[wellboy]

Yes, true. One can certainly learn from what they have done, but I think what I mean with invalidated is that they immediately lose all of their credibility with a statement like this.

Because of this, people won't be inspired by them anymore and their opinion doesn't have weight anymore, because now everybody knows they are not looking to make a difference in the world, they are only looking out for themselves and their own benefit.

Still have hopes for Ben, I've always admired a16z, but this really sucks

[webmaven]

I think you still have to qualify that as 'moral or ethical credibility', and even then limit it to topics relating to government power and accountability.

By all accounts, their treatment of founders is very ethical indeed (by Founders' standards), for example, and I wouldn't expect this to impact their credibility as knowledgable VCs at all.

In short, people are complicated, and applying well-earned admiration in one area to transitively enhance someone's reputation in another is clearly an all too common error (hence celebrity endorsements, etc.)