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Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

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Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#111

Post by generic_user »

_pius wrote: post #9
jerf wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's a great plan for YC. Go up to the next President of the United States and stick their finger in his eye. That'll really show him. That'll Win Friends and Influence People. Can't possibly harm their startups, either, to stick a finger in the President's eye like that. I'm sure they never want to fund a startup ever again that might interact with the Federal government in any way.

Great moral courage there. YC has a choice: do what IBM did in the 1930's or not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust And before you say I'm "going Godwin," remember: It was Sam and Paul who've said they think Trump is a threat of similar proportions. If Sam really thinks that, the moral thing to do is cut ties. And yes, it'll be hard. Would have been easier to do before the election. It will only get…

Its precisely because of SJW outrage cultures ridiculous juvenile comparisons to Hitler of anyone who disagrees with the narrative that these claims have zero shock value and no one takes them seriously anymore.

The same can be said of racism, sexism, misogyny etc.

You have done more to de-stigmatize these words then the people who espouse the ideology have ever been able to do. It has made the accusation in itself a clownish eye rolling gesture to the general public. Rather then something to take seriously.

No one with any credibility is going to compare the President elect of the United States to Hitler. Its a pantomime act that the disgraced 'Media' and Twitter nobodies do to entertain one another.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#112

Post by Sniffnoy »

Frondo wrote: post #56
overgard wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The right thing". Tolerance means recognizing that people have different world views than your own. Sometimes the people you do business with have political opinions you don't agree with. The melodrama over Thiel's political opinions is pointless. If you demand Thiel steps down, are you personally just going to stop doing business with 49% of the country that voted differently? Personally I lean liberal, but I'm pre…

Tolerance means you aren't jailing people with different views than your own. Tolerance means you aren't out beating people up for having different views. Tolerance isn't about putting on a happy face and doing business with someone whose views you find odious. If people are no longer free to use words or social stigma to advance their views and opinion, because "tolerance," then what do we have left?

Why the implicit equation of "words" with "shouting at people that they're bad"? (Or at least, that's how I'm reading your comment based on the context.)

The alternative is actual argument rather than punishment, something overgard in no way ruled out.

...which unfortunately may not be a great tool given the current situation. I think we are at the point where playing nice may no longer be a serious option.

But that doesn't mean we should just, lke, punish all the bad people because they're bad people. That still isn't helpful. It just feels good, it doesn't necessarily accomplish anything.

In the particular case of people joining the Trump administration, I think Megan McArdle makes a good case against punishing capable people for joining it: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-11-09/there-s-n...

Still. We're in a situation now where argument is unlikely to get us anywhere -- but in better times, that's the ideal, not using words to punish people.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#113

Post by smsm42 »

davesque wrote: post #51
fib739mbbh wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As usual, the media distorts what Trump actually said. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/nov/24/...

Not entirely. Trump was extremely unclear and dodgy when asked more about his comments in the days after that interview. People asked him very directly on several occasions if he would, in fact, implement a Muslim database. He never denied that he would. In fact, he confirmed that he wants a database for Syrian refugees.

"Never denied he would" is not exactly the same as "Would for sure do it".

> he confirmed that he wants a database for Syrian refugees.

Doesn't the government already have database of all immigrants? I even have a nice card with a number, I'm pretty sure this number refers to a record in the database. Before I had that, I also had to fill in and send out certain forms, which I am pretty sure also went to some government database.

So how exactly Syrian refugees are different and what exactly makes the thing that US - and pretty much every other, as far as I know - government routinely does so beyond the pale?

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#116

Post by jbpetersen »

kafkaesq wrote: post #93
darawk wrote: post #4

This is good news, I think? Thiel has some extremish views, but I generally regard him as intelligent and thoughtful. And he's in close contact with other smart, influential people (e.g. Musk, Sam Altman, etc.), which gives them some indirect influence. Not that this makes things substantially better. But maybe a little bit? Hopefully?

Thiel has some extremish views, but I generally regard him as intelligent and thoughtful. "He seems intelligent and thoughtful, but has scarily extremist views" might be a better angle to take.

Any specific highlights?

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#117

Post by rayiner »

ubernostrum wrote: post #54
overgard wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The right thing". Tolerance means recognizing that people have different world views than your own. Sometimes the people you do business with have political opinions you don't agree with. The melodrama over Thiel's political opinions is pointless. If you demand Thiel steps down, are you personally just going to stop doing business with 49% of the country that voted differently? Personally I lean liberal, but I'm pre…

Serious question: is there any action he could take, any line he could cross, literally anything he could do or say that would ever, in your mind, be sufficient to justify refusing to associate with him?

He could have voted for a war (that more than a fifth of the Senate opposed) that cost trillions of dollars and cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#118

Post by ben0x539 »

olioli wrote: post #88
ben0x539 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, tolerance means that you gotta be ok with people from different religions, ethnic groups, w/e. The opinion thing isn't as important.

The guys who wrote the universal declaration of human rights seem to disagree with you. "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status." "All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation o…

Yeah I'm not saying people with abhorrent opinions don't deserve human rights. That doesn't mean tolerance is all about being cool with your hypothetical Nazi neighbor. I'm pretty sure whoever came up with that declaration would be with me on the part where we aren't cool w/ Nazis.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#119

Post by imron »

revelation wrote: post #101
imron wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're ignoring his follow up clarification: "It would be absurd to suggest that women’s votes will be taken away or that this would solve the political problems that vex us. While I don’t think any class of people should be disenfranchised, I have little hope that voting will make things better."

Yes, it's the same old "I have black friends, too".

Rubbish. He's saying voting doesn't necessarily result in good governance and policy, or the will of the people - regardless of the people doing it.

He points out the financial crash in 2008 as a prime example of that. Would you agree or disagree with that notion?

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#120

Post by quaditoco »

pokemonster wrote: post #53
all_blue_chucks wrote: post #3

As Bezos said, contrarians are rarely right. But rare does not mean always.

.

"Bezos is about to learn that building a business by stealing tax dollars from local communities and using the profits to rig elections is no longer tolerated in our country. He'll be lucky to avoid jail... tax fraud pierces the corporate veil and he made a mortal enemy in Trump who never lets any bad deed go unpunished. If you have any amazon stock best sell it now."

Did you delete this once the irony hit?

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