What a moving redemption arc! Going from guerilla acts of racism to making a company that aids in institutional racism.
CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth
141–150 of 286 posts
Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth
#142This makes me think of the movie The Believer.
Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
or, more simply, "I'm sorry I got caught" Look, the man participated in a drive-by shooting on a synagogue when he was a legal adult. It's disgusting that people on this site are defending a literal terrorist because "he's one of our own."
Is it so unrealistic to think that an abused child would fall into a world of hate? Yes, participating in a drive-by shooting is absolutely horrible, but if he paid his dues to society through our legal system, why should this man be unable to run a business? He clearly shows remorse for his hatred. I am not defending nazism in the least, but I think "cancelling" someone who made absolutely terrible decisions as a li…
Lets be clear, he showed remorse once he was caught, but none before then. What dues did he pay? He appears to have moved on from that stage of his life fairly quickly, and appears to never have been rejected employment/housing via background checks due to a technicality. There are men on death row who committed the exact same crime.
I disagree with your second paragraph entirely. I do not want to live in a society where CEOs of multimillion dollar companies have indiscriminately shot up places of worship when they were 17 years old.
Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
We don't know it was true. We know he makes the claim that his mother was Jewish, but who knows?
We also don't know it's not true. That's why we require evidence before we reject someone's claims.
But this was a claim about someone else. Let's hear from his mother. If I said something about you should the claim be believed until proven false?
Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
It shows they don't vet their CEOs very well.
You expect them to go through 30-year old records on their creditors? Have you ever gotten a loan that required interviews with the people you went to high-school with?!?!
Yes. And for routine security clearances, people I went to school with are certainly interviewed or at least scrutinized.
Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth
#146I know two people who took jobs at Banjo. Both of them quit within months because the place was so incredibly toxic. Second hand info, so take with a grain of salt:
The CEO tries to run the company like a personality cult. Everyone was expected to be available 24/7 to respond to his demands. He liked to demand things on Friday night, weekends, or holidays to test people's loyalty. My friend was told he had to schedule his weekend activities with the company because everyone was on call all the time (he wasn't devops).People who didn't drink the kool-aid were filtered out quickly.
Banjo is also extremely aggressive with NDAs and threatening legal action against employees who speak out. Their Glassdoor page has been flooded with extremely dubious glowing reviews and I've watched many of the negative reviews slowly disappear over time for some reason.
The CEO recruited both of my friends with some grandiose stories, including the same story about being close friends with Zuckerberg. I don't know if he's actually close to Zuckerberg, but the Banjo CEO has been telling many people in Utah that he and Mark Zuckerberg are close friends, at least as a recruiting hook.
Banjo was already unpopular in Utah because they were awarded some very questionable state surveillance contracts. The state of Utah has already paused the contracts. As a Utah resident, I really hope this is the end of Banjo's involvement with Utah's surveillance.
Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> I believe in second chances but this kind of history should disqualify you from at least some types of sensitive roles.
What exactly do you think a second chance is?
Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth
#148[dead]
Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth
#149This was so long ago and he hasn’t killed anyone or done any thing of the sort since then. Who cares ? It is up to the system to deal with him
> This was so long ago and he hasn’t killed anyone or done any thing of the sort since then. Who cares ? It is up to the system to deal with him
His company, Banjo, was awarded surveillance contracts for the state of Utah. The state was paying Banjo tens of millions of dollars and giving them access to untold amounts of state surveillance data.
As a resident of Utah, I do not want my tax dollars sending surveillance data about me to a company founded and run by a white supremacist who assisted in shooting up a synagogue and then admitted to continuing his white supremacist associations long after the conviction.
Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
A bigger question is how is one allowed to join the navy after taking part in a racially motivated drive-by shooting?
and it's follow up is how can a remorseful person make amends and resume normality? I'd argue if there is no path back to normality they they will, by definition, forever find fringe behavior necessary and rational
One way a sincere ex-neo Nazi could return to normality is by ceasing to socialize with active neo Nazis. That was not the case here. From the above quote regarding his seeking out and spending time with the same white supremacists: "I ended up meeting with them..."
How does one "end up" meeting with neo Nazis? He fails to take responsibility for his behavior after his hate crimes conviction!