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Peter Thiel's Apocalyptic Worldview Is a Dangerous Fantasy

jacobin.com

31–40 of 281 posts

Re: Peter Thiel's Apocalyptic Worldview Is a Dangerous Fantasy

#31
post #14
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice "both sides" argument, very subtle.

It’s intentionally blunt. That’s exactly the issue right now: fascists and communists are going at each other and tearing apart what remains of our liberal world.

I think "facists" is a tiring word to describe them. I would recommend christian nationalists.

Re: Peter Thiel's Apocalyptic Worldview Is a Dangerous Fantasy

#32
Like anything else with Thiel, it's a viewed formed by a socially-maladjusted twerp who was picked on and now wants to rule the world. He's found a lot of useful lieutenants in that quest, mostly because they, like him, resent the fact that no amount of power or money or yes-men surrounding them will quiet their inner insecurities.

The truly insidious calculation they all eventually got to is that in Trump you have someone that is somehow even more insecure and craven than them and can be straight bought and sold to the highest bidder. They give Trump the superficial credibility of having ostensibly smart people behind him, and Trump gives them the benefits of being adjacent to his non-stop corruption and self-dealing machine.

Re: Peter Thiel's Apocalyptic Worldview Is a Dangerous Fantasy

#33
post #13

Maybe slightly off topic to the article, but I don't really care what Peter Thiel has to say. I do think we need to collectively think about how to not give these people a microphone. It's one thing to have concentrated wealth. It's a very different thing to have concentrated wealth and people's attention. I think that's a much more interesting discussion :).

This is the article's second sentence: "Thiel’s lurid, apocalyptic view of world politics may be ludicrous or even deranged, but his wealth and power mean that we can’t afford to ignore it."

Power might be hard to ignore, but wealth you literally just can.

Re: Peter Thiel's Apocalyptic Worldview Is a Dangerous Fantasy

#34
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Odd for a gay man to court those who support Leviticus stoning of gays. Self hating? Or just savvy?

In the current setup, having enough money protects you from the laws of the country and the judgment of others. Thiel is rich enough and therefore powerful enough that these culture wars will never personally affect him or anyone he cares about.

"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition...There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."

Re: Peter Thiel's Apocalyptic Worldview Is a Dangerous Fantasy

#35
post #13

Maybe slightly off topic to the article, but I don't really care what Peter Thiel has to say. I do think we need to collectively think about how to not give these people a microphone. It's one thing to have concentrated wealth. It's a very different thing to have concentrated wealth and people's attention. I think that's a much more interesting discussion :).

Unfortunately he and people like him own the microphone, the PA system, the stadium…

Voting is the only power we have but the voting booths are at the stadium.

Re: Peter Thiel's Apocalyptic Worldview Is a Dangerous Fantasy

#37
post #4

I mean, they have a point. But considering they run a whole journal on literal communism, it’s hard to take them seriously. The message falls flat when it comes from a different flavor of dangerous fantasy.

Jacobin is not a whole journal on literal communism. It’s a magazine with a professed socialist view point but it’s more aligned with left-of-center American politics. Think Sanders or Mamdani rather than Stalin or Mao.

For the US, that's still "far left" as opposed to merely "left of center."

Re: Peter Thiel's Apocalyptic Worldview Is a Dangerous Fantasy

#38
post #13

Maybe slightly off topic to the article, but I don't really care what Peter Thiel has to say. I do think we need to collectively think about how to not give these people a microphone. It's one thing to have concentrated wealth. It's a very different thing to have concentrated wealth and people's attention. I think that's a much more interesting discussion :).

On the contrary, people should talk about these parasites more so we can get rid of them, they thrive in the shadows

Re: Peter Thiel's Apocalyptic Worldview Is a Dangerous Fantasy

#39
post #13

Maybe slightly off topic to the article, but I don't really care what Peter Thiel has to say. I do think we need to collectively think about how to not give these people a microphone. It's one thing to have concentrated wealth. It's a very different thing to have concentrated wealth and people's attention. I think that's a much more interesting discussion :).

you should care, he and his fellow nutters have siezed control of the USA and most tech-mega-corp leadership either agree with them or will go along with them.

Re: Peter Thiel's Apocalyptic Worldview Is a Dangerous Fantasy

#40
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s intentionally blunt. That’s exactly the issue right now: fascists and communists are going at each other and tearing apart what remains of our liberal world.

I think "facists" is a tiring word to describe them. I would recommend christian nationalists.

I mean - obviously the modern day communists rarely use the original name too. But I guess we are adults and know that in reality, under all of that political marketing, we are talking about fascists and communists.
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