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Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner

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Re: Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner

#11

Post by ElevenLathe »

GuinansEyebrows wrote: post #5
apples_oranges wrote: post #2

These news depressed me. Am I the only one who is saddened by this pathetic show by our industry leaders? Made me pessimistic about the future.

let it be the curtain pulled back on how this class of people operates. just because we can see it now doesn't mean this kind of thing hasn't been happening behind the scenes for... ever. not to excuse the brazenness of it - i'm as disgusted as you are.

The troubling fact is that the country's owners no longer feel the need to put on a show of democratic values. It's like witnessing Diocletian do away with the republican pretense of earlier emperors.

Re: Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner

#12

Post by jordanpg »

mingus88 wrote: post #9
apples_oranges wrote: post #2

These news depressed me. Am I the only one who is saddened by this pathetic show by our industry leaders? Made me pessimistic about the future.

Business has always been this way. It’s the nature of power. It just so happens when you have a fragile ego in power, people seeking power will naturally play to that ego for a leg up. We knew before 2015 that he was easy to manipulate. Easy to push his buttons, easy to flatter. Frankly if you are a CEO in 2015 and you aren’t flattering this idiot to profit then you are violating your duties to your shareholders

Indeed. It is a calibrated, lawyer-defined behavior called executing their fiduciary duties.

In other words, they are behaving as necessary (and as advised) to avoid later being exposed to a lawsuit.

Re: Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner

#15

Post by Centigonal »

poisonborz wrote: post #8

Incredible video. It's one piece of media that would shake the tech world, where it to be shown in 2017 through a time machine. I wish this would gain more publicity. But I guess people are already desensitized for such news.

"If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D."

-They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45, Milton Mayer

Re: Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner

#16

Post by herval »

Centigonal wrote: post #15
poisonborz wrote: post #8

Incredible video. It's one piece of media that would shake the tech world, where it to be shown in 2017 through a time machine. I wish this would gain more publicity. But I guess people are already desensitized for such news.

"If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them impercep…

I recommend this book so often recently, I'm thinking about buying a dozen copies so I can give them away

Re: Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner

#17

Post by herval »

jordanpg wrote: post #12
mingus88 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Business has always been this way. It’s the nature of power. It just so happens when you have a fragile ego in power, people seeking power will naturally play to that ego for a leg up. We knew before 2015 that he was easy to manipulate. Easy to push his buttons, easy to flatter. Frankly if you are a CEO in 2015 and you aren’t flattering this idiot to profit then you are violating your duties to your shareholders

Indeed. It is a calibrated, lawyer-defined behavior called executing their fiduciary duties. In other words, they are behaving as necessary (and as advised) to avoid later being exposed to a lawsuit.

The cray part is they're doing it by openly doing stuff that's clearly and unambiguously classified as illegal (eg the gifts in exchange for benefits)

Re: Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner

#18

Post by sjsdaiuasgdia »

mingus88 wrote: post #9
apples_oranges wrote: post #2

These news depressed me. Am I the only one who is saddened by this pathetic show by our industry leaders? Made me pessimistic about the future.

Business has always been this way. It’s the nature of power. It just so happens when you have a fragile ego in power, people seeking power will naturally play to that ego for a leg up. We knew before 2015 that he was easy to manipulate. Easy to push his buttons, easy to flatter. Frankly if you are a CEO in 2015 and you aren’t flattering this idiot to profit then you are violating your duties to your shareholders

>Frankly if you are a CEO in 2015 and you aren’t flattering this idiot to profit then you are violating your duties to your shareholders

It's all fun and games til his policies crash the economy.

Short-sighted perspectives yet again. Short term gains at the cost of long term viability.

Re: Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner

#19

Post by herval »

ElevenLathe wrote: post #11
GuinansEyebrows wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

let it be the curtain pulled back on how this class of people operates. just because we can see it now doesn't mean this kind of thing hasn't been happening behind the scenes for... ever. not to excuse the brazenness of it - i'm as disgusted as you are.

The troubling fact is that the country's owners no longer feel the need to put on a show of democratic values. It's like witnessing Diocletian do away with the republican pretense of earlier emperors.

I feel like this curtain drop started in earnest in tech as well, when Musk took over Twitter and declared (along with certain VC) that engineers are no longer "special" and need to be treated like cattle.

The entire industry gladly dropped their masks. Quite the irony, for a group of people that takes so much pride in "thinking different" and "changing the world".

Re: Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner

#20

Post by RyanOD »

It's hard for me not to believe every tech leader in this room is thinking, "This guy is a total idiot. I can't believe I have to sit here and kiss his ass. What a total waste of my time. But a CEO has to do what a CEO has to do...how can I take advantage of this mess."
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