Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Time to Take a Stand

blog.samaltman.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

441–450 of 1001 posts

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#441

Post by 467568985476 »

grzm wrote: post #408
jonstewart wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, a lot of words from pg and sama, and no observable actions.

If this is a high priority for you, have you personally dissociated yourself from people who hold views similar to Thiel's? Friends? Family? Coworkers? Employees? Employers? Business partners? Customers? Sam Altman and Paul Graham have spoken out. Sam has also posted specifically about Thiel ( http://blog.samaltman.com/the-2016-election ). They've donated to campaigns. They've likely done other things as well. If thi…

For what it's worth, I certainly have. I'm not being hypocritical here.

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#442

Post by RangerScience »

551199 wrote: post #367
general_ai wrote: post #100

First, it's not a "ban". It's a temporary suspension until new vetting procedures are put in place. Second, it's not "Muslim". Muslims from all other countries (some of them pretty large, e.g. Indonesia and Pakistan), will experience no change in their ability to enter the US. Other than Iran (which imo shouldn't be on the list) we're bombing and droning all of those countries at the moment. It's insane to accept mil…

Obama is the only President who has been in war for everyday of his 8 year presidency. Bombing several countries at the same time. Obama's actions also created the vacuum for ISIS. At least he has his Nobel Peace Prize. No outcry or marches against Obamas actions, but goodness me when Trump has to clear the mess 'well take a stand against him'.

One of these things happens abroad - out of sight, out of mind - another happens at home.

One of these things happens as part of a (relatively) few "outrages", one of those things happens as part of a consistent torrent of outrages.

One of these things is a fact and an action, the other is an interpretation. In case that isn't clear: The interpretation is "clearing the mess"; I sure as shit don't agree with you that that's what's going on, and I doubt Sam does, either - which is part of why he's posting this.

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#443

Post by artursapek »

ejstronge wrote: post #358
artursapek wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was talking about this last night with my wife and she mentioned she saw some statistic showing Christians were, until now, de-prioritized and actually given refugee status at a disproportionately low rate compared to their population in the ME. I don't have a source, but thought this might be useful to bring up. It sounded like this was why he did that.

What's the statistic? The only data I have seen do not support systematic discrimination against Christians:' http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/27/key-facts-ab... One should be very careful in ascribing rational motivations to things the Trump administration does - even his rhetoric (vague allusions to the attacks of September 11, 2001) isn't borne out by the executive order. He did not ban immigrants from…

> He did not ban immigrants from a single one of the countries of origin of the 19 attackers.

I found this interesting as well

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#444

Post by anigbrowl »

scrollaway wrote: post #329
467568985476 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment reeks of victim blaming. Nobody who voted for Trump and Pence should be allowed to escape being held accountable for what they support. If their "economic anxiety" was bad enough that they can ignore the rights of LGBT people and religious minorities, then they are all the more guilty. Those people were never centrists and knew exactly who they voted for.

You focus so much on holding people accountable rather than prevention. Lay off seeking justice for a while, try to seek order instead. Listen to why people voted Trump rather than call them all bigots and justify it with "they knew what they were getting into". As a european who truly despises Trump: This idea that you're too busy blaming people for being racist to spend time listening to them is honestly frightenin…

Lay off seeking justice for a while

Dude, I'm also European and I've spent 25 years listening to and debating with conservative people - in person, on the net, at academic gatherings and many other places. I have studied a wide variety of conservative philosophies and social groups. At what point are you OK with me drawing some conclusions, even temporary working conclusions that I might have to alter later?

When I hear comments like this, the overriding impression I have is that thinking about this stuff is rather new to you and you are hesitating out of uncertainty. But it's a mistake to assume that people with stronger opinions than your own have not put in the hours to think through the issues.

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#445

Post by potatosoup »

panic wrote: post #365
mythrwy wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Trump is a bad person, and the people who voted for him are bad people" I voted for Trump. I support many (not all) of his policies. I don't appreciate being called a bad person. Certainly you have a right to think this but I disagree. I won't go into what I think of people who voted for Hillary because I try not be mindlessly nasty but I don't think they are all "bad people".

Do you support this Muslim ban? If not, as a Republican voter, you have more power than most of us here to stop it. Call your representatives.

This is not a Muslim ban. This is a temporary suspension for immigration from certain countries (many of which we are currently droning, which in itself should've been an outrage years ago.) No one called for action on Malaysia, for example.

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#446

Post by awfgylbcxhrey »

czep wrote: post #244
jsperson wrote: post #58

It makes me sad that politics has made its way to the top of HN. I'm relatively new here. One of the things I love about the community is that it has been something of an oasis over the past few months. This is in no way intended to denigrate the esteemed author or his thesis. I'm just disappointed that we're at this point.

> It makes me sad that politics has made its way to the top of HN. Yes I'm sad about this too, but we can't turn our backs on this, it's just too big. We can't just pretend it will go away and the world will sort itself out. We can't retreat to the comfortable confines of our algorithms and code, the real world needs us and needs us now. What's happening is literally sickening to me. The thought of young people in 20…

We can't retreat to the comfortable confines of our algorithms and code, the real world needs us and needs us now.

Judging by the comments here, HNers have nothing to offer the real world (of politics) other than shrill shrieking about racism and bigotry. That's not going to help anything.

If you actually want to create political change, put your head back into your work and amass a fortune. Maybe in 20 years you'll have enough to make a difference.

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#447

Post by akjainaj »

facepalm wrote: post #311
koolba wrote: post #40

Are there any publicly pro-Trump founders in the current YC batch and, if so, how ostracized do they feel reading things like this? EDIT: If there's no answers from the current batch (either due to sample size or general shyness), I'll pose the same question regarding past YC alumni. I find it hard to believe out of a thousand people there isn't a single Trump supporter.

Any Trump supporters in YC are probably smart enough to keep their mouths shut.

s/YC/SF/

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#448

Post by leesalminen »

anigbrowl wrote: post #383
leesalminen wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American ... There c…

That's why I favor outlawing things like St Patrick's day parades - do these people want to be Irish or American?

I think it's disingenuous to say there's no difference between celebrating your cultural origins and refusing to adopt American ideologies.

I'm of Finnish descent. I have a Sisu bumper sticker and eat pulla. Do I refrain from making small talk with strangers at a bus stop? Of course not! Americans tend to be more open to strangers than Finns.

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#449

Post by molecule »

_m8fo wrote: post #7

Why is that all of these posts saying to "take a stand" fail to explain the political process? I'll just quote myself here. If you want to help stop trump the most effective ways are to: 1. Call - Local congresspeople (http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/) - Senators (https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/) - Local officials (https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials) 2. Participate - Get involved in local electi…

Support the ACLU, who have already filed a lawsuit

https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/aclu-and-other-groups...

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#450

Post by adamrezich »

dragonwriter wrote: post #97
mjmsmith wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true, it doesn't apply to countries that Trump does business with, including the one that produced most of the 9/11 hijackers.

It actually doesn't include any of the countries the 9/11 terrorists came from.

I keep seeing people repeating this meme everywhere, but I've yet to figure out why it's actually relevant. 9/11 was sixteen years ago.
Post reply on HN