4 ms·

I don't understand how a gay man can support a political party who's platform wants to reverse marriage equality.

rodgerd 10y ago
The Nazis put most homosexuals in the camps (and the Allies put them back in jail when they emptied the camps) , but Goering did pretty well out of it.
notgood 10y ago
Just as an historical counterexample: Leonardo DaVinci was gay but tried to keep that fact away from the Church (very influential at the time), doing otherwise would have prevented him to access many books, and therefore would have stumped his contributions to humanity. And there is a chance some people at the time may have assumed it was all to retain money and power (which he had), but that's irrelevant in perspective.
ForrestN 10y ago
As a fellow gay man I can tell you Thiel clearly appears to be quite conflicted about his homosexuality, which is why he victimized Gawker so gratuitously for revealing it to the public. Unfortunately, because becoming a billionaire is often random, sometimes people with mental illness and deep emotional pain can rise to incredible power.
- kem 10y ago
  Yeah, there's something contradictory about his obsession with Gawker outing him and his asserted openness about his orientation. Actually, Thiel's full of contradictions. A professed libertarian celebrity hunting a media outlet over reporting too much information; someone claiming to be a defender of privacy founding a data mining company providing information to the government panopticon; a Stanford grad bemoaning the educational elite... do I need to go on? Thiel strikes me as someone who heavily hedges their bets, and is probably conflicted with themselves. I'm not surprised he supported Trump, really. I don't think it was about prescience as much as it was attraction to Trump's authoritarian, sensationalistic, prejudicial brand of quasilibertarianism. They're very similar in their political positions or outlooks -- Thiel is just shrewder, less crass, and probably more intelligent.
- Chris2048 10y ago
  > which is why he victimized Gawker so gratuitously Funny to describe his suit as "victimized" > sometimes people with mental illness and deep emotional pain can rise to incredible power Are you talking about Thiel? Care to justify this slander?
skewart 10y ago
Just because he's gay doesn't mean he supports marriage equality. Given Thiel's political views I would guess that he thinks that the government shouldn't care about _anyone's_ marriage, gay or straight. So rather than fight for marriage equality for gay couples he'd fight for marriage deregulation for everyone, including straight couples (e.g. no special tax treatment, no special legal protections for spouses).
- woofyman 10y ago
  Start with marriage equality then fight for marriage deregulation
- whyenot 10y ago
  He has been publicly and actively in favor of marriage equality at least going back to 2010, if not earlier.
- ex3ndr 10y ago
  Then what's the point o marriage would be?
buzzybee 10y ago
If you're really in the power game, it's assumed that you accumulate enough blackmail to destroy anyone who wants to harm you. And among other powermongers, that means the situation only appears stable because of mutually assured destruction. So, in essence, no social policy or law is going to be of particular importance to Thiel; it's all positional in his worldview - all the rules are made to be broken.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
pjscott 10y ago
His Reddit AMA has some interesting comments on that. https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2g4g95/peter_thiel_technology_entrepreneur_and_investor/ckfn39m/?context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2g4g95/peter_thiel_te... He was asked "Why do you financially support so many anti-gay GOP politicians?" Which is exactly what you're wondering about. And lo, he answered: "If I thought they were anti-gay, then I would not support them. I do not find myself fully on the side of any of our political leaders -- because none of them are fully on my side." Reading some of his other stuff, this turns out to be a recurring theme: he's on board with approximately zero electable politicians, and kind of disgusted by the whole mess, so any viable political strategy will necessarily involve kissing a few toads. If you've been near a voting booth recently, you probably did the same. (I admit that Trump is warty even by the standards of toads, but Hillary probably wouldn't have taken someone with Thiel's... mixed reputation.)
- couchand 10y ago
  To describe Trump as simply warty is to vastly misrepresent or dismiss his proud racism and misogyny.
  - Chris2048 10y ago
    > his proud racism and misogyny The amount of mis-quotation around Trumps alleged "racism and misogyny" means I'd like at least a few specifics along with any such claim, just to be clear what your level is.
    - couchand 10y ago
      I don't think there's a serious question here. I'm sorry if you don't feel like I'm engaging your argument; it may genuinely be thoughtful but just comes across as intentionally ignorant. EDIT: I'm going to engage with this even though the premise of the request bothers me significantly. Here is Trump announcing his candidacy, declaring Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers (but it's okay, he's sure there are some good people there, too): https://youtu.be/q_q61B-DyPk?t=7m57s https://youtu.be/q_q61B-DyPk?t=7m57s And here is our President-elect advocating for sexual assault: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wM248Wo54U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wM248Wo54U That's just a taste. I encourage you to wade deeper into this muck if you're unfamiliar with it.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
andrewchambers 10y ago
He is now in the best position of anyone in the world to influence them to be less anti gay. Seems pretty smart to me.

