Ryan Holiday on Conspiracy, Gawker, and the Hulk Hogan Trial
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Re: Ryan Holiday on Conspiracy, Gawker, and the Hulk Hogan Trial
#2I like how they talk about “Mr. A” using his interview with Thiel to pitch the conspiracy rather than a startup. An aspect not covered in the book.
This podcast made me read the book. The book is interesting, but this podcast is somehow better because of the way Roberts questions Holiday down a few logical paths.
Re: Ryan Holiday on Conspiracy, Gawker, and the Hulk Hogan Trial
#3It’s much more deep and interesting than the tawdry title suggests.
Re: Ryan Holiday on Conspiracy, Gawker, and the Hulk Hogan Trial
#4That truly was a case in which there was no good side to it. There was nobody worth rooting for, and no matter who won, it would have been bad. Publishing a private citizen's sex tape is not news, and for that matter, neither is outing someone who is not wanting to be outed. Using your vast wealth to bankroll someone else's lawsuit is also quite shady.
Re: Ryan Holiday on Conspiracy, Gawker, and the Hulk Hogan Trial
#5That truly was a case in which there was no good side to it. There was nobody worth rooting for, and no matter who won, it would have been bad. Publishing a private citizen's sex tape is not news, and for that matter, neither is outing someone who is not wanting to be outed. Using your vast wealth to bankroll someone else's lawsuit is also quite shady.
With regard to vast wealth bankrolling other's lawsuits, what are your views on the state funding prosecutions?
Re: Ryan Holiday on Conspiracy, Gawker, and the Hulk Hogan Trial
#6I'm curious how stoicism is tied to this as Holiday has been using his Daily Stoic platform to promote this book as well..
Re: Ryan Holiday on Conspiracy, Gawker, and the Hulk Hogan Trial
#7Ok, I doubt I'll ever take an hour to listen to this, but I really enjoyed the book. It was very interesting to see the little particularities of the legal system and the participants that had a big impact. I basically read it straight through in one shot as the host said he did as well. I found the writing to be florid at times (there was a seamless segue between an anecdote of Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon and Hulk Hogan's decision to sue against the distribution of the hidden camera sextape that made me actually laugh out loud) but I found the asides were unobtrusive enough that it didn't affect the reading.
Re: Ryan Holiday on Conspiracy, Gawker, and the Hulk Hogan Trial
#8Gawker always said it was in the business of publishing true stories. Here is one last true story: You live in a country where a billionaire can put a publication out of business. A billionaire can pick off an individual writer and leave that person penniless and without legal protection.
If you want to write stories that might anger a billionaire, you need to work for another billionaire yourself, or for a billion-dollar corporation. The law will not protect you. There is no freedom in this world but power and money.
- Tom Scocca, "Gawker Was Murdered by Gaslight"
Re: Ryan Holiday on Conspiracy, Gawker, and the Hulk Hogan Trial
#9Backup link http://archive.is/hKHcK
Re: Ryan Holiday on Conspiracy, Gawker, and the Hulk Hogan Trial
#10I'm curious how stoicism is tied to this as Holiday has been using his Daily Stoic platform to promote this book as well..
It’s not really. Holiday has always been a “finger to the wind” public intellectual. Stoicism isn’t really a marketable ideology in a time of social and political upheaval, so he’s staking out a more “activist” position to sell himself.
This time, I guess it’s that conspiracies to destroy your opponents might actually be a good thing because they represent action over inaction (he more or less says as much about two thirds of the way through the interview). That seems a weird quasi-fascistic stance (Marinetti and other proto-fascists argued in favor of the same bias towards any action, regardless of its morality), but not one that’s out of fashion in our era.