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Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

nytimes.com

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Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#71

Post by rm_-rf_slash »

rsmckinney wrote: post #48
jscott0918 wrote: post #8

This is interesting to me. The lack of diversity in the tech industry is definitely something that will be harmful in the long run. Diversity is necessary to improve the relevance of new ideas in tech and to promote them to broader audiences from different cultures. The trend towards making a pariah out of anyone with opposing points of view can be equally harmful to promoting diversity of thought. Making people afra…

Wait. What does the relevance of a new idea have to do with the ethnic composition of the people with the idea? Isn't that a racist statement? Fascinating. My favorite part about the liberal mind are its obvious contradictions and, thus, the unintended consequences of its thought process.

Declaring a general fault in a 's mind isn't often the best way to endear the neutral or opposed to your point of view.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#72

Post by adventured »

intopieces wrote: post #7

Given the libertarian/Randian streak that runs through silicon valley, support for Trump doesn't seem too outlandish. Especially when you consider his non-dedication to the typical right-wing 'family values' that aren't really popular in that region of California.

Trump is the anti-Randian candidate.

- He's against free trade.

- He's in favor of punishing success, represented for example by his threats toward Amazon.

- He panders to religion. Rand was an atheist and was very strongly anti-conservative.

- Rand was very strongly in favor of immigration, especially when mixed with Capitalism.

- He's in favor of drastically increasing government control over the Internet, represented in his numerous quips about shutting down the Internet or otherwise restricting it.

- He has demonstrated a bent against freedom of speech, over and over again. Rand regarded free speech as the the single most important right.

- He's in favor of public healthcare systems. Rand was staunchly against all forms of entitlements, and all forms of socialized healthcare.

- He's a supporter of Social Security and Medicare. Rand was against both, overwhelmingly.

- He's more than fine with significant government regulation of the economy. Rand believed in laissez-faire Capitalism.

This list just keeps going.

Trump could hardly be more anti-Rand. I'd probably be willing to argue that Sanders is less anti-Rand than Trump is.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#73

Post by oh_sigh »

wolfram74 wrote: post #39
oh_sigh wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Examples? Should be pretty easy to find if it is an "extensive history"

Saying Gonzalo Curiel (born in Indiana) can't be impartial in a court case involving Trump "University" because he's mexican is one example.

1) Mexican isn't a race - it is a nationality. There are people of all races that are Mexican.

2) Curiels parents were illegal immigrants, and exactly the kind of people that Trump says he would deport.

3) Curiel has mentioned in the past (in a NYT article from the early 2000s, I can find a link if you like) that his Mexican heritage has had an impact in his practice of the law.

4) Curiel isn't a robot. Imagine if he ruled in favor of Trump...how popular would he be at the next family gathering?

5) Was it racist when Justice Sotomayor said that a "wise Latina" could make a better judicial decision than an old white man?

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#75

Post by goodcitizen147 »

wolfram74 wrote: post #39
oh_sigh wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Examples? Should be pretty easy to find if it is an "extensive history"

Saying Gonzalo Curiel (born in Indiana) can't be impartial in a court case involving Trump "University" because he's mexican is one example.

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life"

– Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#76

Post by the_cat_kittles »

oh_sigh wrote: post #27
callcallcall wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump has an extensive history of using racism to divide people for his own benefit.

Examples? Should be pretty easy to find if it is an "extensive history"

of the top of my head, ignoring stuff from this campaign (there are so many things there...):

he has settled suits for racial discrimination about not renting to minorities

he advocated the death penalty for the since exhonerated "central park 5" in a full page ad in the daily news

he was the leader of the "birther" movement against president obama.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#77

Post by dragonwriter »

noobermin wrote: post #51
carsongross wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there has been a collapse in right-leaning libertarianism in the post Ron Paul era. Libertarianism has shifted to the left and there has been an exodus of right-libertarians to various flavors of nationalism. I think this is one of the major intellectual stories of the last decade, largely uncovered by the media.

