Five philosophical lessons from the Fyre Festival fail

Much has been written about Ja Rule's (yes, that Ja Rule) and entrepreneur Billy McFarland's now infamous Fye Festival - a celebrity-endorsed weekend festival of music, gourmet experiences and luxury in the Bahamas - and its subsequent, epic, fail.

Promoted by the likes of Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid (who has since apologised), the weekend promised "the culture experience of the decade" with tickets selling between $1335 - $16,000 and some VIP packages as high as $334,000. Amenities included private plane and boat rentals, massages, and local beach tours. On the line-up to perform were  Pusha T, Major Lazer, Disclosure, and Migos. Blink 182 cancelled just before the event.

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And yet instead of the premium experience promised to the hordes of cashed-up millennials, let's call them luxennials, it was, well, it was not good.

Swap out the mingling with celebrities (who were allegedly told not to come, along with staff) and the luxurious lifestyles beckoning to be 'grammed, and replace instead with wet tents, barely any electricity and (very limited) catering that consisted of slices of bread with some plastic cheese.

Oh and chaos. Total chaos. It pretty much descended into a Lord of the Flies situation, and truthfully, the internet could not get enough of the total schadenfreude of seeing a bunch of rich kids trapped in a hell of their own/capitalism's making.

Eat the rich indeed. 

Expectation versus reality

Was there ever a better parable of these insta-filtered times than the Fyre festival? It promised access to influencers! You'd basically be in Kendall Jenner's squad! Except, and perhaps this is the first time the attendees of this festival might have realised it, but sometimes life can be a disappointment. It can kick when you're down. Learning to manage your expectations - but not get world weary! - is key for survival. Oh, and here's a free tip, you will never get close to celebrities unless you are a celebrity, or have something that they want (or maybe if you went to school with them and never sold pictures to the paparazzi). It is probably quite unlikely that a person who paid $10k to hang out with models is this person. 

You reap what you sow

If you're going to be a jerk on the way up, you can't expect people to look out for you when you're down on your luck/scrabbling to make ends meet/want someone to rescue you from a luxury festival that turned to shit. Be gracious. Be humble. Don't be like these people.

You've got to look out for number one (that's you) because nobody else will

That said, be empowered enough to look out for yourself. When there's only one plastic cheese sandwich left and hours until you can get onto a flight home you have got to get your elbows out and fight. Look out for yourself, because other people - especially those who paid $10k for the experience - will walk right over you. 

Conspicuous consumption won't make you happy

Even if the festival had gone ahead, would it have been that fun? I mean really? All that striving? All that scrambling to get the right shot for Instagram? All that money spent to show everybody how much fun you were having? It's not fun, it's exhausting and it will leave you a husk. Opt out. Live your life. 

Social media is the worst

But the truth is, none of us are immune, including those tweeting jokes about the people who bought tickets to Fyre. Those in glass houses ...