Fyre Festival

[StanleyT]

AJL308 said:

Watched the Netflix one last night - very enlightening as I'd heard little about it previously.

What struck me right from the start was how massively gullible people under about 40 seem to be today. How trusting of people they are based on them being a celeb or being able to "influence" celebrities into backing their ridiculous business ideas which seem to be based on fk all other than being "trendy".

The current Mrs AJL308 is quite a bit younger than me and said that she could see exactly why that McFarland bloke got people to following him as he's the type which appeals to the Instrgram/Twitter brigade. I got the feeling of him being an utterly seedy, greedy, squinty-eyed and incompetent fool right from the outset. Then, at the very end, after it had all collapsed, he was found to be using the Fyre Festival email lists to promote another celebrity culture based scam and had found some mug to put him up in the penthouse suite of a New York hotel WHILST ON fkING BAIL FOR THE FYRE DEBACLE! I mean, FFS! Complete sociopath.

I wouldn't trust him to run a bath, never mind a start-up festival in the Bahama's for 10,000 people that everyone in the industry told him would not work.

It is a bit like the free holiday to a timeshare resort type thing.

My wife nearly fell for it 10 yrs ago (did pay for a holiday over the phone to a cold caller) "but a week in Spain at half term is less than a weekend in York for all four of us....." I couldn't dissuade her it was a marketing scam. Fortunately one of the Dads at school used to work for a similar firm and told my wife the truth and her credit card company paid back via charge-back on the basis of the sent schedule of "resort activities we must attend or pay an exit fee not to attend, which may be automatically charged to your card if your attendance is not considered to be on good faith and attention on your part".

So you'd think that was well known. Friend told me in Nov he'd got one of these hols coming up, pointed him to this sort of advice / outcomes as well documented. Was only going as "had a tough year financially, kids haven't had a holiday abroad.....". Could I dissuade him or his wife (late 40s, both degree qualified, typical middle aged middle class up to their eyeballs in debt school fees, PCP, mortgages including their BLT "pension" portfolio? Could I eckers like.

veryone one by one rallyed around to try and get **nt to see sense.

Did he.

No.

Came back with a 25 year lease on a £6k annum three weeks out of season timeshare that hasn't even been built yet (25% reduction on lease until habitable). £10k deposit on a ........ debit card.....their credit card machine wasn't working when he had "had enough and just wanted to get out the meetings"!

Every warning flag every wrong excuse and he still signs up. Guess he is just a 30yrs older version of a New Yorker Instagram kid, but from Salford. Classic victim. They are everywhere.

Remember people, nearly 50% of the population are below average intelligence and should be approached in that way.

[durbster]

The Netflix documentary is interesting. As above, I didn't feel sorry for many of the "influencers". I found it quite ironic that people who make a living from selling a fake lifestyle on Instagram were duped by an event that pretended to be something it really wasn't

I did feel for the Bahamian workers though, so hopefully all the fund-raising actually ends up in their pockets.

McFarland seems a bit of a Trump figure. I wonder how many others there are.

[B17NNS]

kev1974 said:

Sounds like the hulu doc painted a different picture to the netflix one then. I've only got access to the latter.

Both are worth watching.

[SpeckledJim]

B17NNS said:

kev1974 said:

Sounds like the hulu doc painted a different picture to the netflix one then. I've only got access to the latter.

Both are worth watching.

Where can the Hulu one be found please.

I think Hulu is blocked in the UK for us non-IT muggles.

[loafer123]

durbster said:

The Netflix documentary is interesting. As above, I didn't feel sorry for many of the "influencers". I found it quite ironic that people who make a living from selling a fake lifestyle on Instagram were duped by an event that pretended to be something it really wasn't

I did feel for the Bahamian workers though, so hopefully all the fund-raising actually ends up in their pockets.

McFarland seems a bit of a Trump figure. I wonder how many others there are.

All of the people who worked for him tried to make themselves out as victims,when in fact they knew exactly how bad it all was and had no principles.

[Turfy]

The Bahamian restaurant owner paid all her staff and helpers out of her own pocket and it nearly wiped her out. There was a crowdfunding page set up that raised more than enough to pay her back what she lost.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-46937725

[PBDirector]

loafer123 said:

All of the people who worked for him tried to make themselves out as victims,when in fact they knew exactly how bad it all was and had no principles.

Exactly. Quite enraging.

[jakesmith]

StanleyT said:

It is a bit like the free holiday to a timeshare resort type thing.

My wife nearly fell for it 10 yrs ago (did pay for a holiday over the phone to a cold caller) "but a week in Spain at half term is less than a weekend in York for all four of us....." I couldn't dissuade her it was a marketing scam. Fortunately one of the Dads at school used to work for a similar firm and told my wife the truth and her credit card company paid back via charge-back on the basis of the sent schedule of "resort activities we must attend or pay an exit fee not to attend, which may be automatically charged to your card if your attendance is not considered to be on good faith and attention on your part".

So you'd think that was well known. Friend told me in Nov he'd got one of these hols coming up, pointed him to this sort of advice / outcomes as well documented. Was only going as "had a tough year financially, kids haven't had a holiday abroad.....". Could I dissuade him or his wife (late 40s, both degree qualified, typical middle aged middle class up to their eyeballs in debt school fees, PCP, mortgages including their BLT "pension" portfolio? Could I eckers like.

veryone one by one rallyed around to try and get **nt to see sense.

Did he.

No.

Came back with a 25 year lease on a £6k annum three weeks out of season timeshare that hasn't even been built yet (25% reduction on lease until habitable). £10k deposit on a ........ debit card.....their credit card machine wasn't working when he had "had enough and just wanted to get out the meetings"!

Every warning flag every wrong excuse and he still signs up. Guess he is just a 30yrs older version of a New Yorker Instagram kid, but from Salford. Classic victim. They are everywhere.

Remember people, nearly 50% of the population are below average intelligence and should be approached in that way.

This is tragic. When we’re looking for a cheap holiday we rent a little house somewhere nice in the U.K. and potter about for a week. It’s a significant cost saving to not have to fly, park at airport hire a car / get taxis etc. Then when you’re there it’s easy to do self catering. It’s a cheap easy holiday and just as enjoyable as going abroad

[Shakermaker]

AJL308 said:

Watched the Netflix one last night - very enlightening as I'd heard little about it previously.

What struck me right from the start was how massively gullible people under about 40 seem to be today. How trusting of people they are based on them being a celeb or being able to "influence" celebrities into backing their ridiculous business ideas which seem to be based on fk all other than being "trendy".
.

I dunno.. it strikes me much like all those people who go on "Holidays From Hell" on Channel 5, where the brochure looks nice and shiny, but the resort is actually a construction site when they arrive.

Only on a bigger, more international scale than Janet and Derek from Huddersfield trying to go to Benidorm

[Vaud]

jakesmith said:

Then when you’re there it’s easy to do self catering. It’s a cheap easy holiday and just as enjoyable as going abroad

And last year it was 34c on the beach in Norfolk

[SpeckledJim]

SpeckledJim said:

B17NNS said:

kev1974 said:

Sounds like the hulu doc painted a different picture to the netflix one then. I've only got access to the latter.

Both are worth watching.

Where can the Hulu one be found please.

I think Hulu is blocked in the UK for us non-IT muggles.

(B17NNS - thank you! )

[arfursleep]

StanleyT said:

Came back with a 25 year lease on a £6k annum three weeks out of season timeshare that hasn't even been built yet (25% reduction on lease until habitable). £10k deposit on a ........ debit card.....their credit card machine wasn't working when he had "had enough and just wanted to get out the meetings"!

Every warning flag every wrong excuse and he still signs up. Guess he is just a 30yrs older version of a New Yorker Instagram kid, but from Salford. Classic victim. They are everywhere.

Remember people, nearly 50% of the population are below average intelligence and should be approached in that way.

Mug.

explains why he's up to eyeballs in debt.

[AJL308]

Shakermaker said:

AJL308 said:

Watched the Netflix one last night - very enlightening as I'd heard little about it previously.

What struck me right from the start was how massively gullible people under about 40 seem to be today. How trusting of people they are based on them being a celeb or being able to "influence" celebrities into backing their ridiculous business ideas which seem to be based on fk all other than being "trendy".
.

I dunno.. it strikes me much like all those people who go on "Holidays From Hell" on Channel 5, where the brochure looks nice and shiny, but the resort is actually a construction site when they arrive.

Only on a bigger, more international scale than Janet and Derek from Huddersfield trying to go to Benidorm

Not really the same thing though. What I was getting at was more people's willingness to believe anything that comes out of the mouth (or from the Twitter feed) of some pointless celeb, take it entirely at face value and buy into it instantly. This isn't a case of lots of high-pressure salesmanship over days or weeks it's instant and without question. Some slapper who's famous simply for being famous (and usually decent looking) says something is the best thing ever on the internet so, here, have some money!

There also seems to be a large difference in how younger people perceive other people; as mentioned in my previous, my OH said that the McFarland guy would come over as kind of cool, trendy, confident and successful and suchlike. From the outset though, all I saw was a seedy, slightly creepy guy who I wouldn't trust in the slightest. Confidence was certainly not something I saw in him. Arrogance but not confidence. He actually came over as being not very confident at all and that he was putting on a massive show. Check the link below....would you trust a squinty-eyed weirdo like him? I wouldn't. He does not present the image of the successful, confident businessman.

https://www.thisisinsider.com/key-people-in-fyre-f...

