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Mark Zuckerberg's Political Awakening
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- uniban 9y agoZuckerberg has done all these things within a relatively short period of time: * Says he’s no longer an atheist, "questioned" religious matters, he broke through his skepticism and now believes religion to be “very important.” * Restructuring of Facebook stock trough the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. In the SEC filing it says that he can take a leave of absence from Facebook and still retain voting control of the company if he goes to work for the government. * Hired a top Democratic campaign manager David Plouffe into the iniative. Plouffe was Obama's campaign manager. * Hired top Republican campaign manager Ken Mehlman into the iniative. Mehlman is a former George W. Bush campaign manager and RNC chairman. * Promised to visit all 50 states and meet people. * Hires a former top adviser to President Barack Obama and the chief strategist for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. This is not PR as usual for CEO. He is into something big.
- willvarfar 9y agoSounds like he's going to run for president!
- perseusprime11 9y agoI hope not! He will never win.
- mozumder 9y agoIf it's Trump vs Zuckberberg, he'll win. The only question is if he makes it through the primary.
- nashashmi 9y agoI am more scared of Zuck becoming president than I am of Trump becoming president.
- mc32 9y agoNot if people really mean it when they say they are upset by the Russia news manipulation or Trump's incomplete withdrawal from ownership where conflict of interest could be perceived an issue. It depends on if people have convictions against those complaints or they were simply "not our candidate" excuses. Or maybe Mark will divest completely.
- pc86 9y ago> Or maybe Mark will divest completely. He and Andreessen specifically colluded to restructure Facebook stock so that he could take a LOA and work for the government while maintaining voting control over Facebook. That's not something you do when you plan to divest.
- gcb0 9y agoor one can dream that he will try a third party and consequentially breath new life into US politics by simply dumping money out of the two big ones.
- 10000100001010 9y agoThat is what I initially said about Trump. Now look where we are
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- NietTim 9y agoZuckerberg is the young politician Hillary pretended to be last time around.
- pjc50 9y agoHow can he not win if his are the only political ads allowed on Facebook?
- minot 9y agoI do not oppose this ambition. If 45 can be POTUS and the world is not collapsing then I have a feeling that we will be fine with Mark Zuckerberg as well.
- mrks_ 9y agoThe world is collapsing for some, it just depends on who you are (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/05/donald-trump-dreamers-program-young-immigrants https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/05/donald-trump...).
- beamatronic 9y agoIn other words now it's a race to the botttom for President. Or we have already reached the point where there is absolutely nothing left to lose. Serious question: would you vote for Kim Kardashian or Trump in the next election if it came to that?
- gspetr 9y agoThere exists a greater conundrum: If Trump married her, who would you vote for?
- yannis7 9y agonothing screams "disconnected coastal elite" more than a young hip billionaire who thinks that his 50-state "poverty safari" trip resonates with voters
- Pxtl 9y ago> nothing screams "disconnected coastal elite" more than a billionaire who thinks that his 50-state "poverty safari" trip resonates with voters I just removed "young hip" and it describes Trump.
- FLUX-YOU 9y agoAt this point, we should just experiment with a disconnected coastal elite just to see what happens.
- epicide 9y agoOther than age and industry, what's different about him and the current US president?
- christophilus 9y agoHairline?
- dagw 9y agoTrump had the ability to make people believe he genuinely cared about them and their problems.
- rsheridan6 9y agoTrump's crassness, and the fact that the other coastal elites legitimately hate him, makes him seem authentic, despite his background.
- seabta 9y agoDemeanor. Oh, and the small matter of their political positions.
- zghst 9y ago
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- slimshady94 9y agoI for one would welcome the scenario that someone who is smart, ambitious and genuinely concerned about poverty becomes president of the USA. He embodies the things I aspire to - entrepreneurial drive, smarts and philanthropy.
- syril 9y agoWatch any video of him presenting, Mark has the charisma of a potted plant. This guy doesn't stand a chance of winning ANY election without increasing his social skills at least tenfold.
- igravious 9y agoYou couldn't source all these bullet points, could you? I'm not saying that they're not true, I'd just like a bit of confirmation to what you're saying without searching for 20 minutes.
- willvarfar 9y agoThey were in the article?
- igravious 9y agoCheers.
- hadrien01 9y agoThey're all in the article.
- igravious 9y agoOof. My bad, sorry.
