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I Met Paul Graham Once

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Re: I Met Paul Graham Once

#301

Post by snowfarthing »

snowfarthing wrote: post #273
gedpeck wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biden hasn’t been convicted of felonies. He’s not an adjudicated rapist. He doesn’t refer to his daughter as a nice piece of ass. He isn’t banned from running a charity. He hasn’t bribed any porn stars. He hasn’t accepted $30 billion in bribes. He hasn’t taken secret documents to illegally keep in his bathroom. He hasn’t met with Putin alone without an interpreter or any other U.S. official present. He hasn’t made fu…

"If you want to discuss Biden then start another thread. This one is about Donald Trump." You cannot talk about Trump without putting him in context. The fact is, the reason why we have Trump for President again, is because the person who replaced him was so horrible, that Trump looked better in comparison. And what's more, conisdering what I said -- and what you are responding to -- I have to bring up Biden, because…

"Harris’ moral and ethical failings are nothing compared to Trump. You can do what I did and not vote and not support either candidate. Stand up for truth and righteousness and stop trying to justify your support for a person as shitty as Trump. It’s a choice to defend shitty behavior. When you do so you end up smelling like shit."

She implicitly supported Biden. She was complicit in all the lies that were pushed about Biden, particularly those about his fitness for the position. She endorsed going after political enemies with the legal system -- and then had the gall to claim that Trump would do just that himself.

And then to go on and claim that if you supported a crappy candidate, then those people are crappy too, you have basically condemned the 95% or so who voted for one or the other -- for motivations that are well beyond either yours or my understanding -- this attitude right here is why politics is so toxic these days.

Re: I Met Paul Graham Once

#302

Post by lr4444lr »

The irony is I too dislike nagging, hollow, corporate DEI exercises. In the abstract I was glad they existed[3] but the insincerity was palpable

Footnote [3] is: A small minority of people really do need to be taught how to be kind.

The author thinks probably thinks that fairly obvious fact is some harmless premise, but I suspect he knows well enough having been through YC and in the community of American business that this is not an accurate description of how DEI was implemented in parts of corporate America and beyond. In many companies, colleges, and government agencies, DEI initiatives were implemented in a way that assumed everyone had to be taught how to be kind, were differentially guilty or prone to be guilty by (sometimes externally assumed) group association of their birth or early childhood of certain offenses, and were preferentially treated to work placements, promotions, etc.

It was more than just "hollow" in many instances. It was blatant witch hunting that ruined careers and personal lives via internet virality. If PG's greatest offense in fighting back against this was an obtusely chosen word like "woke", that's pretty minor.

Re: I Met Paul Graham Once

#304

Post by itsoktocry »

gedpeck wrote: post #245
snowfarthing wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you realize the exact same things can be said about the President we had for the last four years? It's really hard to worry about your own guy being a scumbag, when the opposition supports a scumbag too (and then lies about it).

Biden hasn’t been convicted of felonies. He’s not an adjudicated rapist. He doesn’t refer to his daughter as a nice piece of ass. He isn’t banned from running a charity. He hasn’t bribed any porn stars. He hasn’t accepted $30 billion in bribes. He hasn’t taken secret documents to illegally keep in his bathroom. He hasn’t met with Putin alone without an interpreter or any other U.S. official present. He hasn’t made fu…

[flagged]

Re: I Met Paul Graham Once

#306

Post by mellosouls »

afavour wrote: post #9

In the long run I think realizations like the authors are healthy ones. PG is not a hero. He's just a guy. A guy who entered into business transactions with a number of people, many of whom benefitted greatly (as did Paul himself). I'm not saying any of that as a negative! Just that we have a habit of attributing superhuman characteristics to folks (Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize comes to mind) and ending up dis…

PG is not a hero. He's just a guy.

The downgrading of exceptional individuals like PG to mediocrities is no healthier than placing them on pedestals.

Re: I Met Paul Graham Once

#307

Post by mellosouls »

If the OP struggles to reconcile their perception of PG before and after discovering his differing beliefs, that’s neither PG’s fault nor anyone else’s.

This reaction reflects a broader cultural issue that PG himself occasionally comments on. It’s an unfortunate symptom of our times to misattribute personal frustrations and resentments—born of an often unfriendly and unfair world—to solely external causes like a conspiracy of bigotry and malevolence.

In reality, such feelings often stem from an unrealistic internal denial of the natural (painful) "othering" of outlier behaviour or identity, something that can only be mitigated through education and maturity, and pragmatic reasonableness on both sides.

It cannot be solved by the hectoring, bullying, self-pitying, or other toxic behaviours rightly associated with the declining “woke” movement, which the OP seems to criticise PG for opposing.

Re: I Met Paul Graham Once

#308

Post by itsoktocry »

gedpeck wrote: post #156
ethbr1 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what lengths do you think you're justified going to against individuals you disagree with? And how do you feel about them feeling the same about you? Mutual righteous hostility is why ethnic and religious wars simmer forever, because there's always a convenient justification for acting violently towards others (and them towards you).

… justified going to against individuals you disagree with? I don’t do anything at this time. But I understand why there are those who do have vitriol for supporters of a rapist who lusts after his own daughter. There are times when a nation’s society fractures as the social cohesion evaporates. We are beginning to be in such a time in the U.S. Well, it appears that way to me. Only time will tell.

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Re: I Met Paul Graham Once

#309

Post by aprilthird2021 »

cabbaged wrote: post #213
whack wrote: post #42

I appreciate the author and this article. As an immigrant and person of color, the author's concerns resonate with me. I don't think people like PG or Andreessen are evil bigots. But they are underestimating and enabling a movement that is cruel and exclusionary by design. A movement that they seek to tame and harness, but not understanding that the movement is fundamentally untameable. I miss the days when the Repub…

[flagged]

> Islam is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a religion of peace.

It is. The word Islam and Salaam are etymologically tied to the word "peace".

If your definition of peace is "never wages war", well there's no country or political regime in the world like that. Even India, which was liberated by the famous nonviolent philosopher Gandhi, did not last many years without needing to wage war and take territory.

Islam is the only remaining religion with a political element and an existing desire for statehood. You could argue for Judaism (but some of the Orthodox would disagree) also. Back when Christendom had aspirations of statehood, it was also not "peaceful" in the way most people imagine. But this isn't a feature of the religions. It's a feature of world politics. No one can be peaceful and engage meaningfully in world politics. Everyone is propped up by some army somewhere.

You can have many arguments against the social regime, views on gender, etc. Etc. of Islam, but to say it's not peaceful because it is a political entity is just not understanding politics or the world, imo

Re: I Met Paul Graham Once

#310

Post by yread »

gedpeck wrote: post #294
yread wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

dehumanization of the other side is one of the most used tools of war propaganda of all sides. Just look at people in the west joking about orcs

But if someone acts inhuman then it’s justified. Russia’s war crimes are well documented and they started the war. When you are the baddies then expect to be called so.

Wait are we still in the thread discussing that it's childish to call one side baddies?
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