CNN president's 15-year-old son resigns from startup board over conflict scandal

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Since when have the children of wealthy and powerful men had to suffer such humiliation? The plutocrats must be spinning in their jacuzzis. In former times, the sons of kings were allowed to serve thusly. Why not now? Do these children not have our interests at heart?

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My understanding is that, while nepotism is one’s birthright, it has long been the case that a certain amount of tact in deploying it has been demanded. Especially if tactlessness could threaten the interests of your peers (in this case, Booker’s political ambitions and the value of other shareholders’ positions). If anything, while contemporary media saturation makes exposure risk somewhat higher, any number of decorum-crazed decadent aristocracies placed much heavier demands on their members’ behavior, when dealing with others of similar status. We even have a genre of celebrities drawn from the misbehaving children of assorted dynasties. That’s downright libertine by historical standards.

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The Lannisters will have their day, not to worry.

Reminds me of this article from the boing boing archives: http://boingboing.net/2012/06/13/meritocracies-become-oligarchi.html

" Those who are able to climb up the ladder will find ways to pull it up after them, or to selectively lower it down to allow their friends, allies and kin to scramble up"

Damn my parents for being poor, if only my daddy was a billionaire

To be fair… Fuzzy nailed it. I used to work with one of the CEO’s children… waaaaay down at the far rungs of obscurity. Now, I’m not going as far as to say that the kid’s not smart, or won’t do well at the top one day. But it’s very difficult to think of a world where this kid is NOT a CxO of somesort, less because of his abilities/accomplishments/worth ethic and moreso because of his genetic history. However, it’s much easier to accept when the phrase “started off in the mailroom and worked his way up the ladder” is tallied about. Because… you know… it’s kinda true.

And this, my countrymen (and women), is how you avoid political upheaval. Some of us still haven’t learned that lesson and still choose to skip the steps we think are unnecessary.

Zucker was one of - if not THE - worst executives ever to run NBC. Under his rule they finished their descent to the bottom of the ratings game and cemented it. Also, the morale at NBC went lower than it had ever been. Eventually TPTB got fed up and paid him in the mid 8 figures to go away. So now he’s running CNN? And his 15 year old son is such a prodigy that he can be on the board of a company made up to promote a pliable and purchasable politician? Welcome to the American upper class.

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