fine should have been
levied - certainly not $2.5 million that will be used to perpetuate this
particular brand of insanity.

~~~
soofaloofa
I understand your point but no fine should be levied? This kind of behaviour
should be discouraged and a fine is entirely appropriate to discourage it.

~~~
clicks
> This kind of behaviour should be discouraged and a fine is entirely
> appropriate to discourage it.

I would actually go so far as to say that the fine should have been much
bigger. This is something that annoys me about tickets being a fixed amount:
is it really a true deterrent to bad behavior when the fine is so negligibly
small that you basically don't give a damn? The purpose of punishment is to
reform bad behavior, bad behavior that is dangerous to others. When you're
going 80+ kph above speed limit you're not just putting your own life at
danger, you're putting other innocent people in the vicinity at danger too. A
ticket should not be $400 at that point when you're a billionaire, it should
be $4 million. $400 is likely not enough forceful enough as a corrective
measure. In this instance I'd have been happier if the fine Parker incurred
was above $25 million.

~~~
craigching
Either that or take something more valuable from them, like their time. Make
them do community service!

~~~
tixocloud
I would think that community service with no way of paying your way out of it
would be a better deterrent than fines.

~~~
FireBeyond
You would think that. I would think that too.

History and celebrities have shown that when the courts think that, these
people -still- don't think the rules will apply to them and will either lie
about it, do self-serving "community" service, make excuses about how they
can't because they are too high profile or busy, or out and out bribe people,
either to do the work for them, or to fraudulently attest to their service.

------
uvdiv
Hold on, he paid $2.5 million in fines over what those photos depict?

I think CCC is missing a 'Р'.

(edit): Here's a interesting profile of the guy leading this bureaucracy:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/us/09sfcoastal.html?pagewa...](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/us/09sfcoastal.html?pagewanted=all)

~~~
michaelt
A $2.5 million fine is nothing to a guy with an estimated $2.1 billion fortune
[1]. If we don't want the rich to flaunt the law with impunity, the find
should be a hundred times larger - that way it might actually act as a
deterrent.

Of course, you could argue that we don't care if the rich can commit certain
offences with impunity. Perhaps we've signalled that by legislating a fine
rather than imprisonment for this offence.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Parker>

------
hpagey
I was surprized that he created a LLC to run his wedding. Is this normal for
high budget weddings ? What might be advantages of doing so? Just curious.

~~~
raleec
Would the LLC structure also protect him in case they decided to fine him $100
million? It'd probably protect him in case a wild animal bit one of his
guests. It's relatively cheap protection when so many things can go wrong.

~~~
gohrt
The courts can and often do pierce the veil of sham LLCs like this. The LLCs
main use (still bad), is that if LLC1 runs up a debt of a billion dollars,
LLC2 might be protected from it.

------
xradionut
Not suprising for the nouveau riche. My buddies and I have witness acts like
this so often, we nick-named it the "tude", as in attitude.

From the asshole that parks his Hummer sideways in 2 handicap spots to stupid
brats that trash resturants and laugh at the staff, it's really stupid
behavior. The "old money" knows better than this and mostly stays off the
radar of the rest of the public.

~~~
bjhoops1
An interesting book that jives with this is _Plutocrats: The Rise of the New
Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else_. One of the interesting
things the author finds about the nouveau rich is that they are typically more
dismissive of the poor and less charitable than the "old money." Probably in
large part because they think "I made it because of my own merits - if you
don't have the things I have, it's because you are lazy or incompetent."

As for trashing a redwood forest, not sure what makes that seem OK. :)

------
thehme
Total business psychopath. I am not all surprised of Parker's lack of
consciousness for what really actually matters; that place in which we all
live - Earth.

------
aaron695
If there's any story here it's impossible to tell with such a badly written
and misleading article.

>Nothing says, "I love the Earth!" quite like bringing bulldozers into an old-
growth forest to create a fake ruined castle.

So he brought multiple bulldozers in hey? Somehow I doubt that, do people
actually buy into this sort of stuff? At best from pictures it looks like they
used small earth moving vehicles as you'd expect.

[http://ncwtv.com/nn/wp-
content/uploads/2013/06/0e64parkers-w...](http://ncwtv.com/nn/wp-
content/uploads/2013/06/0e64parkers-wedding-company-brought-in-
bulldozers.jpg.png)

~~~
PavlovsCat
A small bulldozer is still a bulldozer. ( I searched for "small bulldozer" and
this was among the first:
[http://www.featurepics.com/FI/Thumb300/20060713/SmallBulldoz...](http://www.featurepics.com/FI/Thumb300/20060713/SmallBulldozer50608.jpg)
)

Also, what do you mean by "this sort of stuff"? "This page left blank for your
own rationalizations and fantasies", hmm?

~~~
Pxtl
afaik, technically that picture depicts a small front-loader.

