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

Shame on Y Combinator

marco.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

781–790 of 1001 posts

Re: Shame on Y Combinator

#781

Post by marbletiles »

Man alive this thread. When SV wonders why it has a diversity problem, just point 'em here.

Where were all you Free Speech zealots when Thiel destroyed Gawker?

Where were all you Political Choices Are Sacred crew when SOPA was being proposed?

Where were all you "protect rich bigots" stans when it was Brendan Eich? Oh wait, that's right, you were on the wrong side there too, my bad.

As for you "I guess there's a 'wrong side' these days of things you just can't say" newcomers: surprise, there have always been unacceptable opinions, such as supporting fascism. It's just that a mainstream party accidentally chose as its candidate someone who holds and expresses those opinions. That doesn't give him, you, or Thiel, a pass.

Re: Shame on Y Combinator

#782

Post by nicholassmith »

rfrank wrote: post #696
Natsu wrote: post #668

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haven't seen that one. May I have a source, please?

FBI report. Of course, it's a "joke" that Hillary "can't recall." Even though, "The statement drew laughter from the room which quickly died off when the Secretary kept talking in a terse manner, sources said. Clinton said Assange, after all, was a relatively soft target, “walking around” freely and thumbing his nose without any fear of reprisals from the United States. Clinton was upset about Assange’s previous 2010…

Snopes must be having a pretty high traffic month: http://www.snopes.com/julian-assange-drone-strike/

Re: Shame on Y Combinator

#783

Post by oldmanjay »

tptacek wrote: post #479
genericpseudo wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the end consequence of tremendous cowardice from a lot of people over a long time, starting with the owners and administrators of Hacker News. HN has – through inaction – smirkingly enabled alt-right/NRx/GamerGaters to parody-thru-libel liberal positions on equality for a long time; supporting Peter Thiel is in the same vein. That's made Hacker News racist, sexist, and (worst of all for this crowd's self-imag…

I am as troubled as you are about the uptick in overt racism and sexism on HN. But I know and trust the moderators of the site, and this is a conversation I have had with them too, and I don't have any better ideas on how to deal with it than they do. The bigger problem is that the (very large) community of reasonable nerds who care about bigotry has largely abandoned Hacker News. In doing so, they've conceded it to…

Some of the trouble here is the tendency of divisive people to see any attempt at understanding an issue to be support of that issue. That's part of what encourages trumps.

Another is the funny sort of ways that liberals want to fix -isms by applying the -isms in attack and unironically saying it's okay because they have the right opinions. That's part of what encourages trumps.

It's a basic fact of human nature that the self-righteousness you feel about your own opinions is not unique to those who agree with you, and there is no objective way to prove it is superior. That's part of what encourages trumps.

And it sure doesn't help when all the rhetoric gets the added emotional manipulation of associations to hitler.

Re: Shame on Y Combinator

#784

Post by etjossem »

rfrank wrote: post #662

"Can't we just drone the guy?" - Hillary Clinton, on Assange.

The basis for this is claimed to be anonymous "State Department sources," by way of a single blog which does nothing but print right-wing hatchet jobs (True Pundit). Considering the lack of credibility in True Pundit's other posts, it would not shock me if the quote was fabricated.

Please do your research before posting unverified quotes as fact.

Re: Shame on Y Combinator

#785

Post by drewrv »

digler999 wrote: post #401
tptacek wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You sound just like the republicans in 2008 when a gasp black president was elected. Oh dear, the world is ending, the end times are coming! What's the world coming to! We are doomed. A socialist Kenyan Muslim is in the whitehouse! What actually happened? Nothing. If you looked at the country for the last 8 years you wouldn't be able to tell whether a republican or democratic was in the whitehouse. Same thing will ha…

> If you looked at the country for the last 8 years you wouldn't be able to tell whether a republican or democratic was in the whitehouse.

Millions more people have health insurance. States have legalized marijuana without federal intervention. Relations have opened with Cuba. A climate treaty and Iran nuclear deal were reached. The supreme court (with two Obama appointees) has legalized gay marriage. Maybe none of this stuff has affected you but trust me, millions of people can tell there's been a democrat in the white house.

The same thing applies with Trump. It might not effect you much if he gets elected, but it would have dire consequences for millions of people if he accomplishes a fraction of the things he's talked about.

Re: Shame on Y Combinator

#787

Post by jimbokun »

hiringmanager wrote: post #574
edanm wrote: post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's historical evidence of people being elected, in democracies, and turning them into dictatorships. Part of the process looks the same as what Trump is doing. (e.g. saying the election is rigged therefore calling the process illegitimate, saying he'd put his political opponent in jail). If that doesn't persuade you, what kind of evidence would persuade you?

Oh, I'm persuaded- just look at the actions of W and Obama - both moved the presidency closer to dictatorship. As for elections not being legitimate, that clam was made repeatedly, with merit, after 2000. The democrats lost, and they lost due to widespread fraud. Finally, Hillary belongs in jail. Basically all of the allegations have been proven by the wikileaks email releases. When your opponent is a blatant crimina…

"When your opponent is a blatant criminal it's quite fair to say "you'll be in jail" and quite different than saying "I'm going to jail you for disagreeing with me""

sigh

No, you still can't say that. Presidents cannot tell their attorney general who to prosecute or not to prosecute, even if the President thinks the person is a blatant criminal.

Maybe if you stopped to think about it a little bit, you would understand why allowing this could lead to very bad abuses of power?

Re: Shame on Y Combinator

#788

Post by striking »

ptaipale wrote: post #56
epaga wrote: post #43

HN admins - if you're going to shut this one down as well, could I appeal to you to at least give a reasoning why? Killing posts like these without for example dang providing at least a quick reasoning why leaves a bad taste in my mouth...

Not an admin, just a user, but read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. There's nothing very interesting in vilifying Thiel.

I'd agree with you, but they have a point in not moderating this one away, since it's critical of YC.

Re: Shame on Y Combinator

#789

Post by [deleted] »

smt88 wrote: post #86
dkopi wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comparing political candidates to Hitler is a rather lazy thought experiment.

It's not lazy. It's showing the extreme (clearly unacceptable) end of the spectrum to ask someone how they decide where to draw the line. What would Trump have to do before supporting him is unacceptable to YC? But if you really don't want to use Hitler, try Rodrigo Duterte or Silvio Berlusconi instead. They actually share a lot of similarities to Trump.

[deleted]

Re: Shame on Y Combinator

#790

Post by test6554 »

The moment you disagree with someone's free speech is precisely the moment when that freedom needs to be defended the most. You can disagree with the contents of the speech, but not with the freedom to express ones self.

Shame on Marco, but I'm proud he has the right to speak his mind.

Post reply on HN