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Interestingly this is the same guy who felt like he needed to use his billions to take down Gawker because he didn't like what they said about him. Evidently he

Interestingly this is the same guy who felt like he needed to use his billions to take down Gawker because he didn't like what they said about him. Evidently he doesn't care about ad messages on Facebook though as long as it doesn't impact him. Or maybe he thinks is okay because he can always use his money to protect himself. Long story short the Gawker incident just goes to show that Theil has absolutely no moral high ground here and that his reason for supporting these ads has absolutely nothing to do with "free speech" or any other positive moral trope. Super curious what would happen if someone started an ad campaign on Facebook about Peter Theil though...

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
hylaride 7y ago
This is also a man who bought a huge remote property in NZ (and went so far as to get NZ citizenship) as insurance in case the world goes to shit. I've read/seen many interviews with people who've known him in the past and very few people have nice things to say about him as a human being, but all agree he's got a "unique" view of things.
- EGreg 7y ago
  Definitely unique. He is one of the few people today who is openly lamenting that women got the right to vote, because it has led societies to adopt more liberal policies than they otherwise would have, especially in the economic sphere, which he believes has led to less prosperity than if we had more of a free market: https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/492380/ https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/492380/
  - genS3 7y ago
    re-read what he says. he says that open rights to women was used by capitalism as a way to reduce the benefits of everyone. which I agree with. Before you could raise a family with one salary. Now it is impossible. that is a fact, liberalism very often uses society revolutions against its own people. it is a nice coverup.
    - squarefoot 7y ago
      "Before you could raise a family with one salary. Now it is impossible." Demand and offer. If tomorrow some law allowed a couple to send their cat to work in a mine, our shiny lovely capitalistic system would adapt in a matter of months and we'd find that raising a family would cost what it costs today, plus a cat's salary. The problem is elsewhere, and Thiel knows perfectly from where it comes.
    - asveikau 7y ago
      So if wages are flat or lower after inflation and cost of living adjustments, while profits are increasing, it's because women are working? That sounds unlikely.
      - genS3 7y ago
        I am not saying it is the problem. I am saying we re living in a system that profits from any social evolution and plays it against its people. and that is what Thiel is saying. He never says women are the problem. capitalism is.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - remarkEon 7y ago
    Since people always do this when Thiel comes up, here's the actual quote: >The 1920s were the last decade in American history during which one could be genuinely optimistic about politics. Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women—two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians—have rendered the notion of “capitalist democracy” into an oxymoron. I think what he's lamenting is that women tend to find libertarian policies unappealing, and, judging by who publicly brands themselves as a libertarian, this seems like a fairly uncontroversial observation (there just aren't very many women in that cohort).
    - EGreg 7y ago
      That’s basically what I said. Anyway even Thiel as a “libertarian” is very unique in his thinking. Not many libertarians I know turn around and start companies like Palantir to help governments and police departments build a precog surveillance state. I wonder how he justifies that one given his claims of being libertarian-leaning. https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2018/2/27/17054740/palantir-predictive-policing-tool-new-orleans-nopd https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2018/2/27/17054740/pal... I disagree with the OP article, I don’t think there is anything AT ALL wrong with Mark Zuckerberg being friends with Republicans. However, the real shame of Mark Z’s association with Peter Thiel is the professional one. Peter was the first check in after Eduardo, $500K. His views would make most capitalists blush, eg “competition is for losers, build a monopoly