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Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

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Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#871

Post by return0 »

rootlocus wrote: post #861
return0 wrote: post #831

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No, it's not. I won't quote dictionaries, you can look it up on wikipedia. You bring up an interesting point. The definition of "Misogyny" in wikipedia in 2004: Misogyny is an exaggerated pathological aversion towards women. became in 2016: Misogyny is the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. I can't help but see the broadening of the definition throughout the years. It happens a lot with w…

Whatever the reason for the broadening of the definition (I would consider progress), it doesn't change the fact that people today use it with the definition it has today. Just like "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet", so would his attitude towards women by any other name would smell just as bad.

let's put trump aside. There are nuances in the way we talk which have been lost. People from both sides use extreme language willy-nilly like racist, sexist, fascist. These words are serious accusations not mild epithets. This creates a culture where middle ground does not exist, you are either with us or you're the enemy, which is madness. E.g. I don't like smokers, but i don't hate them.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#872

Post by chillwaves »

zaphar wrote: post #843
CoryG89 wrote: post #742

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am no fan of the Clintons. Personally, during my lifetime, Obama is the only president I halfway respected, with his stance on state surveillance being a notable exception. I think there is a small amount of corruption with Hillary, as I believe is true of most politicians. However, given a choice between Hillary and Trump, for me it's no contest. Don't get me wrong, I think Trump has the potential to do some good.…

Trump is about as far from a Christian as you can get in a person. I very highly doubt that he cares about religion except as a useful electioneering tool. He is unlikely to stick with that label during his presidency since it would be inconvenient, so I don't think you have to worry about Christianity being the official religion.

Vastly understates the influence of Mike Pence as the fundamentalists that put him in office.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#873

Post by ArkyBeagle »

jdavis703 wrote: post #425
ArkyBeagle wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's impossible ( or soon will be ) to ignore that it tapped into a lot of energy, and I can't blame Thiele for placing a bet. Trump "hacked" the electoral process. Whether he broke things remains to be seen. It's one thing chasing a bear, and quite another catching one.

Does "hacked" have to be placed in quotes here? I thought this community knew the difference between crackers and hackers.

I put it in quotes because it does not strictly conform to the standard usage of the word here.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#874

Post by return0 »

gedrap wrote: post #836
rootlocus wrote: post #820

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's quite similar to the post-Brexit discussions, how pro-Bexit people are stupid, etc. Except I didn't call voters stupid, I simply summarized what Trump said. > We can talk about [...] It would probably be fine [...] But he's the President-elect. Of course we can talk about it. We have freedom of speech (wasn't this the original point?). You mean to tell me he can say whatever he wants but I can't call him out b…

Trump those things was definitely not acceptable. But we can't undo the election or ignore the results of it simply because we don't find it acceptable. A very large share of American population were happy enough to vote for him. This, Brexit, raise to popularity of some specific parties in Europe should be a huge wake up call. And if we keep the attitude of 'racists voted him! He's a liar!' then it's just the beginn…

We should be very worried about the prospect of nationalist parties in europe. Unlike the US, nationalism in europe is deadly, very deadly. We should have a frank discussion about immigration and define our red lines in order to weaken this wave.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#875

Post by mrgordon »

Chris2048 wrote: post #867
mrgordon wrote: post #855

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes Thiel had a vendetta against Gawker so he funded an unrelated lawsuit against them and used his billions to shut them down. The vendetta stemmed from the fact that the gay founder of Gawker found it horrifying that Thiel would hide his homosexuality when he should be a role model for other homosexuals that you can be gay and still be a rich and powerful VC. Whether or not you agree with Denton on that point, secr…

> shutting them down doesn't feel too morally courageous either Why? What did the world lose with Gawker?

An independent media organization that uncovered quite a few stories: https://www.wired.com/2016/06/10-stories-exactly-need-gawker...

I don't agree with Wired that all of those were super important but some of them clearly are. For example, Buzzfeed removing articles that were critical of their advertisers, the first exposes of the Silk Road and The Armory, evidence of Greg Hardy abusing his girlfriend, etc.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#876

Post by late2part »

Chris2048 wrote: post #867
mrgordon wrote: post #855

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes Thiel had a vendetta against Gawker so he funded an unrelated lawsuit against them and used his billions to shut them down. The vendetta stemmed from the fact that the gay founder of Gawker found it horrifying that Thiel would hide his homosexuality when he should be a role model for other homosexuals that you can be gay and still be a rich and powerful VC. Whether or not you agree with Denton on that point, secr…

> shutting them down doesn't feel too morally courageous either Why? What did the world lose with Gawker?

