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Uber CEO calls Saudi murder of Khashoggi “a mistake,” scrambles to backtrack

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Re: Uber CEO calls Saudi murder of Khashoggi “a mistake,” scrambles to backtrack

#71

Post by CalChris »

goatinaboat wrote: post #38
Udo wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only Silicon Valley. I struggle to see the relation to the Trump administration here, but in any case they are deeply in the Saudis' pockets as well, same as with any other administration that came before. To paint the SA regime and the US leadership to be somehow in opposition to one another doesn't really make sense. The cold hard fact is that they need each other and act accordingly.

I struggle to see the relation to the Trump administration here The OP is calling out the double standard. Accusing Trump of sexism while taking money from those who literally practice an entire lifestyle based on oppression of women, death to gays, etc. Uber, WeWork, others are all perfectly happy to accept money from these highly dubious source. Adam Neumann talks about saving the environment while living large on…

No, the OP does not call out a double standard. The OP doesn't even mention any standard at all. The OP is just attempting bothsiderism.

  Silicon Valley is in bed with the Saudis, no surprise here. Meanwhile, the shrieks coming from California about Trump are deafening.

Re: Uber CEO calls Saudi murder of Khashoggi “a mistake,” scrambles to backtrack

#72

Post by lonelappde »

jacquesm wrote: post #30

From now on a particularly bad example of false equivalence will be known as a 'khosrowshahi'. Neither of these were mistakes. The one was a premeditated murder, the other gross negligence.

Is it a false equivalence though? Both show an utter disregard for human life, unde the guise of "guy in charge says get the job done, and is indifferent to whether someone innocent gets killed". I'm sure MBS would have been happy if Jamaal Khashoggi would have survive but stopped criticizing the Saudi govt or whatever. But if the business and the people in it happen to kill someone, that's OK too.

From Uber CEO's perspective, this is about the amoral organization optimizing for profit, not about the specific people who did the torturing. Would it be mere negligence if the tortures were AI drones instead of people?

Re: Uber CEO calls Saudi murder of Khashoggi “a mistake,” scrambles to backtrack

#73

Post by lonelappde »

strikelaserclaw wrote: post #8

Guy is just a typical CEO who says what he needs to inorder to please his current audience. It would have been better to make no comment as he really was stuck between a rock and a hard place if you only consider it from the perspective of his role.

It's it really about the comment. Sometimes the reality is so stark that merely asking the question is the whole point, and the answer doesn't matter at all.

Re: Uber CEO calls Saudi murder of Khashoggi “a mistake,” scrambles to backtrack

#74

Post by lonelappde »

nautilus12 wrote: post #61

Its becoming blatently apparent that high tech is heavily tied to saudi interests which are (not so) secretely supporting radical sunni interests in the middle east starting with the arab spring and our state departments conflicted interest and collaboration with tech at that time. I would not be surprised if we found evidence that social media companies were involved in creating bots to fan those flames leading to t…

I don't think "radical" or "Sunni" are the key features here. "Genocidal" and "oppressive" are.

Re: Uber CEO calls Saudi murder of Khashoggi “a mistake,” scrambles to backtrack

#76

Post by noirbot »

basilgohar wrote: post #52
testplzignore wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't the traditional learning on the job. He won't be given any second chances. I expect he'll resign or be fired by tomorrow.

I'm sorry, what? Have you been paying attention? 24 hours from now almost no one will be talking about this.

And ESPECIALLY with Uber. They've had month-long disasters that were worse than this that didn't push out anyone too critical.

Re: Uber CEO calls Saudi murder of Khashoggi “a mistake,” scrambles to backtrack

#77

Post by whalebird »

jacquesm wrote: post #35
whafro wrote: post #16

There were so many other things he could have said and not created this maelstrom – "Of course Mr. Khashoggi's murder was reprehensible and inexcusable, but we're told by the Crown Prince that it was a rogue operation, and we trust that's the case. If a member of our board were involved in this sort of heinous act, I would be asking for his or her resignation." But he didn't, and squirmed with a few "well, you're obv…

> but we're told by the Crown Prince that it was a rogue operation, and we trust that's the case We also believe in: - the tooth fairy - SantaClaus And many other such examples besides. All that wriggling in order not to find a reason to resign and show some conscience. Either that or be blunt about it, what he really should have said was: "Yes, Khashoggi was murdered. My investors unfortunately are lying murderous s…

Do you really think that's what he should have said? Because that sounds like a vastly dumber thing to say, even if it's "honest".

The "rogue operation" story is "good enough". It's plausible. That doesn't mean it's true of course. It doesn't have to be. Nobody has to actually believe it. It's just good enough so that everyone involved can save the minimum amount of face required to move on.

The reason that the murder can be considered "a mistake" is that the fallout was far greater than estimated. Consider that the Saudis are killing political opponents all the time with very few issues.

It's probably the grandeur of the plot that made the difference here. If Khashoggi had just been shot in the streets by "unknown assailants" (Putin style), it wouldn't have been that big a deal.

Re: Uber CEO calls Saudi murder of Khashoggi “a mistake,” scrambles to backtrack

#79

Post by lolc »

Like the House of Saud can't prevent dissidents from being murdered by Saudi thugs, the House of Uber can't prevent pedestrians from being run over by Uber cars. They would prefer other outcomes but if somebody's in the way, mistakes are going to happen. Take note and step out of the way, little human.

The Saudi regime is legally executing people for "witchcraft" and other choice infractions. The extralegal murders only happen when the legal options are exhausted. I'm not sure where the parallel to Uber is there. Maybe the comparison was a mistaken one from the start?

Re: Uber CEO calls Saudi murder of Khashoggi “a mistake,” scrambles to backtrack

#80

Post by gdulli »

criddell wrote: post #50
gdulli wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It reeks of "no real person involved." Just an inconvenient abstraction to them.

The NRPI expression is something I first heard about on the HBO show Succession. Does that phrase have a history of use before that show? If I google it, I only come up with hits for the tv show.

I only know it from the show. But the term captured something about our society so well that it instantly felt familiar.
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