4 ms·

I am confused about how this photo exists. If I were a CEO, regardless of my politics, the last thing I would do would be to post a photo with somebody that con

I am confused about how this photo exists. If I were a CEO, regardless of my politics, the last thing I would do would be to post a photo with somebody that controversial. It's a situation that one can only lose from: one side might feel mildly positive about it, the other side will hate your guts. And the side that hates this guy is surely a much larger portion of Vercel's customer base. It doesn't take a genius to gauge public perception of a world figure in your key market (US & other western countries). They need a publicist, bad, to control this guy.

iamleppert 1y ago
Because many people don't think that murder is a bad thing. If it's done in the name of one's God, or to clear away an existing culture or people to make way for one who has been taught to believe they are superior to others, special, or deserving in some way. People like to act like this has never happened before, but the fact is it happens all the time throughout history. We like to think we are evolved past that, but we are not and unlikely to ever be at this point. The true nature of man is destructive, selfish, xenophobic and cruel. After Israel is done with Gaza, we'll create some holiday that has children dressing up as Palestinians for first grade theater. Palestinians will become like Native Americans: scarce and marginalized. Because of the religious, ethnic and racial homogeneity of the Israeli people, its likely to be far worse than what settlers did to the Native population at the time. Most people just don't care. If more did, it wouldn't be happening in the first place. Or at least those who are in power don't care and see human life as disposable.
- tguvot 1y ago
  there are 15m palestinians. 20% of Israeli population (~2m) are palestinians. how do you factor this into "religious, ethnic and racial homogeneity of the Israeli".
  - zhengiszen 1y ago
    Apartheid definition. Palestinians don't have the same rights even if they're native to the land.
    - tguvot 1y ago
      [flagged]
      - burnt-resistor 1y ago
        > all palestinians that are israeli citizens have exactly same rights under law. No, this is totally false. There have been many discriminatory laws passed against non-Jews and Arabs in the past couple of years. And then there's the yellow vs. green vehicle number plate thing. https://www.ft.com/content/3d57cf7c-a097-4e86-8f39-0f7720508123 https://www.ft.com/content/3d57cf7c-a097-4e86-8f39-0f7720508...
        tguvot 1y ago
        the only law that somehow discriminates arabs it's that if you marry somebody from west bank/gaza, you can't bring him to israel. also it's renewed yearly, not even sure if it still active or expired. green license plates are for west bank/gaza. all israeli citizens, including 2m arabs and ~700k "other" have yellow plates
- RadiozRadioz 1y ago
  No that's not what I meant. I'm not talking about the actual conflict or how it works. That's political discussion. My comment was specifically about the action of him posting the photo from a public relations perspective. There is a controversial world event. Regardless of which side you're on, everybody agrees that there are many people with strong opposing views. As a representative of a company, he should have stayed away from the topic as a whole, because getting involved with it is a PR nightmare with essentially zero upside.
  - tormeh 1y ago
    Not everyone puts the bottom line first, even among CEOs. In fact it's incredibly normal not to.
    - sporkxrocket 1y ago
      So what would you say the Vercel CEO is putting first here since this is clearly causing massive brand damage.
      - tormeh 1y ago
        Well, presumably he's a massive fan of Israel's current administration and thinks everyone who disagrees can stop being customers and also pound sand. Either that or he's completely lost the plot.
    - bigskydog 1y ago
      LOL, unless that guy/the group like that guy can bring much more money than the customers/people hate it.
      - omnimus 1y ago
        It might very well be the case. Vercel might have increasingly tougher time reselling AWS to small customers. So chance to resell AWS AI to countries might be great new market.
