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CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

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Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#71
post #53

People can change, and he was a kid from an abusive home per the article.

As the article repeatedly states, Patton proceeded to continue his association with white supremacist groups during his time in the U.S. Navy. Shockingly, white supremacist does not stop white supremacisting. Film at 11.

"I had known some of the Skinheads there from prior rallies in Tennessee and because of not knowing anybody there, I ended up meeting with them and hung out with them for some time," he said.

Isn't it human nature to reach for familiarity when in new places? You're reaching.

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#72
post #53

People can change, and he was a kid from an abusive home per the article.

As the article repeatedly states, Patton proceeded to continue his association with white supremacist groups during his time in the U.S. Navy. Shockingly, white supremacist does not stop white supremacisting. Film at 11.

[deleted]

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#73

When reached for comment, Patton wrote: "32 years ago I was a lost, scared, and vulnerable child. I won’t go into detail, but the reasons I left home at such a young age are unfortunately not unique; I suffered abuse in every form. I did terrible things and said despicable and hateful things, including to my own Jewish mother, that today I find indefensibly wrong, and feel extreme remorse for. I have spent most of my…

But from the same story, the court documents that Patton admitted he associated with skinheads in the United States Navy, which does not sound like "get myself away from this world" has any truthiness.

He mentions this in the past tense in his 1992 testimony, when he was 19. He was kicked out of his home at 15, committed these crimes in 1990 at the age of 17. This conforms his narrative of getting involved with hate groups during his youth, and leaving this work in adulthood. I'm not sure how your takeaway from this is that he is being less than truthful about leaving white supremacist groups.

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#74

People can change, and he was a kid from an abusive home per the article.

He runs a fucking surveillance company.

No one is suggesting we throw him in jail for being involved in a fucking KKK drive-by shooting, just that maybe he not run _a fucking surveillance company_.

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#75

When reached for comment, Patton wrote: "32 years ago I was a lost, scared, and vulnerable child. I won’t go into detail, but the reasons I left home at such a young age are unfortunately not unique; I suffered abuse in every form. I did terrible things and said despicable and hateful things, including to my own Jewish mother, that today I find indefensibly wrong, and feel extreme remorse for. I have spent most of my…

There is a part of me that wants to extend forgiveness, but then I remember what Banjo does and I feel nothing for him. I’ve known many who were stupid when they were young. It often is a direct result of malignant or neglecting parents. Some recover and do great things. This guy appears to have “recovered” and then went on to monetize state surveillance ambitions.

I don't know why they're down-voting you. I'm at least concerned that someone with that kind of past has anything to do with building such sensitive and influential law enforcement infrastructure. I don't know what his current state of mind is and I believe in second chances but this kind of history should disqualify you from at least some types of sensitive roles.

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People do change between being 17 and being adults. If you write about your life, knowing you are now a public figure, and leave this huge racist detail out, then the change is not enough. We can't accept both that people change, and it's ok to lie about it to everyone.

Why can't you accept that? People change and people can still be afraid that if everyone knew what they did as a teenager they'd be attacked relentlessly. Lying is exactly the correct thing to do when living in an unreasonable world.

Lying because you're afraid of an unreasonable world... That's your argument? Lying because of fear doesn't make it right. I think we fundamentally disagree on values and maturity levels that adults should aspire to.

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#77
post #63
post #16

Ouch. I'm sure this will destroy him financially and his reputation, but what if he actually turned his life around and is completely ashamed of this past? I don't want to come off like I support his past whatsoever, because I don't, but I feel there's no forgiveness left in our society to give people like this a second chance. I guess I just believe people can change for the better and I want to encourage that more,…

If a KKK recruiter and organizer can eventually renounce his past and go on to have a 50 year career as a legislator in DC, why can't this guy put his past behind him? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd

Possible. Ultimately for Byrd, the voters decided. In this case, the market will decide.

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#78

When reached for comment, Patton wrote: "32 years ago I was a lost, scared, and vulnerable child. I won’t go into detail, but the reasons I left home at such a young age are unfortunately not unique; I suffered abuse in every form. I did terrible things and said despicable and hateful things, including to my own Jewish mother, that today I find indefensibly wrong, and feel extreme remorse for. I have spent most of my…

>Eventually, I was able to get myself away from this world while serving in the United States Navy. This turned my life around. While serving my country, I worked with law enforcement agencies in hate group prosecutions and left this world behind

"The US Navy and law enforcement freed me from my racist past" is a bit difficult to believe.

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#79
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the article repeatedly states, Patton proceeded to continue his association with white supremacist groups during his time in the U.S. Navy. Shockingly, white supremacist does not stop white supremacisting. Film at 11.

"I had known some of the Skinheads there from prior rallies in Tennessee and because of not knowing anybody there, I ended up meeting with them and hung out with them for some time," he said. Isn't it human nature to reach for familiarity when in new places? You're reaching.

Human nature to reconnect with Nazis? I dunno--if I had a friend who was self-avowed hostis humanis generis they would by definition no longer be my friend.

But this is your schtick, so continue to perform it.

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#80
post #18

> He says he became a self-taught crime scene investigator and then learned to code. Eventually, Patton helped build the digital infrastructure of what would become Banjo, a company that, in the past decade, has raised nearly $223 million, according to the investment data-sharing platform SharesPost, from prominent venture capital firms such as SoftBank. Interesting and somewhat horrifying. Maybe SoftBank failed to d…

"Direct connections to the KKK" ? Did you read the article or his statement? He was 17 and fell in with white supremacists after/during an abusive childhood. If you want to dispute this account, fine, let's hear it. If you want to claim Banjo is otherwise an evil company, OK, it may be, but that's a separate point. But claiming that this episode as reported constitutes a direct connection to the KKK, and implying it'…

> "Direct connections to the KKK" ? Did you read the article or his statement? He was 17 and fell in with white supremacists after/during an abusive childhood.

"Claiming?" Maybe you didn't read this sentence properly with a pair of glasses:

In the article:

> Patton revealed that, as a 17-year-old, he was involved with the Dixie Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

That is a solid indisputable fact written in history. If that doesn't sound like a "direct connection" to the KKK, then I don't know what is. Some may say he was still responsible for his own actions at the time during the Navy in his early adulthood even when he was still involved with white supremacists. With his statement on this, he has just taken responsibility for his previous actions and 'apologised'.

> If you want to claim Banjo is otherwise an evil company, OK, it may be, but that's a separate point. But claiming that this episode as reported constitutes a direct connection to the KKK, and implying it's ongoing, is off the mark.

Well I just stated a fact and didn't imply anything. Mind you, I think Option 3 is likely to happen because of his apology, but there are those out there that can be less forgiving... What do you think?

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