Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

381–390 of 414 posts

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#381

Post by ryandamm »

bruceb wrote: post #330
sdenton4 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having Thiel on the board is a statement that intolerance based on race, gender, or religion is tolerable by yc. This in turn chills applications from startups working on problems not relating to white western males.

YC gets what 4k applications? You think founders are not going to apply to YC because of who Thiel gives money to? Seems unlikely.

All it takes is the next Google to decide not to apply, or to turn down their acceptance, to bend the return curve.

Check your priors.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#382

Post by vsl »

exolymph wrote: post #118
braythwayt wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In short, you say "people who support that sort of witch hunt" are intolerant, and that there is no place for them here. So... you are in favour of excluding people whose views you find repugnant, it's just a matter of which kinds of intolerance and whose repugnance is involved. Another matter of interest is the nature of the power imbalance of lack of same. The original witch hunts, McCarthyism, and other struggles…

Yeah, "destroying a person for their political views" does not apply in this case at all. Peter Thiel is a BILLIONAIRE.

So it's open season for bullying, witch hunts and any other behavior we'd normally label as bad? If WE do it to a RICH person, it's all right?

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#383

Post by vsl »

aiig wrote: post #322
maratd wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not if they call me a "faggot" on the street. Even then. Be an activist, go out and vote, fight for yourself, but don't attack others because they said something you didn't like.

> Even then. How about you try getting chased out of a subway station after midnight getting called a "faggot" and we'll talk. And people say that the SF tech class is out of touch.

Surely you do grasp the slight difference between words and being chased?

FWIW, I think there's a difference between repugnant opinions and insults, so "faggot" is not a good example, but you're twisting OP's words dishonestly.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#384

Post by vsl »

etjossem wrote: post #151
siegecraft wrote: post #103

Diversity and inclusion, but only for those people whose politics we agree with? (A rhetorical question, it's always been that way).

By strongly opposing a candidate that promises to do things like deport all Muslims, absolutely. Some political platforms are inherently non-inclusive and Trump's is one of them.

The irony is rich in this one.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#385

Post by vsl »

4ad wrote: post #100

> Diversity and inclusion are hard, especially in tech. Doing them right means agreeing on values No, it means accepting to disagree on values. Pretty much by definition. > calling out bad behavior So creating needless conflict. > and sometimes firing people If people are too different from you, fire them! Great for diversity! I wish these people would have the guts and sincerity to call their agenda what it really i…

Thanks for saying this. As a non-American it's incredibly frustrating for me to keep hearing all this diversity BS talk, yet it's always always only skin-shallow attributes and no diversity in things like opinions or politics is ever tolerated... in the name of diversity.

Is this some US thing or are there really so many so obvious hypocrites out there?

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#386

Post by vsl »

ummjackson wrote: post #156

Bravo, 100% behind severing ties with YC until they break ties with bigot Peter Thiel. Bigotry != difference of opinion. It's inciting violence and hatred, which is different and very dangerous.

No evidence of Thiel inciting anything. Plenty of inciting of hatred against him on display here, though...

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#387

Post by pjwal »

dfabulich wrote: post #9

There is clear precedent for YC taking a political stand by uninviting investors. Only five years ago, Paul Graham was willing to uninvite investors from Demo Day based on their support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). https://techcrunch.com/2011/12/22/paul-graham-sopa-supportin... Paul asked, "If these companies are so clueless about technology that they think SOPA is a good idea, how could they be good invest…

How is this kind of authoritarianism any different than those that feel (based on science) that support for abortion (beyond reasonable medical issues for the mother) is tantamount to declaring said individuals are supporting murder and therefore should not be employed, should not be worked with, should be shamed and cast aside?

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#388

Post by pjwal »

tptacek wrote: post #282
nostromo wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, I haven't heard many complaints about Bernie Sanders claiming elections are bought. > We now have a political situation where billionaires are literally able to buy elections and candidates. Let’s not kid ourselves. That is the reality right now. [1] (He also is fond of claiming "the system" is rigged, if not elections directly.) [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-takes-on-bil...

That's because Bernie Sanders is not in fact claiming that the election is rigged. In fact: he's been a reliable support of Clinton since the primaries ended.

And therefore, he's a good guy now? lol.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#389

Post by ominous »

M_Grey wrote: post #371
ominous wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why am I blacklisted from using your money? Also, obligatory mention that "blacklist" and "whitelist" are racist terms, and mention of similar spirals of idiocy such as [0] and [1]. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7801646 [1] - https://github.com/antirez/redis/issues/3185

Again, as you seem not to have understood my point, you are not blacklisted, you have not been invited. There is a difference you're welcome to ignore, but don't be shocked when people don't take your complaints seriously.

It was a joke.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#390

Post by mcv »

nostromo wrote: post #276
untog wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO, you can even disregard all of Trump's dirty laundry in this calculation. He is openly calling into doubt the result of this election before it's even happened, asking supporters to intimidate voters, and suggesting the entire election is "rigged". He is attempting to undermine democracy in the country and I'm not sure you need a single additional reason to object to anyone who supports him. Thiel, of course, doe…

For what it's worth, I haven't heard many complaints about Bernie Sanders claiming elections are bought. > We now have a political situation where billionaires are literally able to buy elections and candidates. Let’s not kid ourselves. That is the reality right now. [1] (He also is fond of claiming "the system" is rigged, if not elections directly.) [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-takes-on-bil...

And the system is rigged. It's rigged towards the two main parties. It's rigged towards re-electing the same people. Smaller parties get no representation, and have no chance in any meaningful election. The influence of the Democrats and Republicans over the election system is enormous.

But between the Dems and the Reps? Those two are fairly balanced. There is some rigging in some states through gerrymandering and making it harder for some groups to vote, but it's on a very different scale than the rigging towards the two-party establishment.

Post reply on HN