4 ms·

I agree with McNamee's message, but he's grandstanding a bit too much here relative to his actual intentions. 1. I had the opportunity to hear him speak at Sta

I agree with McNamee's message, but he's grandstanding a bit too much here relative to his actual intentions. 1. I had the opportunity to hear him speak at Stanford in April and I asked him straight up why he isn't calling for Zuckerberg to resign given all his critiques of the company's policies and leadership. His answer was, "he's my friend". I don't know, that seems like a weak response from someone making regular headlines while building a personal brand as an anti-Facebook crusader. 2. He also still holds Facebook shares, which he acknowledges makes him "not the best messenger" [direct quote] for his FB morality play. His justification for holding on to his shares is [paraphrasing his words] "if I sold my shares I would be profiting immensely from Facebook while I criticize them, which would be weird." This is just such a bad argument. If he was really concerned about Facebook money being "dirty" he could simply donate it to any number of charities. Problem solved. My problem is that he seems to be profiting from playing both sides of the Facebook game simultaneously. Just pick a side already.

whatshisface 7y ago
I would love if my harshest critic was my friend. In fact, I would support any friend who decided to become a leader among my critics.
- mindgam3 7y ago
  I had the same reaction. Like, if you're really his friend, use that relationship to tell him something that is hard to hear. That's what friends are for, in theory at least.
- kadendogthing 7y ago
  You would love it because you know it in practice doesn't do anything. Human nature dictates this. If they actually acted on their critiques you wouldn't be friends for long. We all do this to varying degrees in our personal and professional lives. Which is fundamentally why he gave the "he's my friend" answer. He disagrees with what's being done, but he himself won't do anything to negate what his friend is doing.
  - mindgam3 7y ago
    Okay, but human nature goes both ways. There’s all the messed up stuff, and also occasional bouts of doing the right thing, sometimes with a little help from your friends. I believe the parent commenter is speaking to our “higher nature” for lack of a better term. It’s a bit cynical to assume that this doesn’t exist, and possibly a tad inappropriate to assume that the commenter shares your cynicism and is coming from the same place.
    - kadendogthing 7y ago
      >and possibly a tad inappropriate to assume that the commenter shares your cynicism and is coming from the same place. Your ascribed motivations to my outlook on this matter are not appreciated. It is plenty sufficient to look at his actions and statement together. He plainly told you in no uncertain terms that he's not going to do anything about it, when asked about what he is doing, because he is Mark's friend. This is pretty standard human behavior, and it's why we have a whole host of laws and ethics regulations attempting to correct for it in both private and public organizations. That's not cynical, that's looking at known human behaviors and being practical about it. Try to avoid shaming platitudes in what otherwise was a pretty vanilla rehash on what the guy directly said.
      - mindgam3 7y ago
        I don't think you understand my comment. If you are cynical about McNamee, I am in full agreement. But that's not what you appeared to be critiquing in your original comment. > You would love it because you know it in practice doesn't do anything. Seems fair to assume that this is in response to the parent comment "I would love if my harshest critic was my friend."
        kadendogthing 7y ago
        > Human nature dictates this. > This is pretty standard human behavior, and it's why we have a whole host of laws and ethics regulations attempting to correct for it in both private and public organizations. That's not cynical, that's looking at known human behaviors and being practical about it.
pjc50 7y ago
I'm wondering if the "shut down facebook" routine is a spoiler; it's so obviously not going to happen, but talking about it uses up time and energy that might be spent on actually fixing the problem.

whatshisface 7y ago

I would love if my harshest critic was my friend. In fact, I would support any friend who decided to become a leader among my critics.

mindgam3 7y ago
I had the same reaction. Like, if you're really his friend, use that relationship to tell him something that is hard to hear. That's what friends are for, in theory at least.
kadendogthing 7y ago
You would love it because you know it in practice doesn't do anything. Human nature dictates this. If they actually acted on their critiques you wouldn't be friends for long. We all do this to varying degrees in our personal and professional lives. Which is fundamentally why he gave the "he's my friend" answer. He disagrees with what's being done, but he himself won't do anything to negate what his friend is doing.
- mindgam3 7y ago
  Okay, but human nature goes both ways. There’s all the messed up stuff, and also occasional bouts of doing the right thing, sometimes with a little help from your friends. I believe the parent commenter is speaking to our “higher nature” for lack of a better term. It’s a bit cynical to assume that this doesn’t exist, and possibly a tad inappropriate to assume that the commenter shares your cynicism and is coming from the same place.
  - kadendogthing 7y ago
    >and possibly a tad inappropriate to assume that the commenter shares your cynicism and is coming from the same place. Your ascribed motivations to my outlook on this matter are not appreciated. It is plenty sufficient to look at his actions and statement together. He plainly told you in no uncertain terms that he's not going to do anything about it, when asked about what he is doing, because he is Mark's friend. This is pretty standard human behavior, and it's why we have a whole host of laws and ethics regulations attempting to correct for it in both private and public organizations. That's not cynical, that's looking at known human behaviors and being practical about it. Try to avoid shaming platitudes in what otherwise was a pretty vanilla rehash on what the guy directly said.
    - mindgam3 7y ago
      I don't think you understand my comment. If you are cynical about McNamee, I am in full agreement. But that's not what you appeared to be critiquing in your original comment. > You would love it because you know it in practice doesn't do anything. Seems fair to assume that this is in response to the parent comment "I would love if my harshest critic was my friend."
      - kadendogthing 7y ago
        > Human nature dictates this. > This is pretty standard human behavior, and it's why we have a whole host of laws and ethics regulations attempting to correct for it in both private and public organizations. That's not cynical, that's looking at known human behaviors and being practical about it.

pjc50 7y ago

I'm wondering if the "shut down facebook" routine is a spoiler; it's so obviously not going to happen, but talking about it uses up time and energy that might be spent on actually fixing the problem.