Civility? Never heard of it.
Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos had barely finished telling CNN that he would give away most of his considerable wealth when social media let loose with enough high-octane snark to power his Blue Origin rocket to infinity and beyond (or at least low-earth orbit).
"He should donate it to giving Amazon workers bathroom breaks," one person said on Twitter.
"Why can’t he just…pay taxes?" another person asked. (Twitter belongs to Tesla TSLA CEO and Bezos arch-rival Elon Musk.)
The optics of the Bezos announcement weren't especially good, coming amid reports in the New York Times that Amazon is planning to lay off about 10,000 people in corporate and technology jobs starting as soon as this week.
"Can’t even do right by your own employees," one tweet read.
"The timing of this the same day as '10,000 layoffs at amazon' couldn't be more apparent..." said another poster.
"The same guy's team is now laying off 10k employees," yet another tweet stated.
What Would Dolly Do?
Bezos, the world's fourth richest man, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, discussed how he had given country music legend Dolly Parton the Bezos Courage and Civility Award, which allows her to donate $100 million for any charitable cause she chooses.
"Look at what she's done," Bezos said, "And how she's led her life and the way she's done it, these bold things, always with civility and kindness. She's a unifier."
The billionaire noted that "we have too many examples in the world of conflict and people using ad hominem attacks on social media and so on."
"You won't find Dolly Parton doing that," he said.
Speaking alongside his partner Lauren Sánchez, Bezos said he still felt optimistic about the American Dream, saying it is still attainable and will be more so in the future.
"One of the things that I don't like about the current environment is that I think there is a lot of division," Bezos said. "I think that people use conflict as a tool to achieve their own ends. I don't think it's a good tool."
Sometimes in the political sphere, he added, "certain politicians criticize other politicians that criticize their motives, their character, they call them names."
"Once you've done that it's hard to work with somebody," he said.
However, Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021 but remains chairman of its board, acknowledged that conflict travels quickly.
"Conflict is interesting," he said. People do focus on conflict, so you want to bring a little bit of light, a little bit of amplification. to these people who use unity instead of conflict."
The conversation turned toward Bezos' $124 billion bank account, which CNN’s Chloe Melas said is "too much money to even spend in a lifetime."
Philanthropy is 'Really Hard'
Bezos had gotten flack for not putting his name to the Giving Pledge, a promise by hundreds of the world’s richest people to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes.
The campaign was founded by Microsoft's MSFT co-founder Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A) Warren Buffet.
MacKenzie Scott, Bezos's ex-wife, who is worth about $24 billion, signed the pledge and has given away more than half her wealth.
Bezos acknowledged that he would indeed give away the majority of his wealth, but added that "the hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way."
Bezos said that philanthropy is "really hard" and there are "a bunch of ways you can do ineffective things, too."
"So we're building the capacity to be able to give the way this money," he said.
Meanwhile, the social media world was heating up all manner and venom and vituperation.
"He can start with employees that was depending on this job for the holidays," one tweet said.
"Why not give some of it to his employees who generate all of his worth through their labor?" another person asked.
Another person worked in the Musk-Twitter deal and the disastrous Twitter Blue option for users who wanted to add a verification option, which spawned a legion of bogus accounts and which was no longer available in the iOS app store as of Nov. 11.
"May I please have ten million dollars worth of your money so I can pay @elonmusk for a blue check mark?" One commenter asked. "I will use the rest to make things better. For myself, and people I know. Thanks bud. You’re alright."
But Bezos also had his defenders.
"Only on Twitter would you find so much negativity after someone talk about giving money to charity and how the world needs more positivity," one person said.
