Peter Thiel Explains Himself on Trump
nytimes.com
Peter Thiel Explains Himself on Trump
1–10 of 23 posts
Re: Peter Thiel Explains Himself on Trump
#2Overlong article that says that Thiel went with Trump because Trump's "stock" was undervalued due to people opposed Trump's behavior and agenda, so Thiel saw a niche were he could get an edge due to lack of competition. Also some shots at Silicon Valley for having too much social principles (egalitarianism / political correctness) that clouds their business sense.
Plus some handwaving that everything bad or dangerous about Trump isn't a big deal.
Re: Peter Thiel Explains Himself on Trump
#3> I note that several Silicon Valley companies have pre-emptively said they will not help build a Muslim registry for the Trump administration. Will Palantir, the data-mining company of which Mr. Thiel was a founder, and whose clients include the N.S.A., the C.I.A. and the F.B.I., be involved in that? (Palantir’s C.E.O., Alex Karp, sat in at the Trump tech meeting.)
> “We would not do that,” Mr. Thiel says flatly.
Mr. Thiel, I don't believe you.
Re: Peter Thiel Explains Himself on Trump
#4So, Thiel has done an excellent job of cementing his reputation as a contrarian.
But I'd invite any startup founder to think long and hard about whether you'd want to be associated with him. I read this interview, like many others, and know that we wouldn't get along. So I'm not going to have him as an investor.
I could enumerate reasons why, but here's the bottom line: reflexive contrarianism is just nihilism. Beneath the contrarian tag, I don't see much of substance. And certainly nothing that resonates with me, or that I agree with.
Beyond a certain point, maybe after a certain age, you've got to actually stand for something, not just against things. I don't get any of that from this article, or from Thiel generally.
Re: Peter Thiel Explains Himself on Trump
#5>"When I remark that President Obama had eight years without any ethical shadiness, Mr. Thiel flips it, noting: “But there’s a point where no corruption can be a bad thing. It can mean that things are too boring.”
..... I literally don't even know what to say to that.
>"Mr. Thiel says: “On the one hand, the tape was clearly offensive and inappropriate. At the same time, I worry there’s a part of Silicon Valley that is hyper-politically correct about sex. One of my friends has a theory that the rest of the country tolerates Silicon Valley because people there just don’t have that much sex. They’re not having that much fun.”
People get upset due to a man claiming he can grab women's genitals because he has power and Thiel tries to write that off as "hyper-poltiically-correct"? It's not even a little "political correct". It's common god damn decency to call that behavior sexual assault.
So shameful.
Re: Peter Thiel Explains Himself on Trump
#6As someone from post-communist country, I find tone of the article a bit creepy. He has to 'explain himself' to whom? And for what?
We had single party system for 50 years, it did not worked out that well.
> suggest that Mr. Thiel was not even a gay man, because he did not “embrace the struggle.”
Political preference is more important than sexual orientation, when deciding if someone is gay???? wtf?
Re: Peter Thiel Explains Himself on Trump
#7Thiel's responses communicated that he is beyond the point of no return with the trump problem. He can only say good things, almost like politician himself. Too bad.
Re: Peter Thiel Explains Himself on Trump
#8As someone from post-communist country, I find tone of the article a bit creepy. He has to 'explain himself' to whom? And for what? We had single party system for 50 years, it did not worked out that well. > suggest that Mr. Thiel was not even a gay man, because he did not “embrace the struggle.” Political preference is more important than sexual orientation, when deciding if someone is gay???? wtf?
I don't like very much that some people in the gay community are trying to define us by our sexuality.
Thiel seems to believe (like I do) that sometimes you need to sacrifice some of your own progress in the short term, for a greater good in the long term. Not that I really like Trump very much, I get why people voted for him though.
Re: Peter Thiel Explains Himself on Trump
#9As someone from post-communist country, I find tone of the article a bit creepy. He has to 'explain himself' to whom? And for what? We had single party system for 50 years, it did not worked out that well. > suggest that Mr. Thiel was not even a gay man, because he did not “embrace the struggle.” Political preference is more important than sexual orientation, when deciding if someone is gay???? wtf?
That sounds logical absent any context, but context matters. Thiel took a very public stance on a very controversial figure. A figure that's controversial for good reasons: things he's done, things he's said, and things he says he'll do.
And Thiel's in a public role. So his actions are advertising for his various ventures. To the extent I'm a 'customer' for his various products and services, I've taken note. This is a very democratic and capitalist response, I believe.
I'm also not sure why you mention a single party system. Asking a political donor and public speaker to explain his position is very democratic, and I'd expect it in a multiparty democracy, not just an explicitly two-party system like ours.
In fact, in a liberal democracy, we should be working to preserve our right to demand those kinds of answers. I'm old enough to remember a time before Citizens United and Super PACs; I believe politics should be conducted in public. Do you disagree?