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'Stupid,' 'shameful:' Tech workers on Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan's rant

missionlocal.org

131–140 of 558 posts

Re: 'Stupid,' 'shameful:' Tech workers on Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan's rant

#131
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize that the first amendment protects individuals from prosecution for protected speech, right? It does not guarantee protection from professional or social consequences. For some reason this distinction is very hard to understand for people of certain political stripes. Regardless, death threats are not protected under the first amendment, so you're even wrong under your idiotic assumptions of how the law…

[flagged]

> I sincerely wish the worst things imaginable for these activist journalists. They are the enemy of the people.

This is unironically the kind of shit that authoritarians love to say about journalists.

Re: 'Stupid,' 'shameful:' Tech workers on Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan's rant

#133
post #125
post #44

As a YC alum who worked with Gary Tan directly, this is… odd. Anyone who knows Gary knows he’s a (relatively) gentle human being. I can’t imagine him hurting a fly. His tweets seem totally out of character compared to the Gary Tan I personally knew. Maybe he has changed? I’m inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I’m not sure how anyone can say this when he’s notorious for blocking thousands and thousands of people on Twitter/X for the smallest perceived critique, including people who have never interacted with him at all because they engaged with some tweet he didn’t like The only kind of person who’d ever go that far is someone with a very fragile ego

Why? What’s wrong with blocking strangers you deem annoying?

Re: 'Stupid,' 'shameful:' Tech workers on Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan's rant

#134
post #44

As a YC alum who worked with Gary Tan directly, this is… odd. Anyone who knows Gary knows he’s a (relatively) gentle human being. I can’t imagine him hurting a fly. His tweets seem totally out of character compared to the Gary Tan I personally knew. Maybe he has changed? I’m inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

The reaction feels like pearl-clutching to be honest. This is the kind of shitpost most people would be able to get away with, but Tan is now too important -- and will have to curate his communications more. Especially if he's going to take such a strong position against incumbent politicians cautious of their own images. It also feels like a smart political play by his targets to discredit him. They were probably wa…

Threatening to kill someone isn’t a “shitpost”.

The fact it’s a Tupac lyric is not like common knowledge. I doubt a random poll of Twitter users would show most people would know the reference immediately.

Re: 'Stupid,' 'shameful:' Tech workers on Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan's rant

#135

What's the best way to go read the actual tweets, rather than an article about them? I'm guessing he's deleted them by now.

This article has a screenshot: https://missionlocal.org/2024/01/garry-tan-death-wish-sf-sup...

Re: 'Stupid,' 'shameful:' Tech workers on Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan's rant

#136
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure how anyone can say this when he’s notorious for blocking thousands and thousands of people on Twitter/X for the smallest perceived critique, including people who have never interacted with him at all because they engaged with some tweet he didn’t like The only kind of person who’d ever go that far is someone with a very fragile ego

Why? What’s wrong with blocking strangers you deem annoying?

He expects everyone else to take heat from him but can’t handle the tiniest bit of criticism direct at him

It’s a bit rich

Re: 'Stupid,' 'shameful:' Tech workers on Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan's rant

#137
post #125
post #44

As a YC alum who worked with Gary Tan directly, this is… odd. Anyone who knows Gary knows he’s a (relatively) gentle human being. I can’t imagine him hurting a fly. His tweets seem totally out of character compared to the Gary Tan I personally knew. Maybe he has changed? I’m inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I’m not sure how anyone can say this when he’s notorious for blocking thousands and thousands of people on Twitter/X for the smallest perceived critique, including people who have never interacted with him at all because they engaged with some tweet he didn’t like The only kind of person who’d ever go that far is someone with a very fragile ego

I’ll never get this. He doesn’t owe those people anything. Just because you start talking doesn’t give everyone the right to listen, just because someone is talking doesn’t require you to listen…

If anything this is healthy.

Re: 'Stupid,' 'shameful:' Tech workers on Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan's rant

#139
post #26

IMO, it is bad to threaten people with painful deaths. Apparently that is a controversial opinion within this community.

It isn’t illegal to say what he said but it’s not the right tone for his position. The slow drop into political violence begins with speech normalizing calling for death and murder. I just hope everyone outraged analyzes their own speech. I hold a lot of opinions outside the bounds of cocktail conversation, but I was having cocktails with my (blue city, professional) friends and they made a joke about someone needing…

On the other hand, where does the path we're on lead?

Let's not forget, there is a multi-dimensional spectrum in between, nobody is consistent across the spectrum, it is possible and often beneficial to speculate non-seriously, plenty of ~good people support intentional killing by our military if it has a well crafted (by literal professional thought shapers), just-so story to accompany it, and so forth and so on.

Optimal gameplay is difficult. Even aspiring to it is difficult.

Re: 'Stupid,' 'shameful:' Tech workers on Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan's rant

#140
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure how anyone can say this when he’s notorious for blocking thousands and thousands of people on Twitter/X for the smallest perceived critique, including people who have never interacted with him at all because they engaged with some tweet he didn’t like The only kind of person who’d ever go that far is someone with a very fragile ego

I’ll never get this. He doesn’t owe those people anything. Just because you start talking doesn’t give everyone the right to listen, just because someone is talking doesn’t require you to listen… If anything this is healthy.

We’re not talking about “the right to listen”. We’re talking about someone who can’t handle perceived slights directed at him.
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