The live-tweeting thing was strange. It's funny that two fairly naive young people in a Burger King are deciding the fate of their marriage, in that it's so absurd. I do think there is humor there.
But something was off-putting about how faithfully the guy was trying to document this event. It seemed like he was really trying to put these two people's identity on blast, and foiled only by the circumstances (the quality of his phone's camera, the distance between himself and the couple) rather than, you know, any sense of propriety or mercy.
I guess what I'm saying is, the element of identity changes the stakes. Like I said, the notion of two people ending their marriage in a Burger King is so ridiculous that it's funny. But when it becomes John Smith of 123 Main Street, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, having a fight with his wife Jane, it starts to feel weirdly mercenary. Like it's not being done for a laugh anymore, but expressly to humiliate two people.
But, I agree that this is the way things are going whether we all like it or not. Whatever is in public is fair game for social media. But Mr. Boyle should consider exercising his powers of restraint a little better.
It was the right mix of knowing when to be serious and when to throw in deadpan ridiculousness.
The clip I saw was about a minute and ended with one of the two saying he "needs to go check on his husband and wife"... while there are throuple relationships, I don't yet think they are possible in a legal marriage.
I wrote out a significant response about the strange segregation of being a celebrity (of any repute) before rereading your post.
The most interesting thing to me is that within the span of 24 hours you ate alone with one partner's wife and the next day got yelled at by the other partner.
I’m confused by this comment. Do you know this is specifically know that John Duncan has a wife and that this is how she’d react? Or does this mean something else?
This was my thought as well. I don't know who the founder is, or what is going on here, but I feel like people are going to be quick to villainize that founder over the actions of his wife, as if they function as one unit.
In reality, if a founder's spouse has that kind of power over the founder's employees, that founder is very likely to be in a divorce within 5 years. In healthy marriages, people don't interfere with their spouses' careers. Support is different from meddling. If JAH's allegations are true, I feel pity rather than anger toward that founder, because it means his marriage is on the rocks and he might not even know it yet.
The fact he had to make a rule for her not to belittle him in front of the children makes me think I wouldn't want to be married to his wife either. We're only seeing one half of the picture here, but she doesn't sound like a saint.
I agree with your sentiment but I'm actually kind of conflicted.
Inspecting into his marriage feels dirty and indeed, tabloid. But if we want to get the full picture of entrepreneurial life, we can't ignore personal life. If you want to be the next Elon Musk it is probably worth noting that his marriage failed- if nothing else, just to remind you that even when you're a billionaire it is very difficult to have it all.
According the the story we have so far, he should have actually kept his wife in line but failed to do so. You only cringe because you read too much into what he said.
I'm just saying, everything comes out in divorce courts. This is on a whole new level. Like, so insane, it's almost certainly true. Otherwise he could possibly sue his wife for serious defamation.
But something was off-putting about how faithfully the guy was trying to document this event. It seemed like he was really trying to put these two people's identity on blast, and foiled only by the circumstances (the quality of his phone's camera, the distance between himself and the couple) rather than, you know, any sense of propriety or mercy.
I guess what I'm saying is, the element of identity changes the stakes. Like I said, the notion of two people ending their marriage in a Burger King is so ridiculous that it's funny. But when it becomes John Smith of 123 Main Street, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, having a fight with his wife Jane, it starts to feel weirdly mercenary. Like it's not being done for a laugh anymore, but expressly to humiliate two people.
But, I agree that this is the way things are going whether we all like it or not. Whatever is in public is fair game for social media. But Mr. Boyle should consider exercising his powers of restraint a little better.
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