In this video from the Recode conference, an interesting reveal of what Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos thinks of the legal battle between Peter Thiel and Gawker, with Hulk Hogan as a most unfortunate proxy. Bezos is full of surprising insights here, and offers Thiel some tough love.
The only effective defense public figures like Thiel have against their critics, says Bezos: “Develop a thick skin.”
In this wonderful two-way with Walt Mossberg, we hear the Amazon CEO describe what Mossberg jokingly dubs The Bezos Principle: “If you absolutely can’t tolerate critics, then don’t do anything new or interesting.”
Lots of great life advice in here, applicable to those of us who are not billionaires, also.
“Seek revenge and you shall dig two graves, one for yourself.”
Who knew he was full of such wonderful inspirational advice?
Bezos also says some really righteous stuff about the importance of protecting freedom of the press in America, which really seems to be under fire as Trump incites political rally mobs to noisily hate on journalists covering those events. Thiel, an outspoken Trump supporter, was recently revealed as a “dark money” source behind a high-profile lawsuit against Gawker, a publication he really does not like.
A big part of why America is great, says Bezos, is that our Constitution and our culture consider freedom of the press, and freedom of speech, to be sacred.
“We have these cultural norms, and we allow people to say ugly things,” Bezos says. “We don’t have to like it, we don’t have to invite them to our dinner parties, but you should let them say it.”