- nevergonna11 1y ago
  [flagged]
- burnt-resistor 1y ago
  Billionaires and ethnonationalist supremacists share a belief that they are "special" and entitled to do whatever they want because they are "better" and "more deserving". Doesn't matter the time period or the faction: European colonial invaders/separatists, Nazis, or Likud because almost every ideology based on supremacy tends to lead to war, repression, suffering, and/or mass death.
CyberMacGyver 1y ago
[flagged]
- lode 1y ago
  A gotcha photo? He posted it himself..
pityJuke 1y ago
Exactly, Netanyahu is contentious on BOTH sides of the political aisle. You're advertising to an ever decreasing spectrum of the right. Beyond the moral objections over this, I'm just confused how this happened from a PR perspective.
- dysoco 1y ago
  As an Argentinian, Israel/Netanyahu are generally well received (because of many people with Jewish heritage) by people in the center/right, even people in the left spectrum will be reticent about criticizing if they come from a Jewish family. The echo chamber is very real if you only watch right-leaning TV channels for example (most of them). Pure speculation from now on, but afaik Guillermo lives in the USA, and as the CEO of an international company I'm also surprised he's so tone deaf but it's not the only example (i.e. check Galperin's Twitter feed). I don't think it's about sending a message I think Guillermo probably follows Argentinian media/politics and fell for the echo chamber, he also wanted to look cool/important for Milei.
  - brazukadev 1y ago
    And he probably doesn't think the Elon Musk's hail Hitler gestures were a stupid move.
mrtksn 1y ago
[flagged]
- cramsession 1y ago
  Taking a picture with Hitler during WWII is a more apt comparison. The Vercel CEO is not ignorant of what Israel has been doing.
  - mrtksn 1y ago
    Even if he supports him, how does it help him to publicize it? If he's not ignorant about Netanyahu, what's the purpose here? Netanyahu is divisive even within Israel, I wouldn't post photo with him even before turning this into genocide. Ignorance somehow feels like the more plausible explanation.
    - cramsession 1y ago
      I think there are two plausible explanations: 1. He will be raising money/exiting to Israeli interests. 2. He's a Zionist and this is what he believes in. Either way, he knew there was going to be major brand damage occurring. He already went through this once when he posted a picture in Israel.
      - mrtksn 1y ago
        Maybe it's just about showing with whom you are siding with. Others too shared photos: https://x.com/rabois/status/1972611499932938691 https://x.com/rabois/status/1972611499932938691 Without necessarily implying ideology or support for something specific. I.e. waving US flag during the Irak invasion.
      - fakedang 1y ago
        Ties in with Vercel's very recent fundraise, which I presume includes ardent AIPAC members. Perhaps it was taken to look good in front of them. Rabois was also in the meeting for instance (behind him in that photo).
thrance 1y ago
Are we going with "controversial" now to describe genocidal dictators?
- ergocoder 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - thrance 1y ago
    Can't be bother to reply to your obviously bad faith comment: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-847924 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-847924
    - ergocoder 1y ago
      The headline is "Israel's not a dictatorship, but it's headed toward becoming one" So, currently not a dictatorship and wasn't one. They may or may not be in the future based on the headline which is still an opinion. If you may become a thief, should we put you in jail right now? No because you are not a thief. Meanwhile Hamas' leaders are dictator. There hasn't been any fair election for a very long time, and everyone including you would say a lot of Palestinians don't agree with Hamas' actions toward Israel (e.g. Oct 7) but are afraid to speak up. That's a dictatorship.
burnt-resistor 1y ago
The image he's minted is at best: he's a total effing tool, at worst: he's an ethnonationalist supremacist. Either way reeks of unstable stupidity.

