6 ms·

Peter Thiel Defends His Most Contrarian Move Yet: Supporting Trump

37 points by endswapper 10y ago

gragas 10y ago
>Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook, defended the company’s association with Mr. Thiel, emphasizing that it did not endorse his views — and much less Mr. Trump’s — but was striving to be inclusive toward those whose values differed from its own. Critics noted that if diversity was such a cherished value in Silicon Valley, why wasn’t there more of it? What an awful argument by the critics; I'm not sure that it should even be called an argument. Zuckerburg did the right thing.
- Alex3917 10y ago
  > What an awful argument by the critics; I'm not sure that it should even be called an argument. How is it a bad argument? At least in the U.S., the places that consider themselves the most tolerant tend to be the most segregated. E.g. the majority of the most segregated cities in the U.S. are in the northeast, the midwest, and the west coast.[1] It's been especially noticeable this election, where many Clinton supporters have been attacking Bernie for being racist because he lives in a state where minorities aren't kept in special ghettos to be used as de facto slave labor. (E.g. if you go to any gas station or restaurant in Vermont then you're likely to be served by a white person, as opposed to in NYC where these places are almost entirely staffed by minorities who are payed less than a living wage and live in segregated neighborhoods.) [1] https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2015/12/08/census-shows-modest-declines-in-black-white-segregation/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2015/12/08/census-...
  - gragas 10y ago
    >many Clinton supporters have been attacking Bernie for being racist because he lives in a state where minorities aren't kept in special ghettos to be used as de facto slave labor. This ideology is exactly why I'm voting for Trump.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
    - Alex3917 10y ago
      > The idea that non-white New Yorkers are forced into segregated neighborhoods is far-fetched, considering only 33% of NYC is non-hispanic white. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-most-diverse-cities-are-often-the-most-segregated/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-most-diverse-cities-...
  - james2654 10y ago
    I'm white and used to live in the Bronx around Valentine Ave. I don't think anybody I knew felt like we lived in a segregated neighborhood. Also, plenty of people who do retail or food service work in NYC make good money, and plenty make enough to live a good life in the outer burroughs. NYC is accommodating of those that don't. I certainly never spoke to anybody who felt like we were defacto enslaved. Just one person's experience...
    - Alex3917 10y ago
      > I'm white and used to live in the Bronx around Valentine Ave. That's funny, I'm also white and currently live a few blocks from there. The point though is that you'd need a ton of hispanic people from the Bronx to move to SoHo in order to make it reflect the overall demographics of the city. > I certainly never spoke to anybody who felt like we were defacto enslaved. I mean there are tens of thousands of homeless people in NYC, many of whom have jobs. Many folks forced to live in apartments with stachybotrys, the subways are littered with folks whose skin is literally rotting off from a combination of never showering and heroin-related infections, etc.
      - thesmallestcat 10y ago
        Yea, you make quite a leap from ethnic neighborhoods to "kept in special ghettoes," but apparently only perfect geographic-racial balance disproves the existence of these ghettos. Also you equate mental illness and homelessness with slavery. I want some of what you're smoking! But seriously, if you want a white dude pumping your gas, there is Vermont as you noted, and it isn't very far from you!
        Alex3917 10y ago
        > you make quite a leap from ethnic neighborhoods to "kept in special ghettoes" http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/100-bronx-gang-members-busted-largest-takedown-nyc-history-article-1.2615933 http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/100-bronx-gang... 87 people got arrested in a single bust about 12 blocks from where I live, for a combination of selling crack and murder. They're all from the same housing projects. Yet despite being right around the corner, my neighborhood has one of the lowest violent crime rates in NYC. If that's not an example of ghettoization, I don't know what is.
droopyEyelids 10y ago
If you'd like to learn a little more about Thiel's politics and why this is of public interest, I recommend checking out his short manifesto "Education of a libertarian" https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education-libertarian https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/educatio...
- gcb0 10y ago
  sounds a little demagogue and vague. did he close the first paragraph by stating a belief in immortality? i can't even tell i got the first paragraph right...
  - gragas 10y ago
    >sounds a little demagogue and vague It's almost as if you didn't even read his essay before commenting on it. Thiel explicitly states "Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible." How could you possibly interpret that as demagogic? He's specifically against tyranny by the masses.
    - gcb0 10y ago
      understood that part. then he moves to say, in the same phrase you quoted, that he also no longer believe in mortality. i did stop reading at around 60%... you are correct on that.
      - gragas 10y ago
        >understood that part. then he moves to say, in the same phrase you quoted, that he also no longer believe in mortality. Nowhere in that paragraph does he mention anything about mortality. "But I must confess that over the last two decades, I have changed radically on the question of how to achieve these goals. Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible. By tracing out the development of my thinking, I hope to frame some of the challenges faced by all classical liberals today."
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
rahrahrah 10y ago
TL DR: he doesn't really defend it in the article linked. The article says he will give a speech Monday.
ageek123 10y ago
For those wondering whether to read the article -- it has no content, just says he will explain himself on Monday.
aakilfernandes 10y ago
Title should be change to "plans to defend". > On Monday, Mr. Thiel plans to defend his position in a speech and then a question-and-answer session with reporters at the National Press Club in Washington.
sean_patel 10y ago
Here we go again. Another Peter Thiel story on HN gets flagged and removed. For a discussion on why Peter Thiel stories are getting flagged and removed, see this thread (which, ironically, has also been flagged and removed lol) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12716662 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12716662
- lj3 10y ago
  I flag anything related to the election. That topic consistently brings out the worst in hacker news.
girmad 10y ago
The disconnect for me is Palantir. Thiel's company provides the infrastructure for some of the gravest privacy violations done by our government. If Thiel is rooting for Tech in the race vs Politics, why is he investing his resources in a company that converts Tech advances to personal freedom limiting Political power?