The Nazis put most homosexuals in the camps (and the Allies put them back in jail when they emptied the camps) , but Goering did pretty well out of it.

notgood 10y ago

Just as an historical counterexample: Leonardo DaVinci was gay but tried to keep that fact away from the Church (very influential at the time), doing otherwise would have prevented him to access many books, and therefore would have stumped his contributions to humanity. And there is a chance some people at the time may have assumed it was all to retain money and power (which he had), but that's irrelevant in perspective.

ForrestN 10y ago

As a fellow gay man I can tell you Thiel clearly appears to be quite conflicted about his homosexuality, which is why he victimized Gawker so gratuitously for revealing it to the public. Unfortunately, because becoming a billionaire is often random, sometimes people with mental illness and deep emotional pain can rise to incredible power.

kem 10y ago
Yeah, there's something contradictory about his obsession with Gawker outing him and his asserted openness about his orientation. Actually, Thiel's full of contradictions. A professed libertarian celebrity hunting a media outlet over reporting too much information; someone claiming to be a defender of privacy founding a data mining company providing information to the government panopticon; a Stanford grad bemoaning the educational elite... do I need to go on? Thiel strikes me as someone who heavily hedges their bets, and is probably conflicted with themselves. I'm not surprised he supported Trump, really. I don't think it was about prescience as much as it was attraction to Trump's authoritarian, sensationalistic, prejudicial brand of quasilibertarianism. They're very similar in their political positions or outlooks -- Thiel is just shrewder, less crass, and probably more intelligent.
Chris2048 10y ago
> which is why he victimized Gawker so gratuitously Funny to describe his suit as "victimized" > sometimes people with mental illness and deep emotional pain can rise to incredible power Are you talking about Thiel? Care to justify this slander?

skewart 10y ago

Just because he's gay doesn't mean he supports marriage equality. Given Thiel's political views I would guess that he thinks that the government shouldn't care about _anyone's_ marriage, gay or straight. So rather than fight for marriage equality for gay couples he'd fight for marriage deregulation for everyone, including straight couples (e.g. no special tax treatment, no special legal protections for spouses).

woofyman 10y ago
Start with marriage equality then fight for marriage deregulation
whyenot 10y ago
He has been publicly and actively in favor of marriage equality at least going back to 2010, if not earlier.
ex3ndr 10y ago
Then what's the point o marriage would be?

buzzybee 10y ago

If you're really in the power game, it's assumed that you accumulate enough blackmail to destroy anyone who wants to harm you. And among other powermongers, that means the situation only appears stable because of mutually assured destruction. So, in essence, no social policy or law is going to be of particular importance to Thiel; it's all positional in his worldview - all the rules are made to be broken.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

pjscott 10y ago

His Reddit AMA has some interesting comments on that. https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2g4g95/peter_thiel_technology_entrepreneur_and_investor/ckfn39m/?context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2g4g95/peter_thiel_te... He was asked "Why do you financially support so many anti-gay GOP politicians?" Which is exactly what you're wondering about. And lo, he answered: "If I thought they were anti-gay, then I would not support them. I do not find myself fully on the side of any of our political leaders -- because none of them are fully on my side." Reading some of his other stuff, this turns out to be a recurring theme: he's on board with approximately zero electable politicians, and kind of disgusted by the whole mess, so any viable political strategy will necessarily involve kissing a few toads. If you've been near a voting booth recently, you probably did the same. (I admit that Trump is warty even by the standards of toads, but Hillary probably wouldn't have taken someone with Thiel's... mixed reputation.)

couchand 10y ago
To describe Trump as simply warty is to vastly misrepresent or dismiss his proud racism and misogyny.
- Chris2048 10y ago
  > his proud racism and misogyny The amount of mis-quotation around Trumps alleged "racism and misogyny" means I'd like at least a few specifics along with any such claim, just to be clear what your level is.
  - couchand 10y ago
    I don't think there's a serious question here. I'm sorry if you don't feel like I'm engaging your argument; it may genuinely be thoughtful but just comes across as intentionally ignorant. EDIT: I'm going to engage with this even though the premise of the request bothers me significantly. Here is Trump announcing his candidacy, declaring Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers (but it's okay, he's sure there are some good people there, too): https://youtu.be/q_q61B-DyPk?t=7m57s https://youtu.be/q_q61B-DyPk?t=7m57s And here is our President-elect advocating for sexual assault: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wM248Wo54U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wM248Wo54U That's just a taste. I encourage you to wade deeper into this muck if you're unfamiliar with it.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

andrewchambers 10y ago

He is now in the best position of anyone in the world to influence them to be less anti gay. Seems pretty smart to me.