iamleppert 1y ago

Because many people don't think that murder is a bad thing. If it's done in the name of one's God, or to clear away an existing culture or people to make way for one who has been taught to believe they are superior to others, special, or deserving in some way. People like to act like this has never happened before, but the fact is it happens all the time throughout history. We like to think we are evolved past that, but we are not and unlikely to ever be at this point. The true nature of man is destructive, selfish, xenophobic and cruel. After Israel is done with Gaza, we'll create some holiday that has children dressing up as Palestinians for first grade theater. Palestinians will become like Native Americans: scarce and marginalized. Because of the religious, ethnic and racial homogeneity of the Israeli people, its likely to be far worse than what settlers did to the Native population at the time. Most people just don't care. If more did, it wouldn't be happening in the first place. Or at least those who are in power don't care and see human life as disposable.

tguvot 1y ago
there are 15m palestinians. 20% of Israeli population (~2m) are palestinians. how do you factor this into "religious, ethnic and racial homogeneity of the Israeli".
- zhengiszen 1y ago
  Apartheid definition. Palestinians don't have the same rights even if they're native to the land.
  - tguvot 1y ago
    [flagged]
    - burnt-resistor 1y ago
      > all palestinians that are israeli citizens have exactly same rights under law. No, this is totally false. There have been many discriminatory laws passed against non-Jews and Arabs in the past couple of years. And then there's the yellow vs. green vehicle number plate thing. https://www.ft.com/content/3d57cf7c-a097-4e86-8f39-0f7720508123 https://www.ft.com/content/3d57cf7c-a097-4e86-8f39-0f7720508...
      - tguvot 1y ago
        the only law that somehow discriminates arabs it's that if you marry somebody from west bank/gaza, you can't bring him to israel. also it's renewed yearly, not even sure if it still active or expired. green license plates are for west bank/gaza. all israeli citizens, including 2m arabs and ~700k "other" have yellow plates
RadiozRadioz 1y ago
No that's not what I meant. I'm not talking about the actual conflict or how it works. That's political discussion. My comment was specifically about the action of him posting the photo from a public relations perspective. There is a controversial world event. Regardless of which side you're on, everybody agrees that there are many people with strong opposing views. As a representative of a company, he should have stayed away from the topic as a whole, because getting involved with it is a PR nightmare with essentially zero upside.
- tormeh 1y ago
  Not everyone puts the bottom line first, even among CEOs. In fact it's incredibly normal not to.
  - sporkxrocket 1y ago
    So what would you say the Vercel CEO is putting first here since this is clearly causing massive brand damage.
    - tormeh 1y ago
      Well, presumably he's a massive fan of Israel's current administration and thinks everyone who disagrees can stop being customers and also pound sand. Either that or he's completely lost the plot.
  - bigskydog 1y ago
    LOL, unless that guy/the group like that guy can bring much more money than the customers/people hate it.
    - omnimus 1y ago
      It might very well be the case. Vercel might have increasingly tougher time reselling AWS to small customers. So chance to resell AWS AI to countries might be great new market.
nevergonna11 1y ago
[flagged]
burnt-resistor 1y ago
Billionaires and ethnonationalist supremacists share a belief that they are "special" and entitled to do whatever they want because they are "better" and "more deserving". Doesn't matter the time period or the faction: European colonial invaders/separatists, Nazis, or Likud because almost every ideology based on supremacy tends to lead to war, repression, suffering, and/or mass death.

CyberMacGyver 1y ago

[flagged]

lode 1y ago
A gotcha photo? He posted it himself..

pityJuke 1y ago

Exactly, Netanyahu is contentious on BOTH sides of the political aisle. You're advertising to an ever decreasing spectrum of the right. Beyond the moral objections over this, I'm just confused how this happened from a PR perspective.

dysoco 1y ago
As an Argentinian, Israel/Netanyahu are generally well received (because of many people with Jewish heritage) by people in the center/right, even people in the left spectrum will be reticent about criticizing if they come from a Jewish family. The echo chamber is very real if you only watch right-leaning TV channels for example (most of them). Pure speculation from now on, but afaik Guillermo lives in the USA, and as the CEO of an international company I'm also surprised he's so tone deaf but it's not the only example (i.e. check Galperin's Twitter feed). I don't think it's about sending a message I think Guillermo probably follows Argentinian media/politics and fell for the echo chamber, he also wanted to look cool/important for Milei.
- brazukadev 1y ago
  And he probably doesn't think the Elon Musk's hail Hitler gestures were a stupid move.

mrtksn 1y ago

[flagged]

cramsession 1y ago
Taking a picture with Hitler during WWII is a more apt comparison. The Vercel CEO is not ignorant of what Israel has been doing.
- mrtksn 1y ago
  Even if he supports him, how does it help him to publicize it? If he's not ignorant about Netanyahu, what's the purpose here? Netanyahu is divisive even within Israel, I wouldn't post photo with him even before turning this into genocide. Ignorance somehow feels like the more plausible explanation.
  - cramsession 1y ago
    I think there are two plausible explanations: 1. He will be raising money/exiting to Israeli interests. 2. He's a Zionist and this is what he believes in. Either way, he knew there was going to be major brand damage occurring. He already went through this once when he posted a picture in Israel.
    - mrtksn 1y ago
      Maybe it's just about showing with whom you are siding with. Others too shared photos: https://x.com/rabois/status/1972611499932938691 https://x.com/rabois/status/1972611499932938691 Without necessarily implying ideology or support for something specific. I.e. waving US flag during the Irak invasion.
    - fakedang 1y ago
      Ties in with Vercel's very recent fundraise, which I presume includes ardent AIPAC members. Perhaps it was taken to look good in front of them. Rabois was also in the meeting for instance (behind him in that photo).

thrance 1y ago

Are we going with "controversial" now to describe genocidal dictators?

ergocoder 1y ago
[flagged]
- thrance 1y ago
  Can't be bother to reply to your obviously bad faith comment: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-847924 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-847924
  - ergocoder 1y ago
    The headline is "Israel's not a dictatorship, but it's headed toward becoming one" So, currently not a dictatorship and wasn't one. They may or may not be in the future based on the headline which is still an opinion. If you may become a thief, should we put you in jail right now? No because you are not a thief. Meanwhile Hamas' leaders are dictator. There hasn't been any fair election for a very long time, and everyone including you would say a lot of Palestinians don't agree with Hamas' actions toward Israel (e.g. Oct 7) but are afraid to speak up. That's a dictatorship.

burnt-resistor 1y ago

The image he's minted is at best: he's a total effing tool, at worst: he's an ethnonationalist supremacist. Either way reeks of unstable stupidity.