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by vincentjiang 131 days ago
hate to see that tech leaders getting into politics
4 comments

Well on the bright side it's a complete mask off moment for the tech community. I think it is good for these people to expose themselves to the public. They will show you who they really are if you let them.

“If the broad light of day could be let in upon men’s actions, it would purify them as the sun disinfects”. -- Louis Brandeis

For one person in the tech community. And apparently he was already "out?" (The article goes into his history in supporting political causes.)
Why is that?
I'd prefer to see more of them do so, personally. That said, to watch Tan wading into a local fistfight about school curriculum and housing zoning and whatnot in the age of ICE abduction, targetted political prosecution and wanton macroeconomic regulatory chaos seems... frustrating.

I mean, I kinda agree with him about most of the centrist stuff. But really, Gary? This is what you need to be spending your money and time on?

Garry seems motivated by being against a wealth tax and this is also likely the reason other ultra rich people will donate to his dark money fund:

https://finviz.com/news/277038/y-combinators-garry-tan-warns...

Garry is chummy with musk and trump. His motivation here is to protect the pedophile class.
I wouldn't even be surprised at this point. Seems like the files will unironically unravel 90% of the elite class at this rate.

What an absolute pathetic hill to die on. You have the riches to fund entire industries, explore the whole world or even beyond, to please any hedonistic pleasure you have... but many chose to do one of the 3 unthinkable things in modern humanity.

Wow. So it's not even good enough that he agrees with you. You demand that he also prioritizes in the same order as you?
I dunno about "demand". But sure, I think most of us would prefer people prioritize like we do. And in particular many of us would view this kind of hobby project as tone deaf and tell people about that in public.

My freedom to tell Tan (or you) that he's being an idiot stems from the same place as his freedom to spend his own money on what he wants.

Or do you hate that their politics don't align with yours?
Everyone should hate people that believe in undemocratic principles.
Hot take: what has democracy done for us lately? Besides re-electing Donald Trump?

If something can't go on forever, it will eventually stop. That applies to any system that gives stupid people the same political voice as the rest of the electorate. I mean, it seems kind of obvious, doesn't it?

Ask yourself which class can gain something by having trump as president rather than any other democrat

(it's not the working class)

Exactly. So why'd the "working class" vote for him?
Because the ones owning social medias, newspapers (and whatnot) pushed heavily for it
>what has democracy done for us lately? Besides re-electing Donald Trump?

You have the order backwards. This is their exact strategy; spend decades breaking government then have the breakers say "see? government is broken!". Lack of functioning democracy got us Donald Trump.

Why do you think this year they are so gung ho on trying to disenfranchise voters for a midterm? Because they know they are cooked if democracy starts to work again. If nothing else, Mamdami's 6 weeks show exactly how a "government that works for its people" can work. Let's keep pushing for that.

I hate that their politic's explicit goal is to make my, yours, and everyone else's lives actively worse. Government is not a business.

We're not getting better healthcare, more and better jobs, more efficient transportation, better city infrastructure, nor more houses. We aren't even getting the cool things shown in cyberpunk dystopias. Hell, we can't even ask for them to follow the law these days.

Why would I want to support them getting into politics? There's a difference betweeen them having different thoughts on how fund, say, self drving cars (which I'm not a fan of) and then all of that above.

it's that their money buys outsized influence and erodes the concept of democracy
Nah, I don't even know what Garry's politics are. I hate that there's so much money in politics in general.
Fair enough.
Their very existence doesn't align with my politics, or any decent person's politics for that matter.
Smart, successful people offering products and services that lots of people want does not align with your politics? What are your politics?
>What are your politics?

how about not protecting child diddlers as a bare bones start? That's not even the "on the ground" bare minimum; we're still stuck in the hole.

But let's try to meet 1% of the way first and take baby steps, okay?

People extracting value from labor to enrich themselves at the expense of society and then using those riches to further corrupt society, to the point where a few dudes own most of the country does not align with my politics.

That's why I'm a socialist and I would invite anyone who thinks things might not be going in the right direction to consider that as well.