and extract rents!” He writes as much in his book Zero to One. I bet that had a big effect on what Facebook has become and its view of taking the entire social networking space under itself, and its tactics of taking any data it can and storing it to give itself an advantage (eg in Friends you may Know). Oh sure it may apologize if caught but will continue to store the data. Mark Z’s earlier attitude of “I dunno why they share the data, those dumb f-cks, they ‘trust me’” found a mentor in Peter Thiel early on to retain that militant guerilla approach even as Facebook had to turn into something more respectable and corporate. “Move fast and break things” gave them all the license they needed.
  - googlebigdream 7y ago
    Uniquely good. State needs to punish domestic abusers. Not break families by giving women right to vote. Elites want a large workforce for a large gdp. That's it. That's why women are promoted to do things they haven't evolved to this being constantly sad. They have to divert their maternal energy elsewhere. They can fix by promoting love between husband and wife but who will think of the gdp?
- justicezyx 7y ago
  "many interviews with people who've known him in the past and very few people have nice things to say about him as a human being" Curious, could you provide some links for this statement? Things I were exposed on YouTube are mostly positive. That for sure is a echo chamber. And I'll need a bit help to break that.
  - cududa 7y ago
    There’s a decade of articles for you to form an opinion on Peter. Stop getting your information from YouTube.
    - justicezyx 7y ago
      Could you please provide some links for me to the articles, so that I could start search around?
      - stevenwoo 7y ago
        Look for "dark enlightenment", "Peter Thiel" and read sources and criticism. Don't rely on dedicated subreddits because that's just a positive feedback loop. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/06/peter-thiel.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/06/peter-thiel.html
  - hylaride 7y ago
    The one that stood out most was his comments on Apartheid: https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/my-conversation-with-peter-thiel-about-apartheid-and-its-aftermath-3fdf4249b08d https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/my-conversation-with-pete... It's the attitude that even if the basic economic premise was sound(1), was his hyper focus on it and a complete insensitivity to the greater picture. It's like in his mind he could see how he (being white) could have benefited from it, but couldn't see that millions were victims and those who benefited wouldn't "let" black people be part of it. If you look at a lot of his controversial comments, you'll see a pattern of a lack of empathy being a theme. Although Thiel denies the conversation happened, I'm giving the woman the benefit of the doubt for now other reason than it fits within other comments that he's either said or alleged to have said. (1)For the record, I don't at all believe that it was. Apartheid-era South Africa's economy, as even the uninformed know, was built around having the black majority population do the menial/dangerous jobs cheaply and holding up the white minority.
maxlamb 7y ago
Gawker published a private sex tape (Hulk Hogan's) without permission on the grounds that it is "news" in order to make its publication legal. I can't see how anyone could say Gawker had the moral high ground, they were a despicable organization whose only business model was publishing private information/revenge porn for profit
- guelo 7y ago
  If you don't support the right of others to say things you don't like then you don't support free speech.
  - raisedbyninjas 7y ago
    Even libertarians don't often expand free speech to include doxing.
    - guelo 7y ago
      As if a celebrity sex tape is so much worse then attacking the core of democracy by deliberately spreading disinformation.
      - raisedbyninjas 7y ago
        Thiel doesn't care about Hogan's sex tape. He cares that Gawker outed his sexuality. With Gawker and Facebook he cares about information as it affects him personally.
        guelo 7y ago
        Right, any talk of principles is a smoke screen, the only thing they care about is power.
- jonny_eh 7y ago
  The discussion isn't about Hulk Hogan v Gawker, it's Peter Thiel v Gawker, via Hulk Hogan. Thiel funded Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker, for personal revenge.
monksy 7y ago
Gawker is in no way a clean publication. They outed him.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

