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0 pointsbloomingkales1y ago0 comments

"I don't really blame him for it"

That's the thing though right, that we all created this mess together. Like yeah, why don't you (and the rest of us) blame him?. We're all pretty warped and it's going to take collective rehab.

Super pretentious to quote MLK, but the man had stuff to say so here it is (on Inaction):

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it"

"The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people"

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whatshisface1y ago

It's not pretentious to quote Martin Luther King.

benatkin1y ago

It seems he was virtue signaling before. So it would be more accurate to blame him for having let himself become an ego driven person in the past. Or to put it nicely and to add the context of Brian Armstrong of Coinbase, who has also been showing public support for Trump, a mission-driven person.

mrandish1y ago

> It seems he was virtue signaling before.

Yes, the first mistake was a business leader in tech taking a public political position. It was popular and accepted (if not expected) in the valley in 2016.

Doing that then (and banking the social and reputational proceeds) created the problem of dissonance now. If he'd just stayed neutral in public in 2016, he could do what he's doing now and we could assume he's just being a pragmatic business person lobbying the government to further his company's interests.

benatkin1y ago

I think “progressive” is probably the safest position to take. It also works if you want to get involved in a different sort of politics later on. David Sacks had no problem doing that when he was no longer interested in being CEO of a large company.

mrandish1y ago

The evidence indicates not taking a position is the optimal position.

I have a lot of respect for CEOs who just focus on being a good CEO. It's a hard enough job as is. I don't care about or want to know some CEO's personal position on politics, religion or sports teams. It's all a distraction from the job at hand. Same goes for actors, athletes and singers. They aren't qualified to have an opinion any more relevant than anyone else's, except on acting, athletics, singing - or CEO-ing.

Sadly, my perspective is in the minority. Which is why I think so many public figures keep making this mistake. The media, pundits and social sphere need them to keep making this mistake.

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whatshisface1y ago

It's not pretentious to quote Martin Luther King.

benatkin1y ago

mrandish1y ago

> It seems he was virtue signaling before.

Yes, the first mistake was a business leader in tech taking a public political position. It was popular and accepted (if not expected) in the valley in 2016.

benatkin1y ago

mrandish1y ago

The evidence indicates not taking a position is the optimal position.

Sadly, my perspective is in the minority. Which is why I think so many public figures keep making this mistake. The media, pundits and social sphere need them to keep making this mistake.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse