The Global Conversation

Tag: billionaire

  • Billionaire’s crusade to un-gay his daughter

    Hong Kong billionaire Cecil Chao is offering $130 million – double his earlier offer in 2012 of $65 million — to any man who can turn his lesbian daughter, Gigi, straight.  In response to Chao’s extravagant dowry, over 20,000 would-be suitors have crawled out of the woodwork, hoping to be the man who finally succeeds in un-gaying Gigi Chao and winning the grand prize.

    Despite the fact that two years ago Gigi married the love of her life and partner of nine years, Sean Eav, Cecil Chao still insists that his daughter is single.  He said that he did not want to interfere with his daughter’s private life, but that he wanted her to have “a good marriage and children.”

    Gigi Chao, an executive director at her father’s property development company, part-time pilot, and founder of anti-poverty charity Faith in Love Foundation, has maintained throughout her father’s persistent quest that she knows he is only doing it out of love and concern.  “I understand that he loves me, it’s just he’s from another time and it’s difficult for him to understand the plight of the LGBT.”

    Billionaire playboy Cecil Chao, who claims to have slept with over 10,000 women himself, says, “I would not force her to marry a man. But obviously I would, from my point of view, prefer her to be married and to have grandchildren.”

    Ms. Chao has demonstrated a high level of understanding in response to her father’s very public and peculiar theatrics.  In an open letter to him, she said, ““I am comfortable and satisfied with my life and completely at ease with her. My regret is that you have no idea how happy I am with my life, and there are aspects of my life that you don’t share. I suppose we don’t need each other’s approval for our romantic relationships, and I am sure your relationships are really fantastic too … However, I do love my partner Sean, who does a good job of looking after me, ensuring I am fed, bathed and warm enough every day, and generally cheering me up to be a happy, jolly girl. She is a large part of my life, and I am a better person because of her. Now, I’m not asking you to be best of friends; however, it would mean the world to me if you could just not be so terrified of her, and treat her like a normal, dignified human being.”  She also added, ““I would be happy to befriend any man willing to donate huge amounts of money to my charity Faith in Love, provided they don’t mind that I already have a wife. Third and lastly, thank you Daddy, I love you too.”

    So here we are once again presented with another example of someone attempting to squeeze love into a one-size-fits-all box.  Here we are once again standing witness to the obscenely wealthy’s weaponization of money, using it to control and exert power over others, including those who are willing to take the bait.  And here we are once again collectively observing another loving relationship being told that it is broken, bad, insufficient, unworthy, and wrong.

    How must it feel to not only have your partnership publicly dismissed, but to further suggest that its legitimacy or authenticity could be proven invalid by someone who was paid top dollar to do so?

    How do we create a world where the idea that love could be manipulated, controlled, or bought simply does not exist?

    Sure, in the way we have constructed our society, there are a lot of things money can buy and does buy.  But is someone else’s sexuality really one of them?   Can even the upper crust of the world’s most elite and financially influential have that capability and the power to do so?

    (Lisa McCormack is a Feature Editor at The Global Conversation and lives in Orlando, Florida.  To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

  • If I had a million dollars, I would…

    How many of us have played the “if I had a million dollars” game?  You know the one where you imagine what it would be like to find yourself the lucky beneficiary of a sudden windfall of $1 million and then opine on the ways in which you would spend it?

    Well, let’s up the ante a little bit here, shall we?

    What if you had a billion dollars?  Or more?  Would that change anything?

    Would you invest it?  Buy a big house, or two?  Travel?  Finally own that fleet of luxury sports cars?  Eat at the finest restaurants?

    Would you be willing to give the majority of it away to charity?  Just simply give the bulk of it away without receiving anything in return?

    That is exactly what billionaires and renowned philanthropists Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are asking the wealthiest people in the world to do by inviting them to take what they’ve called the “Giving Pledge.”

    According to the Giving Pledge website, the pledge “is an effort to help address society’s most pressing problems by inviting the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to commit to giving more than half of their wealth to philanthropy or charitable causes either during their lifetime or in their will.  The Giving Pledge is specifically focused on billionaires or those who would be billionaires if not for their giving.

    “The idea takes its inspiration from efforts in the past and at present that encourage and recognize givers of all financial means and backgrounds. We are inspired by the example set by millions of people who give generously (and often at great personal sacrifice) to make the world a better place.

    “Initially, the focus was on the wealthiest families and individuals in the United States. Since there have been enthusiastic responses to the Giving Pledge around the world, the pledge now includes people from a mix of countries around the world.”

    To date, according to the website, there are 115 people who have publicly taken this pledge since the concept was first introduced in 2010.  See the list here.

    So what holds these tycoons’ feet to the fire when it’s time to actually follow through with their hefty promises?  Nothing.  Participation in the program is entirely honor-based.

    Sure, it may be less of a fiscal pinch for someone to give away $12 billion when they still have a nice comfy cushion of $8 billion in the bank for them to live luxuriously on.  But I felt compelled to recognize and talk about this handful of extremely wealthy and influential human beings who have chosen to declare themselves as active participants in creating positive change in our world.

    Are their altruistic gestures dampened by the fact that, even after their significant contributions, they still remain in the powerful 1%, without any negligible or obvious sacrifice to be had?

    Do we need to see some level of personal sacrifice or hardship in order to appreciate the efforts of another?  Or does this type of movement signify a start, a beginning, a step in the direction that so many of us have been yearning to see, the ultra rich letting go of a bulk of their empires to better the lives of someone else?

    According to the Forbes website, in the current year, 2013, there are 1,342 billionaires in the world.  115 of them have stepped forward to voluntarily participate in the Giving Pledge.  Not a large number, but definitely something to notice.  What do you think it would take for the remaining 1,227 on this exclusive list of those who have billions, potentially more money than they could spend in one lifetime, to choose to give it away?

    What do we have to change in our world to pierce through the illusion of “not enoughness” and to alter harmful ideas of superiority?   Are we demonstrating what we desire to see from others in our own life, through our own actions?   Are we each giving of ourselves financially, energetically, and physically as we move through each moment of our day-to-day affairs?

    Perhaps today is the day for us all to make our own “giving pledge.”   What might that look like for you?

    Are you willing to say yes to that invitation?

    (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)