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

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

#511

Post by sublinear »

VikingCoder wrote: post #364
sublinear wrote: post #358

> Tan “should not have done any of that. He should go for a while. He should not represent tech anymore,” I'd argue that anyone who cares this much should "go for a while". For over at least a decade now it's made no sense that we hold people in certain roles to a higher standard than anyone else. These high standards are a form of power transfer that hurts those who believe in them. Can't we just admit we're all hum…

We are all human, yes. And when there's a leadership role, there are multiple people who are qualified. It's okay to express your preference that the leadership role be filled by someone who doesn't go on a public, drunken, life-threatening rant.

It's also okay to express your preference that the role be filled by someone who didn't get there by drumming up the media and casting aspersions.

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

#512

Post by dang »

650REDHAIR wrote: post #400
ChrisArchitect wrote: post #69

Related yesterday discussion: Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan's online rant spurs threats to supes, police reports https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39205676

That thread was nuked from the front page after ~1 hour.

Yes, users flagged it. We eventually reduced the penalty, though not enough for that thread to get back on the front page.

The current thread, however, ended up spending 8 hours on the front page, far more than we'd ever normally allow for this class of story.

Here are the explanations I've posted about this so far:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39231365

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39224560

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39210947

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39172045

If anyone reads those and still has a question which isn't answered there, I'd be happy to take a crack at it.

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

#513

Post by dang »

rayiner wrote: post #409
Arainach wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Posting that you want a group of city councilors to die is not normal behavior. It's not normal when sober, it's not normal on alcohol, it's not normal for any functioning member of society. Anyone saying these things is disturbing. The fact that someone who a number of people believe is intelligent and worth listening to would say such things is extremely disturbing.

What are you talking about? Political effigies are a whole thing, and not just in America: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/giant-trump-e...

Please make your substantive points without swipes ("What are you talking about?") as the site guidelines ask: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

Your comment would be just fine without that bit.

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

#514

Post by roenxi »

kyleamazza wrote: post #390
roenxi wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, 1. Votes come at the end of a process starting with someone calling for action. Has to be a first person to bring the idea up; and Twitter is as good a place for public debate as we have. (If only people could master the longform paragraph, or even essay-length debate and move to somewhere a bit more nuanced.) 2. Reflecting on the "Die slow motherfuckers" for a little while - Tan didn't actually make a call for…

To your last point, it might be more constructive to point out the specifics of why you are against corporate political speech as opposed to a somewhat-binary left/right of the political spectrum. One benefit I see of it is normalizing the presence of historical out-groups (racial minorities, gender minorities, etc.) that have always existed in society. But, in practice, the "support" can be paper-thin and the chasin…

> One benefit I see ...

There exist people who see benefits of any political stances. That is why the stance is taken. Arguing about whether it is a benefit is at the core of politics. For example, Mr Tan probably sees benefit from certain SF supervisors resigning immediately and is frustrated that they don't.

But it is better to keep businesses out of that, I believe we're better off if they are relatively neutral and thoughtless engines to achieve highly specific goals.

> But, in practice, the "support" can be paper-thin ...

1) This situation is also paper thin. I'd bet money that Tan doesn't do anything that would cause the supervisors to die a slow death. Most attack on politicians are.

2) I've had it made quite clear to me in companies I've worked at that if there was a candidate with different skin colour or gender to me they'd be before me in the line for hiring and promotions. That is paper thin support, but it is due to political ideology and I still don't like it. I would like companies to promote equal treatment and be scrupulously neutral on politics.

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

#515

Post by gfodor »

davesque wrote: post #30
gfodor wrote: post #8

You'd never guess that this was a Tupac quote by the media coverage and wave after wave of forced outrage. The whole thing is so embarassing.

I don't see how it makes it any better that it was a quote. The quote still had words in it. Does Garry Tan think the entire world listens to Tupac? And what wisdom does Tupac really have to offer in this case?

I mean, if someone says something like that and they’re conjuring it up directly or they’re quoting a piece of art, I think that’s obviously relevant to interpreting it. Without taking a position on how severe to interpret it, it’s plainly obvious this important detail is glossed over and ignored and the media coverage of this is desperately trying to leave readers walking away thinking this was a more direct straightforward statement not subject to interpretation of how much to take it at face value.

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

#516

Post by gfodor »

AlexandrB wrote: post #163
gfodor wrote: post #8

You'd never guess that this was a Tupac quote by the media coverage and wave after wave of forced outrage. The whole thing is so embarassing.

Does it really matter? It's terrible judgement to post something whose intended meaning hinges on whether you know an American rap song from ~30 years ago to a public venue like Twitter. There are plenty of voters who weren't even born when Tupac was still alive.

Sure it matters. It doesn’t mean you ultimately would judge it appropriate, but take any scenario where violent rap lyrics are used and revoke a person’s ability to know they are quoting a song and it will be interpreted wildly differently.

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

#517

Post by gfodor »

archagon wrote: post #202
gfodor wrote: post #8

You'd never guess that this was a Tupac quote by the media coverage and wave after wave of forced outrage. The whole thing is so embarassing.

How are you able to determine whether outrage was “forced” or genuine?

Because I follow these people on Twitter and have seen their histrionics and hypocrisy on the regular.

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

#519

Post by tpmoney »

r00fus wrote: post #478
rayiner wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you talking about? Political effigies are a whole thing, and not just in America: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/giant-trump-e...

This is the UK - do you have a US example? Because I know that doing this with current POTUS will get you a visit from Secret Service.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/los-ange...

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/trump-pinata-school/

https://am870theanswer.com/all/la-antifa-group-hangs-trump-i...

https://wpde.com/news/nation-world/donald-trump-effigy-hangs...

https://www.coloradoan.com/picture-gallery/news/2021/01/01/f...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3500960/I-hate-Trum...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fibonacciblue/31620818443

https://www.newsweek.com/protest-trump-doll-guillotine-outsi...

And that's just the last president. If you search, you'll find plenty of similar examples for Obama and Bush too. Going further back than that will probably be harder to find records for, but yeah we have a long tradition of wishing death on our politicians and expressing that quite loudly. And almost all the time, it's certainly legal, whether or not the local community is keen on it varies.

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

#520

Post by dluan »

replwoacause wrote: post #436

I don’t know much about YC lore, but pg seemed like a pretty “buttoned up” person, and then came Altman and Tan, more freewheeling loose cannon types. Is that right?Is that just the new ilk for this generation of tech leaders?

PG had a rule of no politics, even though he made many political donations and made unjustful imprisonment and overturning the death penalty one of his pet projects.

Michael Seibel, Geoff Ralston, and Sam Altman were all very apolitical CEOs. Sam was the most, but usually it was only general/presidential election stuff. YC also does some lobbying with investors like Ron Conway, who in the past has supported gun control policy.

Garry Tan is the only YC CEO with insanely thin skin.

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