3 ms·
> Why does this have to be a left/right thing for you? I'm looking for answers. I agree that con artists come from all walks of life. But this isn't your avera
by lordfrito 4y ago
> Why does this have to be a left/right thing for you?
I'm looking for answers. I agree that con artists come from all walks of life. But this isn't your average greedy person and an average con. That's why we're talking about this.
Normally when dealing with this kind of money there a lot of social checks and balances to prevent someone like this from ever having the ability to do this kind of damage. You just can't put untethered/unhinged people in positions of power. Money may help break down barriers, but you start with knowing who you can trust, and those you've vetted, and those they've vetted.
SBF was clearly vetted. By trusted people. Who were supposed to be wiser.
This isn't one persons failings, it's pretty clear that the people around SBF either encouraged or enabled him or both. They all looked the other way. How did that happen?
So that's the angle I'm interested in here. How in the heck did the kid get this far? Whatever caused this to happen should be identified and contained, lest we get a repeat performance elsewhere.
The only common denominator I see is that there is leftist thinking in and all around SBFs world. He's soaked in it.
His mom wrote an essay saying "the philosophy of personal responsibility has ruined criminal justice and economic policy". [1] This is very leftist thinking. This is one of the core people responsible for helping lay a moral foundation for this kid. Is it any wonder that SBF thinks this is all one big misunderstanding?
There's all the Ivy league connections, not known for being particularly conservative. For example there's this [2]. SBFs dad taught at Stanford.
His mother also started a Democratic super-PAC "Mind the Gap". [3] So clearly this family doesn't just lean left, but they feel it's their duty take their beliefs in the public sphere, to help push a leftist agenda in politics. These are True Believers if you will. I'm certain their circle of friends is also heavily left leaning. No one who starts a left leaning super-PAC has a lot of close right wing friends.
You can say those were just his parents views. But I say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Certainly explained why SBF talked a lot about Effective Altruism and donated politically. He believed in pushing his views on others and wielding that kind of power politically. This isn't your average crime -- I think this kid is seriously deluded, and thought he was changing the world for good. So yeah, his world view, however it leans, is worth examining close up. Because this kid isn't living in reality, and the belief system that put him there, and enabled him to do damage to others, deserves some scrutiny.
This kid was raised by leftists, in and around leftists, and their views have spilled over into his actions. The group of people around SBF created this monster. I'm not putting politics into this, I'm pointing out that he and those around him did. That's what I'm suggesting.
And so it seems to me this group of very left leaning people encouraged and connect SBF to people, thereby enabling him commit crime at this scale. And not one of them raised any red flags? Not one concern? I guess because on the outside he looked like one of them? I can tell you this, the right leaning people I know have been sounding alarms about the crypto space for a good long time.
Again, this isn't your average con. We're talking about massive systemic blind spots in the thinking of those trusted/vetted adults sitting in the room with SBF.
I'm not trying to make this a left/right thing. But there is a lingering smell of leftism all around it. And I do think that's worth bringing up, because I don't want a repeat performance. A lot of real average people got hurt here. This may be one big social experiment to the elites SBF runs with, but it's not to the little people that are losing money. The blind spots in thinking here need to be uncovered and examined up close.
[1] https://www.bostonreview.net/forum/barbara-fried-beyond-blame-moral-responsibility-philosophy-law/ https://www.bostonreview.net/forum/barbara-fried-beyond-blam...
[2] https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/7/13/faculty-survey-political-leaning/ https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/7/13/faculty-survey-...
[3] https://www.influencewatch.org/political-party/mind-the-gap/ https://www.influencewatch.org/political-party/mind-the-gap/