Ground Control to Myspace Tom ⇥ linksiwouldgchatyou.substack.com
“For the longest time I’ve been satisfied and chill,” he [Tom Anderson] later wrote on IG. “Just at peace with how I am and how the world is.”
In comments like these, I see the enduring appeal of Myspace Tom. Today’s tech founders live largely to extract and hoard: more profits, more influence, more data. I think of the image of Musk, Zuckerberg and others at Trump’s recent inauguration. I think, too, of the billionaire investor Marc Andreessen’s claim that mega-successful entrepreneurs are also entitled to public adulation. Nothing is ever quite enough for these people; the trend line must always go up. That Myspace Tom defied that mandate and fucked off to Hawaii feels unusually decent, if not straight-up heroic.
It was a mistake for us to indulge the business leaders craving celebrity despite also having lots of money and lots of power. Perhaps you do not believe they ought to be considered enemies — though there is a strong case to be made for that — but they are assuredly not our friends. Their ruthless behaviour is not aspirational.