~~~
PavlovsCat
"unlike most bulldozers" seems to heavily imply it's still a bulldozer:

" _Unlike most bulldozers, most loaders are wheeled and not tracked, although
track loaders are common. They are successful where sharp edged materials in
construction debris would damage rubber wheels, or where the ground is soft
and muddy. Wheels provide better mobility and speed and do not damage paved
roads as much as tracks, but provide less traction._ "

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loader_(equipment)>

------
vijayr
So what is the best deterrent for such behavior? Obviously, fines aren't going
to work - for someone who is worth billions of dollars, a couple of millions
is pocket change. Also, if trees/forests are destroyed, it takes decades to
restore them back. It is difficult to quantify the time and effort required,
plus the negative effect of losing that ecosystem in the mean time.

~~~
w1ntermute
In Finland (or maybe Sweden), fines for crimes scale to match the offender's
ability to pay. I recall reading that some rich guy had to pay hundreds of
thousands of dollars for a speeding ticket.

~~~
kryptiskt
That's Finland. Sweden have fixed fines for traffic violations. For minor
crimes, there is "dagsböter" that is scaled by the income of the perpetrator
(notionally by 30-150 days' salary, but in actual use the fine is set much
lower).

------
ywang0414
It's just rich people doing stupid things. It is however unnecessary to
associate the entire valley with one idiot.

------
ekm2
I guess what is required now is the obligatory donation to the "Save the
Earth" Foundation.

~~~
derwiki
On causes.com, the online activism site he founded, perhaps?

------
kapowaz
It could have been worse; his guests could have all had their throats slit in
an act of callous revenge (‘The RIAA sends their regards!’).

~~~
wavefunction
eh... he's "part of the club now"

------
fianchetto
Old story: Arrogant punk thinks the world is his, will be shown differently in
a few years.

------
epoxyhockey
This story is more about bad taste than Silicon Valley excess. Tens of
thousands of individuals in this world have the means to pull off what Parker
did.

------
chrischen
With great power comes great responsibility. Power is entrusted, not entitled.

I really hope no one makes this coke-snorter his role model.

------
fakeer
I feel bad, even though I am not from that country.

Feels like he had already calculated the fines and the outrage.

On a sadist note I couldn't resist wondering how long they are going to hold
onto each other. Hope that ends without drama at least, after all this waste
and damage. Well, this follows pretty soon these days, isn't it? Especially if
it's two celebrities.

------
tanepiper
Dick

------
downandout
Apparently I am not acquainted with the plight of unused campgrounds, because
this makes me want to go find some redwood trees and throw up on them. Could
someone explain to me in what alternate reality these temporary changes were
worth $2.5 million in fines? I like California, or should say I liked
California until reading this. But it now appears that the inmates are running
the asylum.

~~~
bryanlarsen
Damage to waterways can easily justify fines that large or larger.

~~~
downandout
And you are claiming that you, or anyone else for that matter, can prove that
installing a few temporary platforms and fake ruins caused _actual_ damage to
a waterway?

~~~
MarciaPetros
Can you, or anyone else for that matter, prove that installing a few temporary
platforms and fake ruins WILL NOT cause actual damage to a waterway?

If you can't see that these regulations are there specifically to protect
precious natural reserves from unanticipated damage, you are a moron.

The penalty for such barefaced contempt of the law should be death. As a
billionaire with an army of lawyers, Sean Parker has no excuse for flaunting
the general will of the public in this way. This isn't an innocent mistake
made in a drunken moment of passion. This is calculated, premeditated contempt
for the laws of our society. If Sean Parker has so little respect for our laws
he should have his wealth stripped and be excommunicated from the state. He
should feel lucky to escape this kind of crime with his life.

Obviously American society is degenerate and borderline non-existent when this
kind of conspicuous contempt for society receives apologies by supposedly
well-educated people.

~~~
downandout
_Can you, or anyone else for that matter, prove that installing a few
temporary platforms and fake ruins WILL NOT cause actual damage to a
waterway?_

Someone qualified to do so probably could, yes. Asking preposterous questions
like this isn't lending your side of the argument any credibility.

~~~
pessimizer
A group of people, ostensibly qualified, decided that it was worth a $2.5
million dollar fine. The burden of proof is on you.

~~~
downandout
Please list their qualifications.

~~~
FireBeyond
You've really lost the plot - you have nothing more to argue than "prove it",
"don't believe it", etc., in a manner that amounts to little more than "nah
nah I can't hear you".

I have friends who are geologic and hydrologic engineers. Their conclusion on
reading the 132 page report published was that it was written by persons who
similar qualifications, and not laymen.

You're the one arguing against reason, that somehow the California state
governments ecology agency just employs random yahoos to conduct geologic
assessments on natural parks and issue seven digit fines if they don't like
what they see, all because we shouldn't be hating on one of the Facebook
guys...