[AJL308]

And I've just found this......

In "Fyre Fraud," one of the first things we learn is that McFarland was a very entrepreneurial child in elementary school. According to McFarland, when he was in second grade he learned how to hack his school's internet access, then he changed the administrator password and locked the teachers out of the school's AlphaSmarts so he could post messages on it that promoted his own business.

https://www.thisisinsider.com/fyre-fraud-hulu-docu...

That's not entrepreneurial.....that's criminal FFS!!"

[j_4m]

AJL308 said:

Check the link below....would you trust a squinty-eyed weirdo like him? I wouldn't. He does not present the image of the successful, confident businessman.

https://www.thisisinsider.com/key-people-in-fyre-f...

Thus am I vindicated in my belief that people with wobbly chins are not to be trusted.

[Shakermaker]

AJL308 said:

Not really the same thing though. What I was getting at was more people's willingness to believe anything that comes out of the mouth (or from the Twitter feed) of some pointless celeb, take it entirely at face value and buy into it instantly. This isn't a case of lots of high-pressure salesmanship over days or weeks it's instant and without question. Some slapper who's famous simply for being famous (and usually decent looking) says something is the best thing ever on the internet so, here, have some money!

There also seems to be a large difference in how younger people perceive other people; as mentioned in my previous, my OH said that the McFarland guy would come over as kind of cool, trendy, confident and successful and suchlike. From the outset though, all I saw was a seedy, slightly creepy guy who I wouldn't trust in the slightest. Confidence was certainly not something I saw in him. Arrogance but not confidence. He actually came over as being not very confident at all and that he was putting on a massive show. Check the link below....would you trust a squinty-eyed weirdo like him? I wouldn't. He does not present the image of the successful, confident businessman.

https://www.thisisinsider.com/key-people-in-fyre-f...

I don't know that I'd buy from HIM, but in the way of advertising, it isn't him that you buy from, really? He was the mastermind behind it all, but he knew well enough to get others involved that people already engaged with.

I just don't think that is limited to young people and your term of "pointless celeb" because that just avoids the fact that whilst their contribution to the world may appear to be the square root of nothing, their popularity is what keeps them off the breadline. Celebrity endorsement has been going on for years though, just now there are alternative formats for it to be done through.

[B17NNS]

SpeckledJim said:

(B17NNS - thank you! )

[eltawater]

Shakermaker said:

I don't know that I'd buy from HIM, but in the way of advertising, it isn't him that you buy from, really? He was the mastermind behind it all, but he knew well enough to get others involved that people already engaged with.

I just don't think that is limited to young people and your term of "pointless celeb" because that just avoids the fact that whilst their contribution to the world may appear to be the square root of nothing, their popularity is what keeps them off the breadline. Celebrity endorsement has been going on for years though, just now there are alternative formats for it to be done through.

See: Michael Parkinson and Carol Vorderman flogging life insurance and loan consolidation on TV adverts. You just need to pay someone who looks credible and is a household name to convince people to part with their cash.

[dundarach]

I put the blame firmly in the hands of the imbecile who is Ja Rule.

I would image, a person like many 'celebrities' who is so convinced of their own self importance, however actually does not have a clue, or an interest in the real world.

"I think I was doing it a disservice by thinking it’s not something ultimately important. I always was saying, ‘I’m not saving lives; I’m not a brain surgeon.’ And that’s true — I’m not saving anyone from any life-threatening illnesses. But I get to tell stories, and that’s a pretty important task" Emma Stone, proving my point.

Billy was a start struck child with big ideas and Ja Rule is pillock, this was a dangerous mix and when combined with young people unable to check the validity of stories they've read on the internet, there's no wonder it went horribly wrong.

We're raising a generation of human beings so cosseted by health and safety, firewalls, credit card charge back, online offence reporting, free liberal gender changing nonsense, that many really are of the opinion that there's nothing to worry about in the world.

They are consumed by living their perceptions of the perfect life, that until they get it, they're never happy.

All the while depression rockets and debt increases....

The simple truths of live haven't changed:

1. Life isn't meant to be happy, it generally crap, when you're happy enjoy it.

2. It it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

3. There are very few photographs of people cry and shouting and even less, first thing in the morning on the bog.

4. People are on the whole selfish.

5. Somewhere for someone, it is only about the money.

Ever other fecking story of woe on this website is about someone just not understanding this....

Fools!

Especially Ja Rule - he's as guilty as Billy

[ecs]

The story was also covered on a Swindled episode a while back: http://swindledpodcast.com/podcasts/season-2/episo...

This is a great podcast if you're interested in these sorts of crimes too.