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Silicon Valley pastor decries hypocrisy of area's rich liberals

theguardian.com

21–30 of 99 posts

Re: Silicon Valley pastor decries hypocrisy of area's rich liberals

#21

Large SV companies have nowadays become cash-making media machines of a gargantuan scale, acquiring that cash from all over the world for a service of questionable value, and investing it back in a relatively small area while providing only a few tens of thousands of jobs there. This distribution of capital creates a huge imbalance, no matter how "liberal" the stakeholders are.

My sense from reading was that he was upset by what he perceived to be hypocrisy on the part of the wealthy. In that they talked the talk about charity and making the world better, but their actions spoke differently. So liberal words, liberal values being expressed, but pure greed when it mattered.

If they really cared for the poor, they would diversify their investments both geographically and across many sectors of the real economy in order to restructure it for better efficiency.

What they do instead is that they boost their PR image and invest it in the "next big thing" like driverless cars, augmented reality, etc., and these endeavours often fail in a few years time, effectively wasting the capital and disproportionally enriching the selected few.

Re: Silicon Valley pastor decries hypocrisy of area's rich liberals

#22
post #13

People should just move out of the area and find a better for themselves. Whining has never solved anything for anyone, and, when successful, end up in "socialist" revolutions that turn the country into a shithole. (Venezuelan here, and I don't like Trump, by the way)

It is the homeless people who should stop whining and move away? Or the priest who wanted to help them?

Re: Silicon Valley pastor decries hypocrisy of area's rich liberals

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No True Scotsman fallacy? I personally give the respect to people to refer them as they would like to be identified. If a Muslim jihadi says he is a jihadi, I respect his self identification and call him that. Similarly, I respect these people's self identification as liberal or progressive.

Claiming someone's actions don't line up with their words is not a no-true-Scotsman scenario. I think he's simply alleging that their revealed preferences do not line up with their stated preferences.

I think what you describe is pretty much exactly the no true Scotsman fallacy.

[Delete rest of comment, not relevant]

Re: Silicon Valley pastor decries hypocrisy of area's rich liberals

#27
Has anyone else read "The Golden Age" by John C. Wright?

I'm really fascinated by the idea of the College of Hortation.

I think Wright actually sees it as sinister, but I thought it was a good idea.

Rough idea:

Make all laws extremely libertarian, and then have a voluntary group people join that does things liberals say they want (free healthcare with progressive membership dues, etc.)

Except in his book, if you weren't a member, no one would do business with you - because it was against the terms of membership, and almost everyone was a member. So then those people who rejected society could, but they couldn't trade with almost anyone.

Re: Silicon Valley pastor decries hypocrisy of area's rich liberals

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My sense from reading was that he was upset by what he perceived to be hypocrisy on the part of the wealthy. In that they talked the talk about charity and making the world better, but their actions spoke differently. So liberal words, liberal values being expressed, but pure greed when it mattered.

If they really cared for the poor, they would diversify their investments both geographically and across many sectors of the real economy in order to restructure it for better efficiency. What they do instead is that they boost their PR image and invest it in the "next big thing" like driverless cars, augmented reality, etc., and these endeavours often fail in a few years time, effectively wasting the capital and dis…

Reminds me of one of my favorite Biden quotes, “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.”

Re: Silicon Valley pastor decries hypocrisy of area's rich liberals

#29
The world is a little upside down at the moment.

Most of the "liberal" folks today are really old-style chamber of commerce republicans with a different flavor of conformity. More accepting of old social taboos, and we've replace suits with khaki.

Religion is defined in the popular consciousness as regressive right-wing fire and brimstone types, with a helping of swarmy prosperity ministry. The success of the political parties of polarizing folks on wedge issues like abortion is incredible and dangerous. The catholic church I grew up in, for all its faults, was basically the backbone of the social services sector in my region. Now many of the holy-roller types are so aggressive about pro-life activity they are supporting GOP candidates. That's leading to more political rally nonsense, less service like food pantries, helping the aging & sick, etc.

Re: Silicon Valley pastor decries hypocrisy of area's rich liberals

#30
post #8

Pastors deal with so much frustration every day. Working with people in any job is messy and can be very draining. In the context of a church, working with people is significantly messier and more draining. Pastors burn out all the time. But it is still sad to see. If you attend a church or know a pastor, just know that they are probably dealing with a lot of stuff you don't know about.

Apparently the pastor has had difficulty growing his congregation. I wonder how many people there are in Palo Alto who partake in charitable activities but not when they're affiliated with organized religion.
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