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Absolutely horrifying. More so because there are actually people here in this thread defending the crazy person who's trying to destroy somebody's life because

Absolutely horrifying. More so because there are actually people here in this thread defending the crazy person who's trying to destroy somebody's life because they don't like the company he works for.

mattmaroon 13y ago
That article was insane. How dare he try to get actual houses built so people can live there! And those crazy tech people with their law and order, and the jobs they create in the service industry! We cannot tolerate that!
mgunes 13y ago
No, there aren't "people"; there is "a person", me. Just one person. Everyone else is speculating on how the poor little "Googler"'s life is destroyed by a naive peaceful protest, derailing the issue with anti-left wing jokes, suggesting that "Googlers" carry weapons, and so on. HN at its best: when its ideological toe is stepped on. popcorn
- walshemj 13y ago
  And if I as a "techie" feel threatened an oppressed by those individuals I am. I am in no way a right winger I was coming at it form the same direction that those who fought in cable street did. "An injury to one is an injury to all"
  - mgunes 13y ago
    "Threatened" and "oppressed", by non-violent assembly and protest? Come on.
    - bovermyer 13y ago
      So if I hang out in your front lawn and prevent you from leaving your house (in a non-violent manner) with a bunch of my friends, does that make me non-threatening and non-oppressive?
    - walshemj 13y ago
      Absolutely its the "perception" by the group of the threat/oppression that is the key thing. You might want to talk to a few people outside of your group from different ethnicity / group.
    - vidarh 13y ago
      A group posts pictures of your house, your name, and detailed descriptions that attempt to dehumanise you and paint you as some supervillain. Would I feel threatened and oppressed if I was the target of that? Yes. I'd probably make sure I had weapons in the house. My lunatic meter went off time and time again while reading their flier. I would not for a second trust that there's not at least one crazy guy that decides to take things one step too far in that group.
    - genericuser 13y ago
      They state that they chose to block his personal commute not merely protest at his residence. That means they chose to attempt to prevent him from leaving (since once he left he would be out of their control and may well go to work). If you were someone that needed to go to work, and needed to drop your child somewhere on the way, and there was a large group of people outside your house with the stated intent of preventing you from doing so, you would not feel threatened? I mean sure they are peaceful while you are inside not attempting to leave, but when you try to oppose their goals by leaving, it raises the question of how dedicated they are to their goal, which I believe would make a rational person feel threatened. If they had not made the point that the purpose of this was to restrict him from going about life then I would be much more willing to consider the view that he should not feel threatened.
  - Torgo 13y ago
    That kind of egalitarian viewpoint is alien to these protesters. They are entitled to attack this individual because he is powerful and wrong, and they are powerless and right. You're thinking "no punching" and they're thinking "punch up, not down."
- n1ghtmare_ 13y ago
  There is something wrong with you dude ... Like seriously!
- vidarh 13y ago
  I'm a marxist - certainly not aligned with any right wing libertarians. But right from the headline that article disgusts me. Unless they have concrete proof that this specific guy have done something particularly bad (and they've not presented any), calling him out by name and with photos of his home is way over the line to begin with. Not only is it creepy, it is deeply counterproductive and will only serve to alienate people that might otherwise be sympathetic. What they describe as a "pompous two story palace with stone lions guarding the door" looks to me like a quite average suburban house. Yes, I get that there are people substantially worse off, but they're not getting any sympathy with crap like that. Further, trying to dehumanise him with their descriptions of him as a "robot" and contrasting him with his child, and their use of words like "evil" ought to make everyone concerned. This is not progressive. On the contrary, this is moronic petit bourgeois luddites staging ineffective and creepy demonstrations that will achieve nothing but play straight into the hands of their opponents. It also shows that they fundamentally fail to understand the mechanisms they are fighting. Everyone on the other