521–530 of 1001 posts
http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html
For what it's worth, Thiel seems to have the view that Trump isn't actually going to do horrible things, and will invest in infrastructure and American businesses.
This seems deluded for the same reasons that some American liberals were about Stalin, and purging him for his authentic and not apparently horrible beliefs would be the same mistakes that we did during the McCarthy era.
Thanks, Marco, for drawing my attention to Sam Altman's great blog post. More people should take Sam's attitude: The way we got into a situation with Trump as a major party nominee in the first place was by not talking to people who are very different than we are. The polarization of the country into two parallel political realities is not good for any of us. We should talk to each other more, not less. We should all…
This comment deserves more attention.
Marcos understanding of this situation is extremely telling for a fundamental problem with many americans relationship with politics. Most only get involved around election. After that their political interest is non existing. It's easy to get lured into the idea that politics is a simple choice between the moral good and the moral bad, that the choice is simple and that there is a one to one relationship between wha…
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The way Democrats are running their campaign they are the real threat to democracy. Newest leak: For those without time to watch: Scott Foval, National Field Director at Americans United for Change, discloses a number of unethical (and perhaps illegal) activities on undercover camera conducted by the liberal advocacy group Americans United for Change, with various PACs and the DNC. Evidence of Democrat organizers pay…
> The way Democrats are running their campaign they are the real threat to democracy. Yes, this exactly. While Trump is out there making lewd, offensive, or ignorant statements, the Clinton campaign and the Democratic party are actually carrying out actions that threaten the integrity of our democratic process. It's sad that all of those things are just from the newest leak. Way too much collusion amongst the party,…
Trump isn't just a moron spouting off nonsense--he's the leader of a large radicalized army, an army which includes large swathes of the police and military. Americans are so complacent and used to stability that they think this is all a crazy TV show that can't affect them personally, but this is a very volatile situation that could quickly go in the wrong direction.
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I don't know if you followed what happened to the Atheist community in the US, but its downfall was essentially the kind of witch hunt you're trying to incite. The level of virtue signaling demanded gradually increases until no one is left in the community. This invariably happens because the question you're asking ("does intolerant belief X threaten society?") has no absolute answer, so there is always a higher leve…
If you do not believe that Trump is an existential threat to American democracy, then, while I implore you to reconsider, I am content to agree to disagree. But you might take that disagreement up first with Paul Graham and Sam Altman. They do not agree with you. They aggressively don't agree with you. They compare Donald Trump with a fascist dictator. I think they're right about Trump, and therefore that they're ver…
Anybody who opposes Trump and not Hillary on the grounds of fascism is, to be charitable, being inconsistent.
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Based on reading your comments for several years, I presume you are very much in favor of protecting employees from various kinds of discrimination(as you should!). Advocating firing Thiel seems to be counter to that. - If YC severed ties w/ Thiel, as people are recommending, should YC also divest itself of companies with founders who support Trump? - Should YC-invested companies fire employees who support Trump? - I…
"Based on reading your comments for several years, I presume you are very much in favor of protecting employees from various kinds of discrimination(as you should!)." I think it's pretty relevant that Thiel isn't an employee of YC. Saying that they would "fire" Thiel is a complete misnomer - he's a partner that does business with them. I think that's a very different kind of relationship.
There are two separate questions here: Q1. Is Trump a spectacularly bad candidate, i.e. would he turn the USA intor a dictatorship, start a nuclear war, or do somethnig else equally damaging to society? Q2. If Y Combinator shunned Thiel for supporting Trump, would that make a Trump presidency less likely? If the answer to Q2 is no, as I suspect it is, then it doesn't much matter what the answer to Q1 is. If we end up…
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as long as no one have actually formulated an argument based on facts how Trump is a threat to democracy I dont see how he is more dangerous than Hillary, Bush or Obama. And i am pretty sure a large portion of people outide the US see those three as bigger threats to their lives than Trump given US foreign policy. So until someone show how the us system can be destroyed by Trump I stand by my position that Trump is n…
Exactly. Hillary has stated there would be a military response to Russia because of the alleged hacking. Latest leak shows Evidence of Democrat organizers paying agitators to disrupt Trump rallies in efforts to smear Trump supporters. Discusses strategy for “initiating conflict by having leading conversations with people who are naturally psychotic” – Foval is referring to paying agitators to instigate trouble at Tru…
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> I think they're right about Trump, and therefore that they're very wrong about continuing to endorse Thiel. I think it's a very slippery slope to base endorsement on a person's political actions. It raises some important questions: -Do you stop endorsing and associating with everyone who supports Trump? Where do you draw the line logically? -Why can't people with opposing views work together and agree to disagree o…
> I think it's a very slippery slope to base endorsement on a person's political actions. What exactly else do you propose? Endorsing people based on their actions ( all actions are political; no actions are apolitical; that's just how it works, you can't quit the game) is the only ethical position which makes any sense at all. This has gone far enough. The only effective response is to judge by actions and refuse to…
You want to shun people (YC companies) for not shunning people (YC) for not shunning people (Thiel) for supporting Trump?
That's people at three levels removed from Trump. Is that really what you want?
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People keep claiming that this sentiment is "profoundly illiberal". Those people should read more liberal philosophy, because it is not as if this is the first time this issue has come up. You can bring it back to John Stuart Mill if you like, but (very unsurprisingly) it's also one of the major themes of post-World-War-2 liberal philosophy. We are not required to tolerate intolerance when intolerance poses a threat…
I don't disagree regarding Trump, but where do we draw the line? Should any employer who's executive board strongly denounces Trump's views and rhetoric fire employees who support him via donations? Should Google suppress his website? I don't think Trump is the real threat to society, but rather that he is able to garner such widespread support in American society in 2016, and I don't think that's going to be fixed b…