hylaride 7y ago

This is also a man who bought a huge remote property in NZ (and went so far as to get NZ citizenship) as insurance in case the world goes to shit. I've read/seen many interviews with people who've known him in the past and very few people have nice things to say about him as a human being, but all agree he's got a "unique" view of things.

EGreg 7y ago
Definitely unique. He is one of the few people today who is openly lamenting that women got the right to vote, because it has led societies to adopt more liberal policies than they otherwise would have, especially in the economic sphere, which he believes has led to less prosperity than if we had more of a free market: https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/492380/ https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/492380/
- genS3 7y ago
  re-read what he says. he says that open rights to women was used by capitalism as a way to reduce the benefits of everyone. which I agree with. Before you could raise a family with one salary. Now it is impossible. that is a fact, liberalism very often uses society revolutions against its own people. it is a nice coverup.
  - squarefoot 7y ago
    "Before you could raise a family with one salary. Now it is impossible." Demand and offer. If tomorrow some law allowed a couple to send their cat to work in a mine, our shiny lovely capitalistic system would adapt in a matter of months and we'd find that raising a family would cost what it costs today, plus a cat's salary. The problem is elsewhere, and Thiel knows perfectly from where it comes.
  - asveikau 7y ago
    So if wages are flat or lower after inflation and cost of living adjustments, while profits are increasing, it's because women are working? That sounds unlikely.
    - genS3 7y ago
      I am not saying it is the problem. I am saying we re living in a system that profits from any social evolution and plays it against its people. and that is what Thiel is saying. He never says women are the problem. capitalism is.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- remarkEon 7y ago
  Since people always do this when Thiel comes up, here's the actual quote: >The 1920s were the last decade in American history during which one could be genuinely optimistic about politics. Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women—two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians—have rendered the notion of “capitalist democracy” into an oxymoron. I think what he's lamenting is that women tend to find libertarian policies unappealing, and, judging by who publicly brands themselves as a libertarian, this seems like a fairly uncontroversial observation (there just aren't very many women in that cohort).
  - EGreg 7y ago
    That’s basically what I said. Anyway even Thiel as a “libertarian” is very unique in his thinking. Not many libertarians I know turn around and start companies like Palantir to help governments and police departments build a precog surveillance state. I wonder how he justifies that one given his claims of being libertarian-leaning. https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2018/2/27/17054740/palantir-predictive-policing-tool-new-orleans-nopd https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2018/2/27/17054740/pal... I disagree with the OP article, I don’t think there is anything AT ALL wrong with Mark Zuckerberg being friends with Republicans. However, the real shame of Mark Z’s association with Peter Thiel is the professional one. Peter was the first check in after Eduardo, $500K. His views would make most capitalists blush, eg “competition is for losers, build a monopoly and extract rents!” He writes as much in his book Zero to One. I bet that had a big effect on what Facebook has become and its view of taking the entire social networking space under itself, and its tactics of taking any data it can and storing it to give itself an advantage (eg in Friends you may Know). Oh sure it may apologize if caught but will continue to store the data. Mark Z’s earlier attitude of “I dunno why they share the data, those dumb f-cks, they ‘trust me’” found a mentor in Peter Thiel early on to retain that militant guerilla approach even as Facebook had to turn into something more respectable and corporate. “Move fast and break things” gave them all the license they needed.
- googlebigdream 7y ago
  Uniquely good. State needs to punish domestic abusers. Not break families by giving women right to vote. Elites want a large workforce for a large gdp. That's it. That's why women are promoted to do things they haven't evolved to this being constantly sad. They have to divert their maternal energy elsewhere. They can fix by promoting love between husband and wife but who will think of the gdp?
justicezyx 7y ago
"many interviews with people who've known him in the past and very few people have nice things to say about him as a human being" Curious, could you provide some links for this statement? Things I were exposed on YouTube are mostly positive. That for sure is a echo chamber. And I'll need a bit help to break that.
- cududa 7y ago
  There’s a decade of articles for you to form an opinion on Peter. Stop getting your information from YouTube.
  - justicezyx 7y ago
    Could you please provide some links for me to the articles, so that I could start search around?
    - stevenwoo 7y ago
      Look for "dark enlightenment", "Peter Thiel" and read sources and criticism. Don't rely on dedicated subreddits because that's just a positive feedback loop. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/06/peter-thiel.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/06/peter-thiel.html
- hylaride 7y ago
  The one that stood out most was his comments on Apartheid: https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/my-conversation-with-peter-thiel-about-apartheid-and-its-aftermath-3fdf4249b08d https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/my-conversation-with-pete... It's the attitude that even if the basic economic premise was sound(1), was his hyper focus on it and a complete insensitivity to the greater picture. It's like in his mind he could see how he (being white) could have benefited from it, but couldn't see that millions were victims and those who benefited wouldn't "let" black people be part of it. If you look at a lot of his controversial comments, you'll see a pattern of a lack of empathy being a theme. Although Thiel denies the conversation happened, I'm giving the woman the benefit of the doubt for now other reason than it fits within other comments that he's either said or alleged to have said. (1)For the record, I don't at all believe that it was. Apartheid-era South Africa's economy, as even the uninformed know, was built around having the black majority population do the menial/dangerous jobs cheaply and holding up the white minority.

maxlamb 7y ago

Gawker published a private sex tape (Hulk Hogan's) without permission on the grounds that it is "news" in order to make its publication legal. I can't see how anyone could say Gawker had the moral high ground, they were a despicable organization whose only business model was publishing private information/revenge porn for profit

guelo 7y ago
If you don't support the right of others to say things you don't like then you don't support free speech.
- raisedbyninjas 7y ago
  Even libertarians don't often expand free speech to include doxing.
  - guelo 7y ago
    As if a celebrity sex tape is so much worse then attacking the core of democracy by deliberately spreading disinformation.
    - raisedbyninjas 7y ago
      Thiel doesn't care about Hogan's sex tape. He cares that Gawker outed his sexuality. With Gawker and Facebook he cares about information as it affects him personally.
      - guelo 7y ago
        Right, any talk of principles is a smoke screen, the only thing they care about is power.
jonny_eh 7y ago
The discussion isn't about Hulk Hogan v Gawker, it's Peter Thiel v Gawker, via Hulk Hogan. Thiel funded Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker, for personal revenge.

monksy 7y ago

Gawker is in no way a clean publication. They outed him.