5 ms·

YC, Thiel and Trump – 100 Shades of Gray

10 points by pbiggar 10y ago

_pius 10y ago
While it's important to recognize context and nuance, there are actual facts in the world and it serves no one to put "some people believe" in front of them as this piece does in many instances just to appear neutral. Engaging in that sort of knowledge nihilism makes it impossible to have honest, rational debates because it doesn't allow for participants to agree on even the most basic of facts.
- generic_user 10y ago
  I think what the author was trying to get at with 'some people believe' is that most of the 'reasons' people fall back on to support their positions are in fact simply personal opinions. Or opinions reinforced by there social group or social media 'friends'. Extreme polarisation is one of the results of segregation. The media and now academia with 'safe spaces' are pandering to segregationist impulses. People who are never challenged with opinions that they disagree with are much more likely to believe there opinions are facts. Or even that they simply they do not need to even consider opinions that disagree with there own and never develop the social skills to constructive deal with a diverse world of ideas and opinions.
qntty 10y ago
A nice (if long-winded) reminder that things aren't black and white. But what is a person supposed to do with a list of complex, nuanced facts? That's why we talk about things, right? To make sense of them? Isn't that's why we invent simple (sometimes overly simple) ideas? Nobody can hold all the complexities of the world in their head at once. Our black and white ideas serve an important purpose, even when they don't describe reality exactly as it is.
dreamdu5t 10y ago
Political positions are not necessarily opinions. Opinions and preferences are not facts. Pretending they are is either stupid or disingenuous. Where did this attitude originate?
benjohnson 10y ago
I am so thankful for my employees of our small company: I'm a very religious Christian man, and I have two employees that are very left of center and another employee that is gay. That we can work together, learn from each other, and respect each other despite our sincerely held convictions means a lot to me especially during these witch-hunting times. I hope that I show them the same respect and consideration they have shown me.
kafkaesq 10y ago
Some people think that reality (at least political and social reality) can never be pinned down, it's always shrouded in contradictions and fog. There's just way too many factoids slinging around; you'll never be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. Some people think that at the end of the day, there's so much back and forth in politics and in the mediasphere that it's impossible to tell what's what, or who's on first. Let alone who's right or who's wrong. Like it's all must a matter of... he said, she said. But this isn't one of those situations. And in fact sometimes it's really not that hard to make a solid judgement call. It's just a matter of telling from wheat from chaff. Which in this case -- given the multitude of statements from women on the receiving of his aggressive (and in some cases, likely criminal) behavior; and from his own words on the Billy Bush tape, which by this point everyone at least knows the salient facts of (and most likely has listened to directly, several times, already) -- just isn't that hard. "You can do anything you want. You can grab them by the ...

10 points by pbiggar 10y ago

_pius 10y ago

While it's important to recognize context and nuance, there are actual facts in the world and it serves no one to put "some people believe" in front of them as this piece does in many instances just to appear neutral. Engaging in that sort of knowledge nihilism makes it impossible to have honest, rational debates because it doesn't allow for participants to agree on even the most basic of facts.

generic_user 10y ago
I think what the author was trying to get at with 'some people believe' is that most of the 'reasons' people fall back on to support their positions are in fact simply personal opinions. Or opinions reinforced by there social group or social media 'friends'. Extreme polarisation is one of the results of segregation. The media and now academia with 'safe spaces' are pandering to segregationist impulses. People who are never challenged with opinions that they disagree with are much more likely to believe there opinions are facts. Or even that they simply they do not need to even consider opinions that disagree with there own and never develop the social skills to constructive deal with a diverse world of ideas and opinions.

qntty 10y ago

A nice (if long-winded) reminder that things aren't black and white. But what is a person supposed to do with a list of complex, nuanced facts? That's why we talk about things, right? To make sense of them? Isn't that's why we invent simple (sometimes overly simple) ideas? Nobody can hold all the complexities of the world in their head at once. Our black and white ideas serve an important purpose, even when they don't describe reality exactly as it is.

dreamdu5t 10y ago

Political positions are not necessarily opinions. Opinions and preferences are not facts. Pretending they are is either stupid or disingenuous. Where did this attitude originate?

benjohnson 10y ago

I am so thankful for my employees of our small company: I'm a very religious Christian man, and I have two employees that are very left of center and another employee that is gay. That we can work together, learn from each other, and respect each other despite our sincerely held convictions means a lot to me especially during these witch-hunting times. I hope that I show them the same respect and consideration they have shown me.

kafkaesq 10y ago

Some people think that reality (at least political and social reality) can never be pinned down, it's always shrouded in contradictions and fog. There's just way too many factoids slinging around; you'll never be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. Some people think that at the end of the day, there's so much back and forth in politics and in the mediasphere that it's impossible to tell what's what, or who's on first. Let alone who's right or who's wrong. Like it's all must a matter of... he said, she said. But this isn't one of those situations. And in fact sometimes it's really not that hard to make a solid judgement call. It's just a matter of telling from wheat from chaff. Which in this case -- given the multitude of statements from women on the receiving of his aggressive (and in some cases, likely criminal) behavior; and from his own words on the Billy Bush tape, which by this point everyone at least knows the salient facts of (and most likely has listened to directly, several times, already) -- just isn't that hard. "You can do anything you want. You can grab them by the ...