Some have it coming, like the ones at Gawker. Doesn't excuse anything else Thiel has been connected to, of course, but I don't hold that particular lawsuit against him.
>so much for our cherished, upper to middle-class institutions.
The same institutions that said everyone needed to go to overpriced college and that shuttering a steel plant in Ohio just for the same steel to be made in even sketchier conditions overseas was an improvement.
They and their peddlers screech about evil billionares and every other aggravating factor because that's easier than looking in the mirror.
This shit ebbs and flows. The institutions did a lot of it to themselves. They'll crash and burn and in 100yr they'll be back again.
No, try the institutions telling you what’s happening in real time.
Only one party and one
segment of society supported the Chicago school of economics.
The billionaires and aspiring billionaires are the ones that put us in this trap.
The term-unlimited and woefully out-of-touch Congress are the ones that looked the other way as they allowed the lobbyists
to carve away more and more of our industry.
If you want to blame, blame the “fiscally conservative” party that foolishly loved and still loves the Chicago school.
To paraphrase your beloved dictator: “You have no cards and no leverage”.
Gawker was a garbage-tier publication. But I absolutely do hold that particular lawsuit against him:
Gawker didn't "out" Thiel in any meaningful sense. Yes, they published and it was tacky. But let's be very real: Thiel's social media and profile pictures were full of things like him shirtless on gay cruises and parties at gay nightclubs. The only people who learned Thiel was gay from Gawker were people who had no particular interest in him.
I also have significant issues with his bankrolling of Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker as an abomination of the legal system, including the right to face one's "accuser":
- Prior to Thiel's involvement, Hogan had already agreed in principle to a part ownership stake and profits of Gawker. He'd also already settled, and forgiven, the person who gave Gawker the sex tape in the first place.
- Lawyers paid for by Thiel pushed for him to drop that and push instead for bankrupting Gawker through damages (which were laughable, see below). (Hypothetical question, if you're an attorney, ostensibly representing Hogan, but you know the person paying your bills, Thiel, wants a different outcome for the case, when push comes to shove, whose interests are you going to represent? See the following point too).
- When the case and awarded damages -did- actually threaten to bankrupt Gawker, Thiel/Hogan's lawyers did the most illogical thing possible, if they were looking to recoup any money for their ostensible client... they dropped the one claim against Gawker that would have allowed their liability insurance to at least partially pay out. Remember, Hogan could use that money far, far more than Thiel.
(Re damages: The amount that Hogan had originally asked for seemed reasonable. Then after Thiel's lawyers got involved, the amount asked for was multiplied five thousand times.)
This included economic damages of fifty million dollars. For a man who had made something in the order of $20-25M his entire career? Who had a net worth at its peak of $30M, and at the time of the lawsuit, a NW of $8M? I highly doubt that TV stations pulling reruns of old WWF events, hair loss commercials and other endorsements was worth that. (They separately asked for emotional damages, too, to be clear. But there was near zero justification for this economic damages claim.)
I wonder how much Thiel paid Hogan under the table for this proxy lawsuit? Because it sure looks like he was playing puppeteer, and while Hogan had every right to be bitter about what Gawker did, his every action to resolve or plan to resolve the matter pivoted 180 degrees the moment "his" lawyers got involved, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the outcome perfectly aligned with Thiel's goals.
The group used to be pretty secretive and unknown until a hacker managed to discover Dialog not protecting their membership data properly - and found, among others, a shit ton of billionaires [1] and politicians including former German health minister Jens Spahn [2].
This is likely more an invite list than a membership list. Not defending it. But it's more like being a high profile, influential or powerful person and being invited to an exclusive conference than it is being a member of SPECTRE.
What meaningful complaint can you have about a meeting that includes Ted Cruz on one side and Wes Moore on the other; both Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman?
He has been politically active trying to roll back CDA Section 230 protections for social media companies because he conflates social media algorithms being “editorial” with what actions are actually protected by CDA 230.
He made an pinned Instagram post about his association with this group (link to his account, not to the post):
What did Taylor Swift and many celebs do yesterday at Madison Square Garden (a public venue)? All the news says she got married, but does that mean you're trusting the news media?
> A leaked schedule for the “retreat” hosted by Dialog, an invitation-only group