side will see what they are doing as perfectly reasonable. They are just "hacking the system" and following consequences. The moment they are described as "evil" and faced with personal demonstrations, these guys start creating enemies, when they could instead have searched for partners. But these clowns use socialist terms while they clearly don't understand much of its basis. Marx, for example, was very clear in his agitation against the kind of moronic vilification demonstrated in this text: The typical capitalist, and those aiding him, according to Marx, is no more evil than the worker he oppresses - capitalist and worker alike for the most part are trapped in the same machine, and have little choice but to stick to their roles: A capitalist that stops exploiting labour will fail, and end up a labourer by necessity himself. Marx was not against the capitalist. He was not even against the capitalist system per se - on the contrary, he realised that for any chance of socialism to succeed, it would be _essential_ to bring about the economic development and automation required to be able to meet the needs of everyone. In fact, socialism as an idea is a child of the industrial revolution more than anything: It arose out of the hope that the industrial revolution would bring about such wealth that poverty could finally be beaten, Marx held that the capitalist system would play out its role once production had reached such a height that poverty could be eradicated. Socialism originated as an ideology deeply intertwined with a positive view of technology and automation as tools of liberation. To see these guys play modern day luddites and drag out socialism in the same breath just shows a staggering degree of lack of awareness of history. To see them target individuals rather than the system equally so.
- mindcrime 13y ago
  Why shouldn't googlers carry weapons? Everyone has a right to self-defense, and certain recent actions at least hint that googlers may be at an increased risk of being attacked. Choosing to carry a weapon is just being prudent.
tomp 13y ago
The point of the protest isn't to destroy a person's life, the point of the protest is to (1) make Google's employees reluctant to continue being Google's employees and as a result (2) make Google rethink their official and unofficial policies, in order to (3) make the world a better place. AFAIK, they haven't really hurt anybody (this time). They are just pressing the points that (they think will) hurt the most.
- walls 13y ago
  You'd have to be completely insane to believe #3 is in any way related to #1 and #2. I personally feel the world is a much better place (certainly Oakland is) with highly skilled employees flushing out the trash.
  - ForHackernews 13y ago
    > I personally feel the world is a much better place (certainly Oakland is) with highly skilled employees flushing out the trash. To what or whom does "the trash" refer in your comment?
    - kenrikm 13y ago
      I think he's referring to the people who make Oakland one of the most dangerous cities in country to live in.
      - moocowduckquack 13y ago
        Cops?
  - g333k 13y ago
    The people taken in by this movement are worse then insane, and they are worse than morons. They are articulate enough to be dangerous. However, comments like the one you make here just strengthens their movement. "Trash" ? No one is trash! If you refer to criminality, know that good hearted and decent poor people are also adversely affected. Please, do not call anyone 'trash'.
anExcitedBeast 13y ago
Let's pretend Google isn't causing very real problems for the poor and lower middle class in the Bay area. Let's also pretend that we can blame an inorganic "corporation", but never the individuals who design it, steer it, and totally embody it.
- aeorgnoieang 13y ago
  Oooh – pretending is so much fun! Let's pretend that housing isn't subject to supply and demand.
- humanrebar 13y ago
  Sarcasm aside, the flyer is creepy and probably threatening.
- g333k 13y ago
  No, "google" most definitely is NOT causing these problems. Apple is!
droopybuns 13y ago
Right. It is important to cast this protestor out rather than try to understand their perspective. Thats the kind of response that has no consequences. No defense is possible for the truly evil and nonviolent behavior of that sinister protestor.
- g333k 13y ago
  Wait, what? I'm not sure which levels of sarcasm you are applying to which parts of your post. Do you think there are real negative consequences to casting out this moron? Morons are going to find things to protest. Some address real issues, others invent issues, or build them out of poor research. It's generally a good thing to ignore the latter.
  - droopybuns 13y ago
    If violence is on the line, I think it's important to listen; even they're morons.

