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Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

nytimes.com

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Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#161

Post by xxpor »

golemotron wrote: post #140
TuringNYC wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the case of Peter Thiel, the Koch family, and Robert Mercer, it is quite clear that the end goal is no longer wealth, but reshaping politics, geo-political power, and thought for multiple generations.

Wow. No one on the left does that?

Not to the same extent, simply because the raison d'etre of the left is to (at the extreme end) eliminate those types of people in the first place.

Why isn't there a OANN of the left? Sure the MSM has a mainstream liberal bias, but there's hardly any Big Left (as in full on communist) media, at least in the English speaking world. There's a multitude of reasons, but I believe a big part of it is there simply isn't funding for that sort of thing.

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#162

Post by geodel »

clairity wrote: post #123
user249 wrote: post #14

This podcast "The Peter Thiel Paradox" [1] explained a lot about the mystery of Peter Thiel to me. Turns out that there is less than meets the eye but he does have a specific talent for manipulating the political systems and government coffers to enrich himself, much like Richard Branson, or so the British podcast claims. [1] https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-p... One nitpick; Theil said "We…

thiel isn't that talented or smart, but he did get hella lucky, and that's a sore point for him. so he's used his paypal riches on an extended PR campaign to make everyone believe he's something more than he is. literally every quote and quip i've heard from him is recycled directly from elsewhere, rather than being even a semi-original notion, but he passes it off as wisdom from on high. he wants more than just resp…

> thiel isn't that talented or smart, but he did get hella lucky,

This is true for more than 99% of extremely successful people. It is only worth mentioning when one does not like any particular successful person.

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#163

Post by WFHRenaissance »

clairity wrote: post #123
user249 wrote: post #14

This podcast "The Peter Thiel Paradox" [1] explained a lot about the mystery of Peter Thiel to me. Turns out that there is less than meets the eye but he does have a specific talent for manipulating the political systems and government coffers to enrich himself, much like Richard Branson, or so the British podcast claims. [1] https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-p... One nitpick; Theil said "We…

thiel isn't that talented or smart, but he did get hella lucky, and that's a sore point for him. so he's used his paypal riches on an extended PR campaign to make everyone believe he's something more than he is. literally every quote and quip i've heard from him is recycled directly from elsewhere, rather than being even a semi-original notion, but he passes it off as wisdom from on high. he wants more than just resp…

Jeez. I hate to burst your bubble, but Peter is more talented and intelligent than most of the readers/writers on this website. It's easy to make your claim when your perception of the guy is based solely on news articles and hit pieces. I don't agree with him on everything, but there is no denying that he's gotten where he is through maneuvering and foresight.

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#164

Post by JaimeThompson »

WillPostForFood wrote: post #158
JaimeThompson wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would consider it evil to say that women shouldn't vote.

I consider it evil to manufacture a false statement to slander someone you disagree with. He never said women shouldn't vote. What he actually said: The 1920s were the last decade in American history during which one could be genuinely optimistic about politics. Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women — two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libert…

https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/educatio...

It is rather obvious that he thinks women shouldn't vote given he blames them, in part, for the decline of "capitalist democracy".

I could have also mentioned his work to make sure the general public has much less privacy while fighting with lots of money to make sure his privacy is respected. I have little use for those who wish to have separate rules for themselves than they want others to follow.

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#165

Post by Obi_Juan_Kenobi »

nbardy wrote: post #145
waffle_maniac wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a comment in a thread on HN a while ago by someone that interviewed with Thiel's hedge fund. Apparently the fund lost a lot of money and Thiel was directing the trading decisions. Other investors pulled their money and it was mostly Thiel's money in the fund going forward.

My understanding is that Thiel's public fund often takes loss because he is hedging other financial risk he is taking.(e.g. holding palantir after IPO, large VC investments in industries that may turn out to be based on immature research)

Hahaha you don't believe that, do you?

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#166

Post by sometimeshuman »

beebmam wrote: post #30
user249 wrote: post #14

This podcast "The Peter Thiel Paradox" [1] explained a lot about the mystery of Peter Thiel to me. Turns out that there is less than meets the eye but he does have a specific talent for manipulating the political systems and government coffers to enrich himself, much like Richard Branson, or so the British podcast claims. [1] https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-p... One nitpick; Theil said "We…

Why do people with this much wealth want even more wealth for themselves? I've never understood this.

It could be he feels passionate about his ventures and just wants them to be as successful as possible. The money is just a consequence.

Personally it is harder to understand that upper middle manager who works on something they aren't passionate about, who isn't a co-founder, and yet keeps committing more and more of their life and ambition to the company.

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#167

Post by vineyardmike »

tacitusarc wrote: post #65
vineyardmike wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His attack on gawker are anything but commendable. They may have been a trashy gossip site, but attacking press like that is not good for society.

I’ve never understood the perspective that what Thiel did too Gawker was anything but good. Love or hate the guy, he just funded a lawsuit that Gawker assumed they would beat using the classic tactics of bankrupting their opponent. I despise those tactics, it was (rightly IMO) determined that Gawker acted illegally and caused massive damage, and if the Hulk Hogan had been funded by literally any other billionaire I t…

Gawker was not a major corp at all, it was a tiny publication. I don't think they thought they would beat him via bankrupting him at all.

Thiel approached a ton of people who Gawker wrote about, and volunteered to fund suits until he found a winner. Thiel was not the rich hero, he was trying to a chip in the armor for a long time to seek revenge on a petty grudge.

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#168

Post by vineyardmike »

nodesocket wrote: post #55
vineyardmike wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His attack on gawker are anything but commendable. They may have been a trashy gossip site, but attacking press like that is not good for society.

Wait, are you really calling gawker press? I assume TMZ is right up there with the Walls Street Journal as well. Yikes that is scary.

They were the press. They can be trashy tabloid, as opposed to a respected international publication, but they're still press. Gawker was also a series of publications, not just one (eg. Gizmodo the tech site, LifeHacker, etc).

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#169

Post by spaetzleesser »

clairity wrote: post #123
user249 wrote: post #14

This podcast "The Peter Thiel Paradox" [1] explained a lot about the mystery of Peter Thiel to me. Turns out that there is less than meets the eye but he does have a specific talent for manipulating the political systems and government coffers to enrich himself, much like Richard Branson, or so the British podcast claims. [1] https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-p... One nitpick; Theil said "We…

thiel isn't that talented or smart, but he did get hella lucky, and that's a sore point for him. so he's used his paypal riches on an extended PR campaign to make everyone believe he's something more than he is. literally every quote and quip i've heard from him is recycled directly from elsewhere, rather than being even a semi-original notion, but he passes it off as wisdom from on high. he wants more than just resp…

“ thiel isn't that talented or smart, but he did get hella lucky,”

To get and stay where he is you have to be pretty smart. Maybe not in the way you define it but most people wouldn’t be able to do what he did. This will get me in trouble but I think the same can be said about Trump. The way he pushed himself into the presidency against resistance from the media and the established parties was pretty phenomenal. You have to be very capable to pull that off and not many people would be able to do the same.

Being intelligent doesn’t mean that you do things people view as ethical.

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#170

Post by dennisnedry »

omegaworks wrote: post #70

>He has also been seen as the contrarian who has Mr. Zuckerberg’s ear, championing unfettered speech across digital platforms. His conservative views also gave Facebook’s board ideological diversity. What a fawning, iconoclastic corruption of "diversity." The New York Times is blatantly courting Thiel's fascist endeavor. This journalistic abortion glosses over exactly what kind of speech Thiel's cohort seeks not just…

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