- uniban 9y agohttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/12/30/mark-zuckerberg-says-hes-no-longer-an-atheist-believes-religion-is-very-important/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/12... https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/04/connector-in-chief/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/04/connector-in-chief/ https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/08/zuckerberg-hires-clintons-chief-strategist https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/08/zuckerberg-hires-cli... http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/01/10/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-taps-former-obama-bush-campaign-managers/ http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/01/10/chan-zuckerberg-initia... http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/02/zuckerberg-hires-former-clinton-pollster-joel-benenson-241265 http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/02/zuckerberg-hires-fo... https://www.businessinsider.nl/mark-zuckerberg-personal-goal-for-2017-meet-people-in-every-us-state-2017-1/ https://www.businessinsider.nl/mark-zuckerberg-personal-goal...
- 9y ago
- zizek23 9y agoThis country worships success. That's the reason Trump won. Zuckerberg is not only ridiculously successful but touches everyone's life everyday and people may feel an intimacy that doesn't exist. Without being judgmental just looking at the dynamics he is going to win.
- Yumz- 9y agoIf you think a Jew will be president, you need a history lesson. The Chosen prefer to rule from behind the Throne.
- hnaccy 9y agoYou're ignoring that he's short, uncharismatic, robotic, and looks like a dork.
- auxym 9y agoAs opposed to current president, who is quite dashing and the smooth speaker.
- coheeman 9y agoSay what you will about Trump, but you have to admit he's charismatic...in a bad sense. Republican primaries were all about him being the center of attention with the remarks and banter that caught everyone off-guard.
- craftyguy 9y agoThere's a difference between charisma and being overly offensive to all senses.
- krapp 9y agoTrump's vengeful, bilious and vulgar behavior appeals to the American anti-establishment zeitgeist. People like it because Trump gives voice to the contempt they feel for modern culture, political correctness and the "status quo." Zuckerberg, on the other hand, may not be able to spin his negatives into positives quite as handily.
- cabalamat 9y ago> now believes religion to be “very important.” ... to his future political career. That's right, Zuck, get your strategic lying in. I'm sure you'll go far in politics.
- 0xcde4c3db 9y ago> Restructuring of Facebook stock trough the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. In the SEC filing it says that he can take a leave of absence from Facebook and still retain voting control of the company if he goes to work for the government. It can't possibly be kosher for him to be President with this arrangement, can it? If Carter had to divest his peanut farm, why would we let a President retain a massive interest in the biggest media/marketing/surveillance platform in the country? It would make Berlusconi look like an amateur.
- mbrock 9y agoTrump is kind of paving the way for this type of corporativism, no?
- pjc50 9y agoRepublicans seem quite content with Trump billing the secret service to stay in his own hotels while protecting him, so I think that's your answer.
- creaghpatr 9y agoYeah and Zuckerberg pays himself every time he uses Facebook, so are we going to make him delete his account? If he were to win I think he would be pressured to structure some kind of trust that prevents him from leveraging Facebook's political power in conjunction with the government.
- throwawaymanbot 9y agoI think he has seen how easy it was for the Russians to influence the election and figured out the methodology of the influence. Then after looking at the amount of data he has, hes probably figured out he cant lose.
- booleandilemma 9y agoSo is the end game to sell the country to China for market share over there?
- AndrewKemendo 9y agoHe is into something big. Agreed, and he'd be a fool if he wasted his position on trying to be the President. He has a real capability to become akin to a modern day emperor if he does it right.
- ms88 9y agoI would vote for him. I think he and Sheryl Sandberg realized just propping up establishment politicians is not enough.
- gm-conspiracy 9y agoI don't think he is in as much control as he thinks he has.
- conanbatt 9y agoI don't think we know how much control he has. 10 years ago he was nowhere, now he has all the conversations and pictures of 25% of the world.
- gm-conspiracy 9y agoHe was either complicit with Russia or completely ignorant.
- koolio 9y agoHe's in for a rude awakening I'd say.
- outoftacos 9y agoGreat read, at first I thought it was just a puff piece but the ending is a great insight into the filter bubble that folks with that amount of money and power live in. He can't handle any criticism or line of questioning that dares to peek behind the curtain, it's something that just never happens in his world. I'm not sure what level of power he's going to buy next, but everyone should be trying to peek behind the curtain. And deleting their Facebook.
- enraged_camel 9y ago>>He can't handle any criticism or line of questioning that dares to peek behind the curtain, it's something that just never happens in his world. Neither can Trump, yet here we are.
- spaginal 9y agoZuckerberg wants to fully combine his wealth and access to information about us into a presidency and then what? If you say the wrong thing about him on Facebook the IRS suddenly audits you? Criticism of Zuckerberg flags you in government databases as well? Trump owns a chain of hotels and sells ties and hats, but doesn't operate what could largely be seen as the most expansive and intimate database about every American ever made.
- hownottowrite 9y agoNon-regwall: https://archive.is/3kESs https://archive.is/3kESs
- Shivetya 9y agoFacebook's threat is that politicians have little control over it and it is not limited to just one country in scope. I don't use facebook but I like that it exist. the only regulation of such an entity is to keep it non discriminatory because if it were to start picking winners and losers it probably could have undue influence.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- dredmorbius 9y agoPoliticians do have control over Facebook. It's just not entirely clear which ones.