mattmaroon 13y ago

That article was insane. How dare he try to get actual houses built so people can live there! And those crazy tech people with their law and order, and the jobs they create in the service industry! We cannot tolerate that!

mgunes 13y ago

No, there aren't "people"; there is "a person", me. Just one person. Everyone else is speculating on how the poor little "Googler"'s life is destroyed by a naive peaceful protest, derailing the issue with anti-left wing jokes, suggesting that "Googlers" carry weapons, and so on. HN at its best: when its ideological toe is stepped on. popcorn

walshemj 13y ago
And if I as a "techie" feel threatened an oppressed by those individuals I am. I am in no way a right winger I was coming at it form the same direction that those who fought in cable street did. "An injury to one is an injury to all"
- mgunes 13y ago
  "Threatened" and "oppressed", by non-violent assembly and protest? Come on.
  - bovermyer 13y ago
    So if I hang out in your front lawn and prevent you from leaving your house (in a non-violent manner) with a bunch of my friends, does that make me non-threatening and non-oppressive?
  - walshemj 13y ago
    Absolutely its the "perception" by the group of the threat/oppression that is the key thing. You might want to talk to a few people outside of your group from different ethnicity / group.
  - vidarh 13y ago
    A group posts pictures of your house, your name, and detailed descriptions that attempt to dehumanise you and paint you as some supervillain. Would I feel threatened and oppressed if I was the target of that? Yes. I'd probably make sure I had weapons in the house. My lunatic meter went off time and time again while reading their flier. I would not for a second trust that there's not at least one crazy guy that decides to take things one step too far in that group.
  - genericuser 13y ago
    They state that they chose to block his personal commute not merely protest at his residence. That means they chose to attempt to prevent him from leaving (since once he left he would be out of their control and may well go to work). If you were someone that needed to go to work, and needed to drop your child somewhere on the way, and there was a large group of people outside your house with the stated intent of preventing you from doing so, you would not feel threatened? I mean sure they are peaceful while you are inside not attempting to leave, but when you try to oppose their goals by leaving, it raises the question of how dedicated they are to their goal, which I believe would make a rational person feel threatened. If they had not made the point that the purpose of this was to restrict him from going about life then I would be much more willing to consider the view that he should not feel threatened.
- Torgo 13y ago
  That kind of egalitarian viewpoint is alien to these protesters. They are entitled to attack this individual because he is powerful and wrong, and they are powerless and right. You're thinking "no punching" and they're thinking "punch up, not down."
n1ghtmare_ 13y ago
There is something wrong with you dude ... Like seriously!
vidarh 13y ago
I'm a marxist - certainly not aligned with any right wing libertarians. But right from the headline that article disgusts me. Unless they have concrete proof that this specific guy have done something particularly bad (and they've not presented any), calling him out by name and with photos of his home is way over the line to begin with. Not only is it creepy, it is deeply counterproductive and will only serve to alienate people that might otherwise be sympathetic. What they describe as a "pompous two story palace with stone lions guarding the door" looks to me like a quite average suburban house. Yes, I get that there are people substantially worse off, but they're not getting any sympathy with crap like that. Further, trying to dehumanise him with their descriptions of him as a "robot" and contrasting him with his child, and their use of words like "evil" ought to make everyone concerned. This is not progressive. On the contrary, this is moronic petit bourgeois luddites staging ineffective and creepy demonstrations that will achieve nothing but play straight into the hands of their opponents. It also shows that they fundamentally fail to understand the mechanisms they are fighting. Everyone on the other side will see what they are doing as perfectly reasonable. They are just "hacking the system" and following consequences. The moment they are described as "evil" and faced with personal demonstrations, these guys start creating enemies, when they could instead have searched for partners. But these clowns use socialist terms while they clearly don't understand much of its basis. Marx, for example, was very clear in his agitation against the kind of moronic vilification demonstrated in this text: The typical capitalist, and those aiding him, according to Marx, is no more evil than the worker he oppresses - capitalist and worker alike for the most part are trapped in the same machine, and have little choice but to stick to their roles: A capitalist that stops exploiting labour will fail, and end up a labourer by necessity himself. Marx was not against the capitalist. He was not even against the capitalist system per se - on the contrary, he realised that for any chance of socialism to succeed, it would be _essential_ to bring about the economic development and automation required to be able to meet the needs of everyone. In fact, socialism as an idea is a child of the industrial revolution more than anything: It arose out of the hope that the industrial revolution would bring about such wealth that poverty could finally be beaten, Marx held that the capitalist system would play out its role once production had reached such a height that poverty could be eradicated. Socialism originated as an ideology deeply intertwined with a positive view of technology and automation as tools of liberation. To see these guys play modern day luddites and drag out socialism in the same breath just shows a staggering degree of lack of awareness of history. To see them target individuals rather than the system equally so.
mindcrime 13y ago
Why shouldn't googlers carry weapons? Everyone has a right to self-defense, and certain recent actions at least hint that googlers may be at an increased risk of being attacked. Choosing to carry a weapon is just being prudent.

tomp 13y ago

The point of the protest isn't to destroy a person's life, the point of the protest is to (1) make Google's employees reluctant to continue being Google's employees and as a result (2) make Google rethink their official and unofficial policies, in order to (3) make the world a better place. AFAIK, they haven't really hurt anybody (this time). They are just pressing the points that (they think will) hurt the most.

walls 13y ago
You'd have to be completely insane to believe #3 is in any way related to #1 and #2. I personally feel the world is a much better place (certainly Oakland is) with highly skilled employees flushing out the trash.
- ForHackernews 13y ago
  > I personally feel the world is a much better place (certainly Oakland is) with highly skilled employees flushing out the trash. To what or whom does "the trash" refer in your comment?
  - kenrikm 13y ago
    I think he's referring to the people who make Oakland one of the most dangerous cities in country to live in.
    - moocowduckquack 13y ago
      Cops?
- g333k 13y ago
  The people taken in by this movement are worse then insane, and they are worse than morons. They are articulate enough to be dangerous. However, comments like the one you make here just strengthens their movement. "Trash" ? No one is trash! If you refer to criminality, know that good hearted and decent poor people are also adversely affected. Please, do not call anyone 'trash'.

anExcitedBeast 13y ago

Let's pretend Google isn't causing very real problems for the poor and lower middle class in the Bay area. Let's also pretend that we can blame an inorganic "corporation", but never the individuals who design it, steer it, and totally embody it.

aeorgnoieang 13y ago
Oooh – pretending is so much fun! Let's pretend that housing isn't subject to supply and demand.
humanrebar 13y ago
Sarcasm aside, the flyer is creepy and probably threatening.
g333k 13y ago
No, "google" most definitely is NOT causing these problems. Apple is!

droopybuns 13y ago

Right. It is important to cast this protestor out rather than try to understand their perspective. Thats the kind of response that has no consequences. No defense is possible for the truly evil and nonviolent behavior of that sinister protestor.

g333k 13y ago
Wait, what? I'm not sure which levels of sarcasm you are applying to which parts of your post. Do you think there are real negative consequences to casting out this moron? Morons are going to find things to protest. Some address real issues, others invent issues, or build them out of poor research. It's generally a good thing to ignore the latter.
- droopybuns 13y ago
  If violence is on the line, I think it's important to listen; even they're morons.