I was fascinated by a recent article in the New York Times about the way the super-rich shield their money from tax collection.
It wasn’t the loopholes that interested me but the accompanying photos. In nearly every one, the rich were holding beverages.
Here’s Louis Moore Bacon holding a champagne glass … Here’s Stephen Cohen with a martini next to wife Alexandra with a large wine goblet. In each photo, the drinks were raised slightly so the beverages made the frame.
Pictures used to be worth a thousand words, but now they scroll by too fast; so we’ve decided to let our beverages do half the talking. In my own occasional forays into social media I make sure a pint glass is visible so everyone knows I’m drinking beer -- and in the snobby, craft way.
When my wife I are at high school football games, we pass the time taking selfies -- making sure our Styrofoam hot-chocolate cups are visible to indicate our cold.
Go on Instagram and you’ll see the kids are doing this one better, posting photos that are only the Starbucks cup. This saves them the trouble of smiling since who wouldn’t be happy holding a drink with that much whipped cream?
You can tell the story of your whole life this way: first a baby bottle, then sippy cup, on to juice box and soda cans, eventually beer and wine glasses, all the way down to the bottle of Fleet Treatment before your final colonoscopy and your final last photo of the IV bag dangling next to your limp arm.
Maybe not a thousand words per picture any more, but the beverage in it is worth at least 500.
I’m Dan Libman, and that’s my perspective.