- mark024 9y agowhy, people should vote for him, as he is getting older he is getting stupider, according to his opinion, young people are just smarter.
- brotoss 9y agoNobody wants this
- bogomipz 9y ago>'“Wouldn’t it be better,” he asks with a sly smile, “if it was actually an accepted thing for people to want to go understand how other people were living?”' Hey Mark, here in the "normal regular person world" that's actually already accepted. There's a name for it, its called empathy, its a basic human trait. The fact that you perceive that as somehow "unaccepted" shows just how disconnected from reality and clueless you actually are. The fact that you see going on a road trip as something extraordinary and worthy of your vast PR machinery is nothing short of a joke. Also I'm sure that embarking on a road trip while being surrounded by security detail and a team of PR flaks is creating an authentic experience for all involved.
- ms88 9y agoHe is discovering what religions (yes all of them) have been saying for years. I don't see any harm in that. Better than what a lot of other rich scumbags I know do with their time.
- theseatoms 9y agoWhich is more likely, that Mark is experiencing a genuine, and highly publicized, spiritual awakening, or that he's meticulously crafting his public persona based on unprecedented troves of information about modern society?
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- Chardok 9y ago"A study published earlier this year by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that heavy social media users were, on average, more isolated than their peers. Zuckerberg doesn’t see it that way, arguing that the best way to a better society is more Facebook." "Zuckerberg sometimes talks about the promise of brain implants, which he believes will one day convey the entirety of one’s mental state to another human being" Perhaps I have been watching too much Star Trek, but he is sounding just like the Borg.
- smitty1110 9y agoAlso seems like he's really taken with The Circle.
- hnaccy 9y agoWhat a goober.
- Pxtl 9y agoHis platform helped deliver the presidency to one billionaire, why not another?
- moretai 9y agoHe reminds me of a male Hilary. I think we've been reduced to(maybe we've always been this) just quick reactions for Elections, and my immediate reaction even from the start was I don't like this guy, even before I knew about the "stupid fuckers are trusting me" and sweatgate. He just repulses me, in the same way Hillary physically repulsed me on an evolutionary level. And I think if America is filled with morons like me, he won't win.
- moretai 9y agoBoth Hil and Zuck are not genuine. That's not going to resonate, unless in the next 3 years we swing to the opposite end from Trump's uncesnsored raw bullshit and go full American Psycho Plasticity
- te_chris 9y agoWell, they're genuine in one way: they're both classic, technocratic neoliberals. Trump v. Zuck would be a disaster for one of the vain billionaires, and probably not the old one. I think this nails the Clinton-ish technocrat world-view: https://thebaffler.com/blessed-and-brightest/what-happened https://thebaffler.com/blessed-and-brightest/what-happened
- zghst 9y agoFantastic article!
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- yesiamyourdad 9y agoThere's this assumption that FB should be censoring advertisers. It seems logical - registering key phrases like "how to burn jews" is bad. But I still wonder, had they preemptively censored advertisers, would that itself be a minor scandal?
- mc32 9y agoHe'll probably have to run as an independent. Don't think Dems will let him usurp their system. And then he'll end up bring a Perot. This time he'll likely suck more voters from the Dems than Reps.
- teekert 9y agoOne can be an Atheist and believe religion to be important at the same time. One has to believe religion to be important for certain, if one was to run for POTUS.
- thedevil 9y agoPaul Graham claimed in 2004 that the winning candidate each presidential election is actually the candidate with the charisma. http://www.paulgraham.com/charisma.html http://www.paulgraham.com/charisma.html Since then, Obama beat McCain and Romney and Trump beat Clinton. While it's hard on the ears to hear that Trump is charismatic, the reality is that his social intelligence is off the charts. That's why Scott Adams predicted early that he would win (as did I and I won some money betting on it even while I voted against him). I don't see president-level charisma in Zuckerberg, although I'm not sure because i haven't watched him that much. I know at least one person who is really fascinated by him so maybe it's worth a second look.
- abledon 9y agoIf Zuck goes against trump, I think the number of linguistic killshots trump will come up with will be huuuuuuuge
- nabla9 9y agoI think PG is right. Trump is dynamic and loves attention. He is energized by the audience. When attacked in debate he goes offense. His message has little coherence or intelligent content, but that's not the point. It's not what he says. It's feeling he evokes: hate and anger. He was constant center of attention from left and right. MSNBC might have been supporting Clinton, but they could not avoid flying into the flame of Trump. He was the center of the every media. Populist politicians talk directly to the 'Id' and Trump is instinctively doing that. He is "the Id". His campaign was like David Lynch movie. Messaging directly into the unconsciousness.
