5 ms·

At this point we need some kind of corporate blacklist of people like zuckerberg, page, and musk. And bar them from ever running for political office.

anigbrowl 9y ago
That's ridiculous. He'd be more accountable in office than he is as CEO of the world's largest country. I mean, be skeptical of it by all means but banning people from running is just foolish.
- bicubic 9y ago
  He has a tool to gauge and manipulate public perception, like the current generation of political elite can only dream of. He can push any agenda he wants and have it delivered in just the right way to get the public to agree. You want a dude with that power to also be given executive control of the country?
  - abraves10001 9y ago
    No, but banning him isn't the correct answer, either.
    - metaphorm 9y ago
      what is the correct answer? I think it's self-evident that Facebook has become a kind of mass propaganda tool the likes of which the world has never seen before. Do you think a constitutional republic can survive as a republic if we allow the owners of a media platform that powerful to enter politics?
  - the_cat_kittles 9y ago
    this is a legitimate threat and its one of my biggest misgivings with him. and i dont think its realistic to think that any kind of blind trust / divestment / change in ownership would sufficiently address it. its actually almost disqualifying to me. he doesn't strike me as someone who would use it nefariously, but its stupid not to protect against that.
  - anigbrowl 9y ago
    It's unlikely that he'll be able to have political control and still retain control of FB. Possible, of course, but given the current administration's deliberate attempts to wreck ethical norms I suspect that over the next decade we'll either see a transition to a different form of governance or a much firmer and stricter codification of the distinction between public and private life. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-attempts-to-block-office-of-government-ethics-request/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-attempts-to-block-of... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/10/eric-trump-nepotism-beautiful-thing-says-us-presidents-children/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/10/eric-trump-nepoti...
the_cat_kittles 9y ago
do i think tech scions and the like make the best presidents? no. but what you are proposing is neither possible to implement, nor defensible. im sure you have some thoughts on why you dont want those people running for office, why not share those.
- graphememes 9y ago
  Not OP, but if anything what I would like is to prevent those with corporations or large companies from being in office or limited power / huge oversight to prevent bias/favor towards propelling themselves (their company / corp) further than their competition instead of focusing on our society and selves as a whole.
zepto 9y ago
Why? How can it be worse than Trump, or a career politician? I don't see how Zuck has any worse flaws than they do, but he might be in a better position to actually understand the electorate and the modern world.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  Imagine if Trump were competent (but still disinterested in people and mostly focused on self aggrandizement and accumulation of wealth and power).
  - zepto 9y ago
    So you think Zuck is nothing more than a competent version of trump? If so, I can see why you wouldn't want him as president.
    - maxerickson 9y ago
      Not Zuckerburg specifically, I was answering How can it be worse than Trump, or a career politician? as a general question. What could be worse than Trump? A competent version. I think Zuckerburg probably has a lot more decency than Trump. Even so, I'm not worried about Zuckerburg as a political candidate, it'll take him succeeding at it for me to believe it is possible.
      - the_cat_kittles 9y ago
        how can you be so sure after what just happened in 2016? that was the "showing anyone can win" event su generis. trump winning makes zuckerberg winning infinitely more realistic to me.
        maxerickson 9y ago
        Trump has absolutely huge name recognition and is quite charismatic. Zuckerburg is not really that well known and as you say, not very charismatic. I certainly agree that dark horse candidates can come out of nowhere, I just don't think that Zuckerburg is one of them.

anigbrowl 9y ago

That's ridiculous. He'd be more accountable in office than he is as CEO of the world's largest country. I mean, be skeptical of it by all means but banning people from running is just foolish.

bicubic 9y ago
He has a tool to gauge and manipulate public perception, like the current generation of political elite can only dream of. He can push any agenda he wants and have it delivered in just the right way to get the public to agree. You want a dude with that power to also be given executive control of the country?
- abraves10001 9y ago
  No, but banning him isn't the correct answer, either.
  - metaphorm 9y ago
    what is the correct answer? I think it's self-evident that Facebook has become a kind of mass propaganda tool the likes of which the world has never seen before. Do you think a constitutional republic can survive as a republic if we allow the owners of a media platform that powerful to enter politics?
- the_cat_kittles 9y ago
  this is a legitimate threat and its one of my biggest misgivings with him. and i dont think its realistic to think that any kind of blind trust / divestment / change in ownership would sufficiently address it. its actually almost disqualifying to me. he doesn't strike me as someone who would use it nefariously, but its stupid not to protect against that.
- anigbrowl 9y ago
  It's unlikely that he'll be able to have political control and still retain control of FB. Possible, of course, but given the current administration's deliberate attempts to wreck ethical norms I suspect that over the next decade we'll either see a transition to a different form of governance or a much firmer and stricter codification of the distinction between public and private life. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-attempts-to-block-office-of-government-ethics-request/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-attempts-to-block-of... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/10/eric-trump-nepotism-beautiful-thing-says-us-presidents-children/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/10/eric-trump-nepoti...

the_cat_kittles 9y ago

do i think tech scions and the like make the best presidents? no. but what you are proposing is neither possible to implement, nor defensible. im sure you have some thoughts on why you dont want those people running for office, why not share those.

graphememes 9y ago
Not OP, but if anything what I would like is to prevent those with corporations or large companies from being in office or limited power / huge oversight to prevent bias/favor towards propelling themselves (their company / corp) further than their competition instead of focusing on our society and selves as a whole.

zepto 9y ago

Why? How can it be worse than Trump, or a career politician? I don't see how Zuck has any worse flaws than they do, but he might be in a better position to actually understand the electorate and the modern world.

maxerickson 9y ago
Imagine if Trump were competent (but still disinterested in people and mostly focused on self aggrandizement and accumulation of wealth and power).
- zepto 9y ago
  So you think Zuck is nothing more than a competent version of trump? If so, I can see why you wouldn't want him as president.
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    Not Zuckerburg specifically, I was answering How can it be worse than Trump, or a career politician? as a general question. What could be worse than Trump? A competent version. I think Zuckerburg probably has a lot more decency than Trump. Even so, I'm not worried about Zuckerburg as a political candidate, it'll take him succeeding at it for me to believe it is possible.
    - the_cat_kittles 9y ago
      how can you be so sure after what just happened in 2016? that was the "showing anyone can win" event su generis. trump winning makes zuckerberg winning infinitely more realistic to me.
      - maxerickson 9y ago
        Trump has absolutely huge name recognition and is quite charismatic. Zuckerburg is not really that well known and as you say, not very charismatic. I certainly agree that dark horse candidates can come out of nowhere, I just don't think that Zuckerburg is one of them.