>exodus of right-libertarians to various flavors of nationalism. How does a libertarian become a nationalist? Trump sure seems to facillitate "USA pride" but his politics and economics are not that libertarian at all. How can nationalistic pride win over what I thought was the center of the libertarian philosophy?

> How does a libertarian become a nationalist?

Right-libertarians in the US already generally were nationalists (nationalism is a very common, if not defining, element of the right-wing orientation), and generally had the least opposition for government action in the same areas where authoritarian nationalists tend to focus on preferring government action, which is why lots of right-libertarians have always been within the Republican fold rather than voting for the Libertarian Party.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#78

Post by dguaraglia »

oh_sigh wrote: post #23
carsongross wrote: post #4

There are quite a few Trump supporters in the Valley, but they simply stay quiet because they will get 'racist' yelled at them and it will potentially hurt their careers.

Yup...and I'm quite curious how the author squares these two lines: > [Thiel] will become the most prominent public face of a species so endangered it might as well be called extinct: the Silicon Valley Trump supporter. and > The danger, then, is that not only could Mr. Thiel’s public embrace of Mr. Trump backfire on him, but it could also become another plot point in the larger story line that Silicon Valley is excl…

Which is not an incorrect assessment. People consistently fall for the trap of taking the worst possible exponent of a group and extrapolating what the whole group looks like. With Bernie Sanders supporters, it was the "Bernie bro", with Hillary Clinton it's the "nothing's wrong with her, she's perfect" supporters, with Trump is the cesspool of hatred that is /r/the_donald (people celebrating pictures of a guy armed with an assault-style rifle wearing a "cuckhunter" shirt at the RNC convention... let that sink in.)

Tech workers already receive quite a bit of hate from some people (harassing at shuttle stops has become a semi-regular thing, I've been called a "fucking techie" when bar hopping, etc.) The last thing we need is the same people associating us with a political candidate who openly demonizes immigrants, insults women and disabled people, and who repeats "I'm RICH! SO RICH!" every time he's given an opportunity.

I'm all for Peter Thiel supporting whoever he wants, but I definitely don't want him to be the representative for the majorly progressive Silicon Valley population.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#79

Post by sevenless »

adventured wrote: post #72
intopieces wrote: post #7

Given the libertarian/Randian streak that runs through silicon valley, support for Trump doesn't seem too outlandish. Especially when you consider his non-dedication to the typical right-wing 'family values' that aren't really popular in that region of California.

Trump is the anti-Randian candidate. - He's against free trade. - He's in favor of punishing success, represented for example by his threats toward Amazon. - He panders to religion. Rand was an atheist and was very strongly anti-conservative. - Rand was very strongly in favor of immigration, especially when mixed with Capitalism. - He's in favor of drastically increasing government control over the Internet, represen…

I see points of similarity on foreign policy, where they both stood out as less interventionist than other candidates (even Democrats). Trump and Rand both said they'd let America's allies look after themselves.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#80

Post by carsongross »

noobermin wrote: post #51
carsongross wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there has been a collapse in right-leaning libertarianism in the post Ron Paul era. Libertarianism has shifted to the left and there has been an exodus of right-libertarians to various flavors of nationalism. I think this is one of the major intellectual stories of the last decade, largely uncovered by the media.

>exodus of right-libertarians to various flavors of nationalism. How does a libertarian become a nationalist? Trump sure seems to facillitate "USA pride" but his politics and economics are not that libertarian at all. How can nationalistic pride win over what I thought was the center of the libertarian philosophy?

There is a fundamental problem, some would say contradiction, in libertarian reasoning: if you have an open libertarian society with open borders, non-libertarian inclined people who are none the less interested in the prosperity of libertarian societies can move in and eventually destroy that libertarian society.

An internally libertarian society with strong immigration control solves this problem and would be called "nationalist" by most traditional libertarians.

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