$25,000,000 for a beach house? $70,000 per month rent? These numbers; they make no sense!
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Should have used the word “messy” instead. Thanks for the heads up.
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Empathy is described as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, to put yourself in one’s shoes. So, I mean, I can understand the frustration that these millionaires are experiencing losing value on their nice toy (I, too, bought a depreciating assent once!), but that’s nowhere near the level of a plebe trying to save their (presumably) only house. You’re equating the two (“change one fact”) when they are clearly not the same thing.
Again, if someone builds their house on sand (literally, in this case), rich or poor, they deserve some ridicule.
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Did I say “these are the same thing”? I don’t recall saying that. I said change one fact and we can find empathy. If it were one of us saving our home…we’d empathize. Are you saying we wouldn’t?
I also did not say I empathize with the 1%er who is going to lose out on their $25 mil investment. I have zero empathy for them in fact. I also did not say they cannot be ridiculed. If I did, by all means point that out to me.
Here’s some fodder for your brand of ridicule:
Or maybe that’s not what you meant?
The view that this place offers is clearly a view of the proles.
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I wonder if shrinkage of the public beach was part of their game plan, to stop all those proles from spoiling their view?
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Why would this hypothetical plebe have built their house in a clearly unsuitable location?
Speaking as someone living on a small island fairly large chunks of which regularly fall into the ocean, sometimes taking people’s houses with it, I have very little sympathy for anyone who decides to build their house in admittedly scenic but very silly location.
The risk of your house collapsing into the sea is the price you pay for the sea views.
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If you think the empathy or derision here on BBS is due to location only…then you are correct.
I on the other hand do not see derision and scorn based on “are you at the beach” or not.
Again…I said I would have empathy (regardless of legality) if this were one of us common folk facing the loss of our only home. I never once spoke about sympathy for anyone at all.
Yeah. I was starting to feel sorry for them in spite of myself, until I reached the point where they were renting it out for $70K a month. That’s more than I make in a year. Capitalism ftw!
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This is where I start getting confused about the difference between sympathy and empathy 
I can understand anyone in that position trying to do what they can to keep their house/home.
I think the extra derision comes about because “we plebs” don’t get to build $25 million houses on prime beauty spots.
It’s hardly surprising that people feel some degree of schadenfreude and satisfaction when people who can are told that in fact they can’t.
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Actually…that is the part that negates any empathy on my part for them. They have money and that’s great and all for them…but as we have seen all too often…having money does not equate to having intelligence. If their intention was to use this as a property investment (which I think we all can agree that was exactly what it was)…then they chose poorly. I don’t have empathy OR SYMPATHY for when rich people loose money on bad investment choices. Those are the waters (pun intended).
EDIT: Response to @L0ki Yeah…they are easily mixed up and too often interchanged. Regardless…It is absolutely easy to hate and despise someone in a story who has $25mil to throw around. And if it was their home (they won the lottery and always wanted that Malibu right on the ocean dream home) I could have some sense of empathy. I can see myself distraught over facing the loss of my home or dream home. But that simply isn’t the case. This was a money making venture for them. I can’t feel sympathy for people who make bad investments…and I also cannot have empathy for someone making an investment I never would make myself. It’s almost like these people watched too many episodes of Flip or Flop and thought “We can build/buy this AND make a ton of money too!!!”
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World’s tiniest one, no less!
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Well if you are rich enough and dumb enough to build your house too close to the ever gnawing ocean… AND you are stupid enough not to have purchased the very best soil, sand and water engineering advice available prior to building… no sympathy for you! No soup!
Yeah richie riches gotta rich, ya know. Have you seen our tax laws here in the US?
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Here in New Jersey we have the opposite problem. Municipalities want to take away land from beachfront property owners to build dunes and the property owners are demanding compensation. In some cases the property owners have already erected some structures to prevent erosion.
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Oceanography 101: seawalls accelerate erosion.
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I really wouldn’t feel any empathy if the entirely foreseeable outcome of their actions happens. The law was there, the beach was there. They chose to try to impoverish the commons for their esthetic tastes. I would feel the same sympathy for someone who cuts down a tree in an adjacent public park to not risk the branches damaging their home, none. They chose this.
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Wow there are clearly a bunch of people getting their schadenfreude on without knowing anything about the story. The Katzes didn’t build the wall. The wall was built by a previous owner and was retroactively permitted with the caveat that a new development would negate the permit. The house itself was built in 1977 before the Coastal Commission and current setback regs were enacted. Now homes have to be built much further back. The Katzes only remodeled the house. That is generally not considered new development. It’s not considered new development for tax purposes or for grandfathered in structures. It is really ridiculous that the coastal commission would consider a remodel ‘new development’. They secured permits from the city. This is overreach by the commission but that is pretty much their M.O…
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I think that this house better matched the pictures featured in your linked article: Google Maps
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