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The broligarchs are trying to have their way

theatlantic.com

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Re: The broligarchs are trying to have their way

#11

Post by jimbob45 »

oceanplexian wrote: post #4

> Eight years ago, the PayPal and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel was an outlier in liberal Silicon Valley for publicly supporting Donald Trump. Is the opening sentence supposed to imply that Thiel (and Elon) are no longer outliers? I thought 99% of the SV elite were still donating vast sums of money to the other party. Since, all of a sudden, everyone is concerned with billionaires why the obsession with Elon? It’s…

It’s OK when big money donates to one side but not the other?

For those not familiar with American politics, virtually all large money donors donate to both sides to varying degrees. This is primarily to get both your favored candidate in the race and remove tough matchups from the opposing side via the primary process. The real difference is who you choose to vocally support.

Re: The broligarchs are trying to have their way

#13

Post by Llamamoe »

ArtTimeInvestor wrote: post #10

What I find most frightening is the trick Musk played on regular investors via his pay package that is now worth tens of billions. Multiple times more than what Tesla earns per year. No regular investor digs into this kind of company details. Nor do they understand the risk reward mechanics at play. And they shouldn't have to. If the stock market gets played with unusual contracts like this one, regular investors wil…

> If the stock market gets played with unusual contracts like this one, regular investors will be cheated out of the value that is created by replacing more and more jobs by AI.

The only people in the world who deserve money even less than sociopathic billionaires are investors. I'd say cheating them out of their money should be free game. Isn't that basically what they're doing to every worker-class human being in the world as it is?

Re: The broligarchs are trying to have their way

#14

Post by ruok_throwaway »

rndmize wrote: post #12

[flagged]

To a reasonably informed outsider the entire US political system looks like a cynical dirty circus.

I have no horse in the political race; I only wish for the US to be strong, since I see it as a shining beacon for many good in the world.

That said, you mentioned the ridiculousness of one side, with completely ignoring what has happened on the other. So let me list some of the hard to believe details regarding that other side:

- the current presidential candidate has not won a single delegate in the primaries in 2020

- in 2020 they have had an attrocious performance while campaigning

- they've been a steady stream of cringe and embarrassment for the US in their public appearances for the last 4 years

- in 2024 the primaries have been shut down, only for this candidate to be hot-swapped in!

... so now as an opposition to the ridiculous orange candidate that you described on the other side, you now have a candidate that no one has voted for!

How is that a democracy?

Your entire two-party political system is rigged and you should own up to it, or not engage with it at all.

Re: The broligarchs are trying to have their way

#15

Post by eesmith »

walkabilitee wrote: post #3

Not a fan of how "bro" is now a slur for, "non-obese male who holds opinions with which I disagree"

It isn't that well defined.

To start with, which opinions? I may disagree with your (hypothetical) opinion that Go is the best language developed so far. I would not call you "bro" because of that, even if you were a non-obese male.

Bro in this context refers to "tech bro' oligarchs" (https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/broligarchy dates the popularity starting last month).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brogrammer notes that '"Brogrammer" or "tech bro"' are "often used pejoratively to describe toxic masculinity and sexism in the technology industry".

This definition highlights how it's not merely 'opinions with which I disagree', but a specific set of opinions.

FWIW, The Atlantic is the publication which brought us the term "Bernie Bro", "to describe young, white, progressive men who, in his view, support unrealistic progressive policies and promote the Bernie Sanders campaign obnoxiously", including "sometimes attack in very sexist ways" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Bro

The connection there is the toxic masculinity and sexism.

Re: The broligarchs are trying to have their way

#16

Post by klipt »

Llamamoe wrote: post #13
ArtTimeInvestor wrote: post #10

What I find most frightening is the trick Musk played on regular investors via his pay package that is now worth tens of billions. Multiple times more than what Tesla earns per year. No regular investor digs into this kind of company details. Nor do they understand the risk reward mechanics at play. And they shouldn't have to. If the stock market gets played with unusual contracts like this one, regular investors wil…

> If the stock market gets played with unusual contracts like this one, regular investors will be cheated out of the value that is created by replacing more and more jobs by AI. The only people in the world who deserve money even less than sociopathic billionaires are investors. I'd say cheating them out of their money should be free game. Isn't that basically what they're doing to every worker-class human being in t…

You realize the government funds most people's pensions/retirement via investment right? Either directly via pension funds or indirectly by encouraging people to save in 401ks etc?