We lost a militant vigilante that wants to out private information about people including their sexual preference, apparently.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#877

Post by CoryG89 »

zaphar wrote: post #843
CoryG89 wrote: post #742

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am no fan of the Clintons. Personally, during my lifetime, Obama is the only president I halfway respected, with his stance on state surveillance being a notable exception. I think there is a small amount of corruption with Hillary, as I believe is true of most politicians. However, given a choice between Hillary and Trump, for me it's no contest. Don't get me wrong, I think Trump has the potential to do some good.…

Trump is about as far from a Christian as you can get in a person. I very highly doubt that he cares about religion except as a useful electioneering tool. He is unlikely to stick with that label during his presidency since it would be inconvenient, so I don't think you have to worry about Christianity being the official religion.

I agree that he probably isn't much of a believer in the cause himself. But more Republicans than not support it, and plenty of Democrats are at least publicly beholden to Christians as well.

While not unthinkable, getting Christianity into the Constitution as the official religion is likely not going to happen. But that doesn't mean that plenty of things won't end up on Trump's desk which make Christianity effectively the official religion (if you already think that's the case, you ain't seen nothing yet). We have to trust Trump to be able to stand up to those who put him in power and veto this stuff? While he may surprise me, as they say, I trust him about as far as I could throw him.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#878

Post by wallyhs »

Chris2048 wrote: post #856
mch82 wrote: post #648

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Muslims often say: "Stop calling all of us terrorists and stop saying Islam encourages terrorism because you are missing the real underlying issues. We want everyone to be happy just like you do, but we think your understanding of terrorism is flawed." Can you recognize the parallel between your statement and the one I've paraphrased above?

> stop saying Islam encourages terrorism Any time I've seen a Muslim actually talk about the issue, and explain how Islam doesn't encourage terrorism, they are evasive, or outright deceptive. Show me a legitimate attempt to explain the "real underlying issues" that is neither of these things (and not just representative of a fringe group e.g heavily westernized Muslims).

So you conclude that Islam encourages terrorism because, when you accuse someone of being a terrorist, they don't respond openly and enthusiastically? You've decided that a religion is guilty and want individuals to show proof of innocence?

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#879

Post by prairiedogg »

tommymachine wrote: post #719
prairiedogg wrote: post #657

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok - thanks for clarifying. I don't think that this assertion strengthens an argument that voting for Trump is better than voting for any other candidate. I would argue that someone who does not have experience in public office should not be considered a viable candidate for president of the United States, much as I believe that someone who has not driven a car before should not be considered to be a driver in the In…

The analogy you present, Public office : no experience as a public official :: doctor :: no experience as a doctor I don't find it very accurate. It might be more accurate to say public executive : corporate executive :: public doctor : doctor with a private practice There are plenty of real concerns that arise from the accurate version, enough that here is no need to impose an inaccurate analogy to spawn more concer…

OK, I'll accept that my analogy isn't very good.

So your argument is that someone who is a good private executive will also be a good public executive?

Let's accept that premise as given.

Is Donald Trump a good private executive?

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#880

Post by Chris2048 »

beerbajay wrote: post #810
DLA wrote: post #804

This thread is sad. We are ALL Americans. President-elect Trump is OUR president. You know how we can make this next four years a success for all of us, realize the Constitution sets out a process for how we elect our leaders. Go read it. No really, now many of the people burning flags, talking about "end of days" BS, and other nonsense have ever read the Constitution? Let alone swore an oath to defend it? Yeah. As I…

> Stop the hate in the streets. Go tell that to the people scrawling white power slogans, painting swastikas, putting up signs for "colored" drinking fountains, wearing blackface, calling people "niggers", etc. > voting freedom is sacred No, your right to vote is enshrined in the constitution, but you have no right not to be judged a horrible human being for your choice.

> people scrawling white power slogans, painting swastikas, putting up signs for "colored" drinking fountains,

These things are considered acceptable by the majority of republicans/trump supporters/whites?

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