Harvey Weinstein is

in snooty, exclusive social network

, the so-called "MySpace for Millionaires." Apparently it's flopping.

:

The problem was fundamental: Rich guys don't want to socialize only with one another, and once you let in enough attractive young women and such your VIP site loses [its] cachet and everyone might as well just hang out on Facebook.

I'm not sure Gawker has the second part of the problem precisely right (though A Small World's membership policies seem well-designed to allow "[t]rusted and loyal ASW members who meet certain criteria" to invite "a limited number of their friends" enough attractive young women to keep all the bankers happy. But even assuming that's the dynamic at work, there seem to be at least four distinct possibilities:  a) Snooty rich men don't want the kind of women who would sign up to meet only snooty rich men; b)  Snooty rich men need a larger pool of women to draw from than a 'limited number of their friends" can provide;   c) Even snooty rich letches don't want to be made to feel like snooty rich letches; d)  Even non-lecherous snooty rich men don't want a website where their competition is other rich men! They'd rather be the richest guys in an average neighborhood, where the population is easier to impress.
 
So, is aSmallWorld 's unsuccess a victory for social equality? You make the call: 

Yes! Attempted stratification undone by the common characteristics (sex drive) of mankind! Sex, solvent of snobbery.
 
No! The status hierarchy of money just needed a bigger empire in which to recapitulate inegalitarian financial relations as inegalitarian sexual relations! 

All the lechery-related reasons suggested above point to "no," yet it's hard to not see aSmallWorld 's decline as, somehow, a "yes." How about a dialectical Third Way :  In asserting itself outside its own sphere the hierarchy of money nevertheless sows the seeds of its own destruction! [ Which would be ...?-ed Facebook] ...

  P.S.: Why didn't The Atlantic think of this idea? An exclusive site where "Brave Thinkers" like Pinch Sulzberger and the " Atlantic 50" ("the most influential commentators in the nation") can  talk to each other ! Writing the first draft of history ! Then we charge the Boeing lobbyists $10,000 each to join! And let everyone else pay to watch ! It's genius. The American Idea! ... [Isn't that the Atlantic business plan?--ed Not yet fully realized. Email suggestions to David@IoverpaidforthebestopinionwritersinAmericaandnowImdesperate.com ] 8:44 P.M.

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