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Time to Take a Stand

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: Time to Take a Stand

#801

Post by krapp »

jMyles wrote: post #78
_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…

These items seem to be the very things that have sapped our strength without any measurable impact. We need to find more direct ways to peacefully withdraw our consent of and participation in the existence of the state.

>We need to find more direct ways to peacefully withdraw our consent of and participation in the existence of the state.

That's all well and good if you're an anarchist, but not everyone who objects to Trump also objects to the existence of the state, per se.

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#802

Post by googlryas »

gizmo wrote: post #632
googlryas wrote: post #621

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point is that it isn't discrimination against Muslims. It's discrimination against nations that happen to be majority Muslim. But there are a ton of nations with even more Muslims than the nations on the list, and they aren't banned.

Countries that "happen to be" majority Muslim? Really? What a coincidence! Of course a ban on Muslims is discriminatory against Muslims. Who do you think you're fooling?

Why didn't he ban Indonesians then? Or Turks...or Nigerians? Or Pakistanis? Or the 175M+ Indian Muslims...?

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#803

Post by cmurf »

cmurf wrote: post #687
thilmo wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about the best way: 7. THINK Think up better arguments, that might convince people. Examine your own opinions, to see whether they're actually right. Examine your opponents' opinions, to see whether they're right too. Maybe come up with new ways of thinking about the issue which are better than the way anyone's thinking about them at the moment. And then start talking. People in politics should put less thought i…

I'd say evaluate the actual target audience for this conversation, and choose to not engage an audience that clearly has no interest in anything other than what amounts to tribal warfare. And that includes the president smearing every source of criticism as "FAKE NEWS!" He exactly represents those who voted for him: ignorant, fearful, angry, reactionary, conspiracy theorists, suspicious and vindictive. There is no po…

Actually I missed one: selfish. There are probably quite a fair number of Trump voters who are not any of the other things I listed, but were voting for lower taxes/regulation; and dismissed all of his other policy promises including some kind of Muslim ban.

On the plus side, many ill conceived or implemented policies last week were walked back. So it's not like the administration is completely intractable in the face of outcry.

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#804

Post by refurb »

guildwriter wrote: post #699
refurb wrote: post #614

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad I'm not the only person that picked up on this. It's a little hypocritical to get outraged when the opposition does it and keep silent when your own party does the same thing.

Another way to look at it is the problem that many people rely on the news to tell them when something bad is happening. If you don't analyze your sources constantly due to a variety of reasons, then you are suspect to being rendered blind simply by omission. If you don't realize how badly the media sphere has gotten polarized since the 2000s, it is easy to dismiss valid critiques as bad faith partisan smears. Consum…

Another way to look at it is the problem that many people rely on the news to tell them when something bad is happening.

That is really true. The media doesn't report news, it interprets news for you as well.

Whenever I see an outrageous headline I always think "That sounds like BS. There is probably a pretty good reason for this happening."

A great example was the man who found a line on his hospital bill for "holding his baby". The outrage!! Those greedy hospitals!

Turns out that the hospital needed to have nurse in the room and that's just how they bill for that time. Completely innocuous and reasonable. But did the media dig that up? Of course not. No one would click on an article that said "Hospital bills man for nursing services."

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#805

Post by refurb »

jannotti wrote: post #597
refurb wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh.... no? This ban also prevents any Christians living in those countries from coming to the US as well.

That's not what Trump says. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump...

Read the headline. "Trump promises". Christians from those countries are currently banned from entering the US. In fact, all citizens of those countries are banned, regardless of their religion (unless they have a US passport).

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#806

Post by cadlin »

myblake wrote: post #22
_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…

How effective is calling local congress members if you live in an area with a strong progressive majority such as the Bay Area. Not that we shouldn't voice our option to our represented officials but I suspect in some ways it's redundant whereas things like raising money for national organizations may be more impactful.

I live in Virginia. Both of my senators are Democrats, as is my representative. One of them (Mark Warner) has released a statement condemning the executive order, while Tim Kaine and Don Beyer are not. I left voice mail for the latter and wrote an email to the former, as AFAICT he doesn't take phone messages over the weekend.

Trump signed this on Friday because the response against it will be slower. Sure, a public statement by Democrats won't stop this, but it won't hurt and what the hell else are they doing? I work on the weekends, and they can too when core American values are under assault.

And of course, giving or raising money for other organizations is a great thing to do as well.

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#807

Post by refurb »

burkaman wrote: post #755
refurb wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Christians are being specifically persecuted in some Muslim countries, particularly in those areas under the control of ISIS. Shouldn't we prioritize people who are the victims of religious persecution.

Yes we should, and Muslim refugees are also victims of religious persecution. Unfortunately, Trump's order says we only care about your persecution if you're in the religious minority in your country.

But this type of vetting is used all the time. Refugees that come to the US (and other countries, including my own, Canada), examine refugee claims using very similar methods.

If you are a minority (religious, ethnic, political) that is used as evidence of persecution and helps your claim for refugee status.

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#808

Post by mverwijs »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #525
Scirra_Tom wrote: post #86

I think it's shameful to have an open Trump supporter as part of the upper echelons of YCombinator (Thiel). Everyone is entitled to their opinions. But when you openly support a candidate who likes to "grab [women] by the pussy", and now is making headway into some sort of Muslim ban which was a campaign headline, how will female and muslim applicants feel if they know part of their process might be controlled by som…

I am a life time Democrat, but every time I hear someone bring up the poor taste pussy grabbing comments, I have to ask: do you give Bill Clinton a pass on what happened with Paula Jones? Listening to old interviews as a very young woman, Paula Jones paints an awful image of what Clinton did. There is plenty to criticize Trump for, but nasty comments are not as bad as nasty deeds.

Let's discuss Bill Clinton when he becomes president again, ok?

Right now, the current president gleefully degrades people. Is that ok with you?

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#809

Post by codecamper »

methehack wrote: post #42
_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…

I think Mr. Altman is largely addressing tech CEOs here and urging them to make public statements. The actions you list are great for you and me, but he's mostly not really talking to us. Supporting quotations from the post (because evidence): "The tech community is powerful. Large tech companies in particular have enormous power and are held in high regard. We need to hear from the CEOs clearly and unequivocally" "A…

I fully support Sam's idea.

Trump's power comes from the idea that he'll improve the economy. After this week, it should be clear that he'll do no such thing & maybe quite the opposite. Trump is too incoherent & impulsive.

He blames economic problems on the Chinese & Mexicans. Meanwhile, he ignores the role robots & Amazon will have in job destruction.

Corporate leaders can simply tell him to get lost when he sends a stupid tweet. With this he'll quickly lose his support base.

It'll be tough though. He is promising corporate america a big tax break which will instantly boost valuations (already has), giving CEOs nice bonuses & stock paydays.

Re: Time to Take a Stand

#810

Post by jacquesm »

a3n wrote: post #115
falcolas wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only a little sarcastically: > Remind them who they work for. The lobbyists who pay for their luxuries today, and secure their employment tomorrow?

This is true, but they still have to jump through the election hoop.

They just did. The only thing that will worry them is if those that did elect them are abandoning them.
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