37 points by endswapper 10y ago

>Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook, defended the company’s association with Mr. Thiel, emphasizing that it did not endorse his views — and much less Mr. Trump’s — but was striving to be inclusive toward those whose values differed from its own. Critics noted that if diversity was such a cherished value in Silicon Valley, why wasn’t there more of it? What an awful argument by the critics; I'm not sure that it should even be called an argument. Zuckerburg did the right thing.

Alex3917 10y ago
> What an awful argument by the critics; I'm not sure that it should even be called an argument. How is it a bad argument? At least in the U.S., the places that consider themselves the most tolerant tend to be the most segregated. E.g. the majority of the most segregated cities in the U.S. are in the northeast, the midwest, and the west coast.[1] It's been especially noticeable this election, where many Clinton supporters have been attacking Bernie for being racist because he lives in a state where minorities aren't kept in special ghettos to be used as de facto slave labor. (E.g. if you go to any gas station or restaurant in Vermont then you're likely to be served by a white person, as opposed to in NYC where these places are almost entirely staffed by minorities who are payed less than a living wage and live in segregated neighborhoods.) [1] https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2015/12/08/census-shows-modest-declines-in-black-white-segregation/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2015/12/08/census-...
- gragas 10y ago
  >many Clinton supporters have been attacking Bernie for being racist because he lives in a state where minorities aren't kept in special ghettos to be used as de facto slave labor. This ideology is exactly why I'm voting for Trump.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
  - Alex3917 10y ago
    > The idea that non-white New Yorkers are forced into segregated neighborhoods is far-fetched, considering only 33% of NYC is non-hispanic white. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-most-diverse-cities-are-often-the-most-segregated/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-most-diverse-cities-...
- james2654 10y ago
  I'm white and used to live in the Bronx around Valentine Ave. I don't think anybody I knew felt like we lived in a segregated neighborhood. Also, plenty of people who do retail or food service work in NYC make good money, and plenty make enough to live a good life in the outer burroughs. NYC is accommodating of those that don't. I certainly never spoke to anybody who felt like we were defacto enslaved. Just one person's experience...
  - Alex3917 10y ago
    > I'm white and used to live in the Bronx around Valentine Ave. That's funny, I'm also white and currently live a few blocks from there. The point though is that you'd need a ton of hispanic people from the Bronx to move to SoHo in order to make it reflect the overall demographics of the city. > I certainly never spoke to anybody who felt like we were defacto enslaved. I mean there are tens of thousands of homeless people in NYC, many of whom have jobs. Many folks forced to live in apartments with stachybotrys, the subways are littered with folks whose skin is literally rotting off from a combination of never showering and heroin-related infections, etc.
    - thesmallestcat 10y ago
      Yea, you make quite a leap from ethnic neighborhoods to "kept in special ghettoes," but apparently only perfect geographic-racial balance disproves the existence of these ghettos. Also you equate mental illness and homelessness with slavery. I want some of what you're smoking! But seriously, if you want a white dude pumping your gas, there is Vermont as you noted, and it isn't very far from you!
      - Alex3917 10y ago
        > you make quite a leap from ethnic neighborhoods to "kept in special ghettoes" http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/100-bronx-gang-members-busted-largest-takedown-nyc-history-article-1.2615933 http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/100-bronx-gang... 87 people got arrested in a single bust about 12 blocks from where I live, for a combination of selling crack and murder. They're all from the same housing projects. Yet despite being right around the corner, my neighborhood has one of the lowest violent crime rates in NYC. If that's not an example of ghettoization, I don't know what is.

droopyEyelids 10y ago

If you'd like to learn a little more about Thiel's politics and why this is of public interest, I recommend checking out his short manifesto "Education of a libertarian" https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education-libertarian https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/educatio...

gcb0 10y ago
sounds a little demagogue and vague. did he close the first paragraph by stating a belief in immortality? i can't even tell i got the first paragraph right...
- gragas 10y ago
  >sounds a little demagogue and vague It's almost as if you didn't even read his essay before commenting on it. Thiel explicitly states "Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible." How could you possibly interpret that as demagogic? He's specifically against tyranny by the masses.
  - gcb0 10y ago
    understood that part. then he moves to say, in the same phrase you quoted, that he also no longer believe in mortality. i did stop reading at around 60%... you are correct on that.
    - gragas 10y ago
      >understood that part. then he moves to say, in the same phrase you quoted, that he also no longer believe in mortality. Nowhere in that paragraph does he mention anything about mortality. "But I must confess that over the last two decades, I have changed radically on the question of how to achieve these goals. Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible. By tracing out the development of my thinking, I hope to frame some of the challenges faced by all classical liberals today."

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

rahrahrah 10y ago

TL DR: he doesn't really defend it in the article linked. The article says he will give a speech Monday.

ageek123 10y ago

For those wondering whether to read the article -- it has no content, just says he will explain himself on Monday.

aakilfernandes 10y ago

Title should be change to "plans to defend". > On Monday, Mr. Thiel plans to defend his position in a speech and then a question-and-answer session with reporters at the National Press Club in Washington.

sean_patel 10y ago

Here we go again. Another Peter Thiel story on HN gets flagged and removed. For a discussion on why Peter Thiel stories are getting flagged and removed, see this thread (which, ironically, has also been flagged and removed lol) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12716662 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12716662

lj3 10y ago
I flag anything related to the election. That topic consistently brings out the worst in hacker news.

girmad 10y ago

The disconnect for me is Palantir. Thiel's company provides the infrastructure for some of the gravest privacy violations done by our government. If Thiel is rooting for Tech in the race vs Politics, why is he investing his resources in a company that converts Tech advances to personal freedom limiting Political power?