Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by acdha 19 days ago
That was the low-key surprise for me in the Epstein files: so many rich, powerful people wrote at an early grade-school level even in professional contexts. I know that’s not a universal sample but it made me wonder how many unsung admin assistants, grad students, etc. cleaned up everything they wrote for a broader context.
3 comments

I worked for some very wealthy and powerful.

Some were low IQ but had power and money. Some were busy. Some did not want to put any additional effort because the relationship permitted them to be informal, lazy, brief.

In person and with contracts they were extremely diligent with their words.

Informal devience is a social signifier "I want you to know I don't have to do that shit"
Yeah, it makes sense as a display of clout, the normal rules not binding them. I would have thought there was more sense of pride but that’s very middle class of me, I suppose.
"... And you can't stop me, 'cuz I'm better than you."
Yea, it's a glimpse into a totally different world!

When I get ready to send an E-mail to a SVP or other VIP at work, I agonize over the wording, get others' feedback on it, write a draft, get it reviewed, write another one, make sure all my facts are straight, make sure there's a TLDR up front, make sure it's formal enough but not stuffy, then clench my butt and hit send...

Then you look at the Epstein files, and these E-mails are going to CEOs and heads of state! And they're like:

    "yo, wasssup retards!! we doin some kiddy diddling FRIDAY. who in???????? peace out bitch4es"