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What I Heard from Trump Supporters

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: What I Heard from Trump Supporters

#671

Post by mjevans »

throwaway713 wrote: post #90

> Almost everyone I asked was willing to talk to me, but almost none of them wanted me to use their names The fear of losing career opportunities is real. I typically refrain from any political discussion online because of the possibility of it being traced back to me, and on my main HN account (and any accounts linked to my name) I have never posted anything political. That said, I live in a mid-size city in the Sou…

I expect the most extreme anti-abortion candidate to be a lost cause for anyone else. So why not focus strongly on a 'stay out of private bedrooms' and 'women's CHOICE about what to do with their body' instead?

Re: What I Heard from Trump Supporters

#672

Post by Mithaldu »

tylerwhipple wrote: post #199
austenallred wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved to San Francisco from a rural town, and I would feel 10x more comfortable sharing my liberal viewpoints in a small, deeply-red town than I would insinuating something anything less than 100% left-leaning at work here. People disagree in small town Utah, and it would be uncomfortable. In San Francisco you're ostracized. It even makes me nervous to leave my name attached to a comment like this, knowing that my…

I went from Salt Lake City to San Francisco as well. I have always been quite liberal on issues and it had never been a problem, but when discussing issues in SF I felt I had to be very careful with what I supported. I always felt my friendships/employment was threatened if I disagreed. I had a good friend/startup founder once say anyone who supported Trump deserved to be fired and blacklisted.

By supporting trump (and thus pence and gop) one implicitly agrees with people dying due to cuts in health services. (And yes, pence has already done health-related things whose only consequence were deaths.)

Do you feel being fired and blacklisted is a worse consequence than suffered by people impacted by support of trump (and his people)?

Re: What I Heard from Trump Supporters

#674

Post by rfrank »

kderbe wrote: post #611
PKop wrote: post #389

As a Trump supporter many of the comments resonated. In regards to upholding and celebrating American culture I always have this thought: Why do silicon valley types promote the concept of a "company culture" and feel it's important enough to base hiring decisions on, while demeaning those that want to uphold and sustain their own country's culture in the same manner? You hear it time and time again when a CEO stress…

The argument that America even has a singular culture to preserve is, I think, a false premise. America is multi-cultural. There are American _ideals_ which can be preserved ("life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"), but the country is too big and too varied for anyone to claim that there is a specific American culture, or that there has been since its founding. America is Indian, Mexican, and Muslim. Not "them…

> The argument that America even has a singular culture to preserve is, I think, a false premise.

I think that is the actual false premise. Baseball, apple pie, and all that jazz. American folklore, Blues music, American cuisine, American politics and all its silly quirks. The idea of no American culture is laughable.

Re: What I Heard from Trump Supporters

#675

Post by rpearl »

DashRattlesnake wrote: post #667
rpearl wrote: post #642

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All actions are political, to at least some extent. So that's not a very clear line to draw. Furthermore, you talk about "challenging someone's ideas" without apparently any reference to the the rest of their life, which is... a rather nonsensical. You further give no means by which to do so, and rule out one of the more important ways of influencing someone--social stigma. Certainly in this case we're talking about…

> You further give no means by which to do so, and rule out one of the more important ways of influencing someone--social stigma. Come on, dude. I only ruled out harassment and attempts to get people fired. If you can't think of any other ways to "challenge someone's ideas" on your own, you're beyond help from me.

I'd love for you to address the other points in my response:

Thiel is hired for his ideas. You say that he can not be fired for his ideas. This is a problem.

Re: What I Heard from Trump Supporters

#676

Post by austenallred »

Mithaldu wrote: post #672
tylerwhipple wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went from Salt Lake City to San Francisco as well. I have always been quite liberal on issues and it had never been a problem, but when discussing issues in SF I felt I had to be very careful with what I supported. I always felt my friendships/employment was threatened if I disagreed. I had a good friend/startup founder once say anyone who supported Trump deserved to be fired and blacklisted.

By supporting trump (and thus pence and gop) one implicitly agrees with people dying due to cuts in health services. (And yes, pence has already done health-related things whose only consequence were deaths.) Do you feel being fired and blacklisted is a worse consequence than suffered by people impacted by support of trump (and his people)?

So by supporting Clinton would you implicitly be agreeing to bombing children in Syria?

That's just a silly line of reasoning

Re: What I Heard from Trump Supporters

#677

Post by wueiweiuhle »

api wrote: post #217
wueiweiuhle wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"He's not politically correct." It's as if people who rage against political correctness don't understand what it means. It means showing respect and being polite and not using pejoratives. That's all.

Like "redneck" and "hick" and "white trash"? That's the other thing I think people are reacting to. There's a double standard where it's okay to slur rural white Americans but nobody else. IMHO it's about classism as opposed to racism. Racism is taboo in American discourse but classism and urban elitism (placeism?) are not. Maybe the answer is to define PC as you do and extend it to cover classism, placeism, and reve…

To cry double-standard here is to have completely missed the point

Re: What I Heard from Trump Supporters

#678

Post by pbreit »

Yhippa wrote: post #40

This one gave me the most pause: > “Silicon Valley is incredibly unwelcoming to alternative points of view. Your curiosity, if it is sincere, is the very rare exception to the rule.” Substitute "Silicon Valley" for any major liberal enclaves, like universities and cities, and I think you see the same thing. I am skeptical by nature and try to take a scientific view of new ideas. However I feel like I get shouted down…

Same for conservative enclaves. Don't kid yourself.

Re: What I Heard from Trump Supporters

#679

Post by austenallred »

meat_fist wrote: post #650
austenallred wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, but I honestly don't believe that's true. It feels like politics has become something beyond politics in San Francisco. It's not "people have different ways of viewing things, and boy do I think you're wrong," it's "if you think that _____ or voted for _____ you are my enemy."

I think you'd be surprised at how non-white males are treated in the Deep Red, is again my point.

Are you speaking from experience?

Re: What I Heard from Trump Supporters

#680

Post by CM30 »

kneel wrote: post #52

Trump won largely because of disenfranchised blue collar caucasians resonated with him. Watching the witch hunt over the last 2 months you would think it would be anything but that. Fake news (just call it propaganda), russian hackers, 4chan memes and white supremacists have all received the majority of blame. I'm curious to whether the Democrats will ever come to terms with reality here, or will they just double dow…

Probably double down, because the alternative is accepting that what Trump was offering genuinely appealed to a large amount of people. That's what the Democrats don't get, that people weren't tricked into voting for Trump but thought/think he's more likely to improve the US and his policies could work.

It's like the situation with the anti Brexit people in the UK. They physically can't picture a situation where people would want Brexit, so they desperately look for a scapegoat.

Either way, there's no scapegoat or trick responsible here. The losing side wasn't offering what people wanted, and the winning side appealed to more people.

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