Why The 99% Should Protest Against Y Combinator
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Why The 99% Should Protest Against Y Combinator
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Re: Why The 99% Should Protest Against Y Combinator
#2So the author has moral objections to what Monsanto is doing, and that is an immediate impetus for...what exactly? For the 99% to redirect their ire to Y Combinator as a proxy for Cloudant? Sorry, I have trouble reading through equivocations if someone is trying to make a point.
Re: Why The 99% Should Protest Against Y Combinator
#3So the author has moral objections to what Monsanto is doing, and that is an immediate impetus for...what exactly? For the 99% to redirect their ire to Y Combinator as a proxy for Cloudant? Sorry, I have trouble reading through equivocations if someone is trying to make a point.
No ... you should have read the second half of the post ... the first half was the back story (re: Monsanto & Cloudant)
Re: Why The 99% Should Protest Against Y Combinator
#4If you do sell-out, do it quietly.
But seriously, this is a fairly well laid out argument. The buck has to stop somewhere and it may as well be here.
Re: Why The 99% Should Protest Against Y Combinator
#5I agree with pg on this one, and I find Nick O'Neill's arguments to be as ludicrous as O'Neill seems to find pg's.
This must be a fundamental, deeply ingrained, clear-cut difference in the way people think.
Re: Why The 99% Should Protest Against Y Combinator
#6'Fuck Monsanto, and by association, fuck Cloudant' is not a constructive opening to a conversation. If that poster had started by saying 'This announcement makes me not want to do business with Cloudant. Here's why...' then I'd largely agree with you. You are right that Monsanto is a politically radioactive company, so putting out a cheery press release about becoming a core technology supplier displays a misunderstanding of branding.
However, raving and swearing at people is not persuasive, it's bullying. We'll never find out what pg really thinks of Monsanto or the idea of doing business with them, because all we've got is his understandably snippy reaction to what sounds like the aggressive ranting of an insane person.
Re: Why The 99% Should Protest Against Y Combinator
#7Do you buy any food at all that is not grown by local organic farmers? If you do, chances are you have a much stronger business relationship with Monsanto than Paul Graham does.
After all, you are directly giving money to a supermarket, which is giving it to a big agribusiness, which either is Monsanto or is a customer of Monsanto. All these evil things that Monsanto does? They're done with your money.
Contrast that with Paul Graham, who is a partial owner of an investment firm, which invested in a company, which has Monsanto as a customer. No YCombinator money is going to Monsanto. Indeed, it's the other way around: Monsanto money is going to a YCombinator company, in exchange for services. PG's criticism of the original comment was right on.
If Monsanto's business practices bother you, factor that into your purchasing decisions. There are dozens of local organic farmers that would love to have your business. They usually charge more, because evil is efficient. Monsanto is not the only beneficiary of their evil ways, though: because of their evilness, millions of Americans spend less on food than they otherwise would.
Re: Why The 99% Should Protest Against Y Combinator
#8by that flawed logic one should kill Americans because of the killing of civilians in Iraq..
Re: Why The 99% Should Protest Against Y Combinator
#9Do you buy any food at all that is not grown by local organic farmers? If you do, chances are you have a much stronger business relationship with Monsanto than Paul Graham does. After all, you are directly giving money to a supermarket, which is giving it to a big agribusiness, which either is Monsanto or is a customer of Monsanto. All these evil things that Monsanto does? They're done with your money. Contrast that…
Is it that evil is efficient or that being "good" (providing positive externalities in the process of delivering goods/services) is less efficient?
Re: Why The 99% Should Protest Against Y Combinator
#10'Fuck Monsanto, and by association, fuck Cloudant' is not a constructive opening to a conversation. If that poster had started by saying 'This announcement makes me not want to do business with Cloudant. Here's why...' then I'd largely agree with you. You are right that Monsanto is a politically radioactive company, so putting out a cheery press release about becoming a core technology supplier displays a misundersta…
Ya, it seems to me that pg was talking more about the tone/type of comment and HN then anything else.