- zghst 9y agoHe must've known that he would have been marginalized as a candidate if he didn't continue to project brazenly offensive gaffes into the political arena.
- richardknop 9y agoCan't wait for 2020 election. I suspect it will be even worse circus than 2016. Get ready for some ridiculous candidates!
- abledon 9y agoKid rock(see vice) & Kanye... (popcorn)
- common_ 9y agoSeems like the real Mark Zuckerberg comes out at the end of that article.
- elevensies 9y agoQuestion for anyone who is knowledgeable about California elections: If Mark wanted to run for governor 2018, when would he have to take an observable action? (i.e. register as a candidate or similar.) At what point would we know for sure? And would winning Governor block a presidential run in 2020? And would losing it would indicate a candidate too weak to win POTUS 2020? I think a key factor has to be whether Trump will survive through 2020. If Trump is weak in 2020 that is the best time to run, because if a Democrat beats Trump is 2020 and it isn't Mark, he'd have to wait until 2028, and he'd be running for re-election after 8 years of a Dem executive. It will partly depend on the who is the challenger in 2020 was well. I wonder if there is a chance Hillary takes another shot?
- dredmorbius 9y agoJanuary 31, 2018, for the July 5 Primary ballot. http://www.fppc.ca.gov/content/dam/fppc/NS-Documents/TAD/Filing%20Schedules/2018/2018%2001%206-5%20State%20Cand.pdf http://www.fppc.ca.gov/content/dam/fppc/NS-Documents/TAD/Fil...
- elevensies 9y agoExactly what I wanted to know, thanks.
- __warlord__ 9y agoI wonder which PATENTS will put in place if he wins the US elections. Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) hereby grants to each human being within the US territory a perpetual facebook account ;)
- thatonechad 9y agoI welcome the onslaught of Zuckerburg in politics. He will get chewed up and spit out as he openly advocates for illegal immigration amnesty, universal basic income, and whatever else the socialist utopians envision. He will get raked over the coals with these ideologies in the states he has to win (Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Florida). That is assuming the Clinton Machine doesn't destroy him first. He's way out of his league here and better stick to Facebook.
- gbog 9y agoIs it only me or this looks like a Macron-effect? I mean, President Macron did show to the world it was possible for a young fellow to hijack the elections, even in a (relatively) stable democracy. Actually, if you think about it, it seems not that hard to be (or look) much less repugnant than the old comical zombies and rotten clowns we get proposed.
- gspetr 9y agoHijack? He's as establishment as they come. He's essentially the french version of Rubio, not in the "minority candidate" sense, but in the "fallback establishment candidate" sense. The only difference was that French elites learned from the US Republican elites, avoided internal discord and obliterated the opposition with "timely" scandals.
- mijamo 9y agoThe only scandal was against Fillon, the candidate that was much more like traditional establishment. There was no scandal at all among the left side of the spectrum, there just could not agree on anything. Without the scandal, it could have been Fillon president, so even more establishment, with corruption as an added bonus. I fail to see how it was an operation of the "elites".
- zghst 9y agoI'm not sure what Zuckerberg can do to combat the virality of Trump, I have some suggestions, which he may not like but he'll need to do: * Ban Trump from Facebook (co-op with Twitter to ban him there also) * Flood Facebook with ads of people helping others, doing good, committing selfless acts * Forgo the traditional presidential campaign, instead of rallies do an eye-catching Apple-style presentation of people, their situations and solutions. * Stick to an optimistic message no. matter. what. Do not get in the mud. * Do not mention your competitor by name * Every week ask open ended policy/progress questions to an audience on FB (for instance, What would the year 2030 look like? Mars for humanity?) * Every week also feature an interview with an activist, about their mission, how they're changing the world and how the audience can help. * The people who helped build Facebook who are still around must absolutely be involved in the campaign as a testament to Zuckerberg's character and perseverance. * As campaign items distribute and sell posters of great SV pioneers and leaders. Beautiful ones of Jobs, Gates, even social justice and advocacy leaders in the world like Yousafzai, etc. And obviously past leaders like Obama, Hillary, Bill, etc. Don't make it about you, but about visionaries who push the boundaries and change things. Zuckerberg has a significant chance to not end up like Hillary, but honestly, I would not dare to campaign in 2020; however I would be more than happy to get Zuckerberg across 270 with a campaign the world will remember.
- Chaebixi 9y ago> Ban Trump from Facebook (co-op with Twitter to ban him there also) So, what exactly do you think would happen if they did that? I'll tell you: Facebook will start having some serious conversations with government regulators about all kinds of fun things like antitrust, telecommunications regulations, etc.