Fireworks for the 1%

Jann's neighborhood

I've already covered the beach resort communities of the North East coastline but an item on Page Six of todays NYPost deserves some special KOTCB attention. My favorite target, Jann Wenner, is in the news again - not for his shoddy magazine, or its editors and writers, or his malicious influence on our culture, or his violence toward Rock & Roll - this time for an explosive beach bash in The Hamptons. Leaving aside the hideous architecture of these homes and much that could be said about The Hamptons generally, a couple of things popped out at me from this admittedly shallow report on the events of August 2nd in Montauk, N.Y. and this much we know:

1. Wenner threw a bash for thirty (30) friends and decided to launch fireworks at 9:30 as part of the celebration. Not bottle rockets and M-80's mind you, but real, legitimate fireworks - the kind that require a permit from local authorities. 25 minutes of fireworks people - start a stopwatch and see how long 25 minutes lasts - that's a lot of TNT. So the first question I have is: What kind of person puts on a fireworks display for 30 people? Oh, right, Jann Wenner - that kind of person.
2. At first the bombs went off O.K. but it didn't take long for the pyrotechnicians to realize that Jann's neighbors were taking incoming shrapnel and burning debris that threatened to burn down their house. Did they not bother to alert their patron of his friendly fire and the danger it posed to the house next door? Did Jann tell them to keep on shooting?
3. Wenner never bothered to tell his neighbor that he was planning to torch the sky for 30 minutes at 9:30pm on a Sunday night. Looking at the proximity of the two homes in the photo above I think it would've been the neighborly thing to do to just give a shout over the hedge and say, "FYI Jim, I'm going to napalm the 'hood tonight after dinner so heads up, or down as the case may be."

Now I'll grant that Jann Wenner has five or six houses and probably can't get to know ALL his neighbors - and who knows how much time he actually spends at his Hamptons place - but shouldn't he be on speaking terms with his next door neighbor who lives, literally, 10 feet away? This situation is indicative of the Wenner worldview which is narcissistic in the extreme. It bashes the evil, self-satisfied 1%ers of the world and ignores its own conduct and transgressions. Isolated behind security gates and wire fences it espouses the need for "community organizing" in the morning, and social justice in the afternoon and then tries to burn down your house at night.