Re: The broligarchs are trying to have their way

#17

Post by klipt »

ruok_throwaway wrote: post #14
rndmize wrote: post #12

[flagged]

To a reasonably informed outsider the entire US political system looks like a cynical dirty circus. I have no horse in the political race; I only wish for the US to be strong, since I see it as a shining beacon for many good in the world. That said, you mentioned the ridiculousness of one side, with completely ignoring what has happened on the other. So let me list some of the hard to believe details regarding that o…

You can't say nobody voted for the vice president, they are part of the presidential ticket.

If the president can't serve, they literally become president.

Hypothetical scenarios:

1. Biden/Harris wins presidency. Biden steps down. Harris is now president.

2. Biden/Harris wins Democratic nomination. Biden steps down. Harris is now nominee.

How is 2. any less democratic than 1.?

Re: The broligarchs are trying to have their way

#18

Post by aldous »

oceanplexian wrote: post #4

> Eight years ago, the PayPal and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel was an outlier in liberal Silicon Valley for publicly supporting Donald Trump. Is the opening sentence supposed to imply that Thiel (and Elon) are no longer outliers? I thought 99% of the SV elite were still donating vast sums of money to the other party. Since, all of a sudden, everyone is concerned with billionaires why the obsession with Elon? It’s…

The article explicitly references donations to the Democrats too btw, the authors overarching point appears to be this idea that the vastly wealthy consider themselves above the state and the rule of law. This is not a new phenomena, history is resplendent with examples of the abundantly rich desiring, obtaining and then exercising absolute power. Spoiler alert: it usually doesn't end well for the populace at large or ultimately themselves. I'd agree with the authors point about the ostensibly short sightedness of Elon et al's seeming desire for a rich absolutism: they are barking up the wrong, unsustainable tree. A well functioning and financially supported democracy is very very good for the economy and good for them! A better provision of public goods, infrastructure and a healthy populace is very very good for business isn't it? Democratic decline also brings with it instability, anti competitive kleptocracy, stagnation, and consumers strapped for cash; not the ideal conditions within which to sell their services. Which makes me wonder: is Elon's current political posturing not really based on any canny reasoning, but just plane old reactive emotional impulse. I really wouldn't be surprised if, as the author suggests, Elon's perceived Biden snub is really a big part of this or at least behind its genesis. Which is a good final point on unchecked power and its pitfalls, who wants to be at the mercy of an individual's emotional petulant whims, compulsions and outbursts? Surely none of us right?

Re: The broligarchs are trying to have their way

#19

Post by ruok_throwaway »

klipt wrote: post #17
ruok_throwaway wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To a reasonably informed outsider the entire US political system looks like a cynical dirty circus. I have no horse in the political race; I only wish for the US to be strong, since I see it as a shining beacon for many good in the world. That said, you mentioned the ridiculousness of one side, with completely ignoring what has happened on the other. So let me list some of the hard to believe details regarding that o…

You can't say nobody voted for the vice president, they are part of the presidential ticket. If the president can't serve, they literally become president. Hypothetical scenarios: 1. Biden/Harris wins presidency. Biden steps down. Harris is now president. 2. Biden/Harris wins Democratic nomination. Biden steps down. Harris is now nominee. How is 2. any less democratic than 1.?

No one voted for them when they were campainging by themselves in 2020 - 0 delegates won.

2024 primaries were shut down - so no one voted them again. They wouldn't have won the primaries if the primaries were held.

---

The fact that you mention they have been voted for because they were the second person on the ticket that won the presidential election is exactly what is wrong with the US. They only managed to win by association and now they hope to fail-upwards solely on name recognition (gained through association!)

In the US you don't win on merit anymore, now the game is:

1. get a small win by association

2. use the newly gained name recognition to fail upwards

What a shame.

Re: The broligarchs are trying to have their way

#20

Post by peutetre »

ruok_throwaway wrote: post #19
klipt wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't say nobody voted for the vice president, they are part of the presidential ticket. If the president can't serve, they literally become president. Hypothetical scenarios: 1. Biden/Harris wins presidency. Biden steps down. Harris is now president. 2. Biden/Harris wins Democratic nomination. Biden steps down. Harris is now nominee. How is 2. any less democratic than 1.?

No one voted for them when they were campainging by themselves in 2020 - 0 delegates won. 2024 primaries were shut down - so no one voted them again. They wouldn't have won the primaries if the primaries were held. --- The fact that you mention they have been voted for because they were the second person on the ticket that won the presidential election is exactly what is wrong with the US. They only managed to win by…

The internal processes of a political party aren't that interesting.

There is a presidential election coming up. That is the test that actually matters.

Kamala Harris will either win it or she won't. If she wins then she was good enough to win. If she doesn't win then she wasn't good enough to win.

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