You have to understand. The billionaire class is the master race, somehow ordained by God. We owe them.
That and Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal ( a short read ) is something of a handbook for Thiel, if I’m understanding released ramblings of the guy on his speech tour.
sillicon valley elites should be in charge of the government, and the people should never question the new government, which should get all the money. that new government will be built by sillicon valley enginers and ai, instead of focusing on apps.
the people only are good for the army but will get basic necesites (I think, that is what the “free email is not enough” point means)
Basic necessities contingent upon obedience to the billionaires. Don’t like it? Tough shit. Take what we give you, and keep any complaints locked in that empty, non-rich hat rack you call a head. In fact, we mandate that you smile and thank us as we pass you by on the street, grateful that we have granted you the privilege of another day of living. But be mindful, we can revoke that privilege any time it so pleases us.
mandate that you smile and thank us as we pass you by on the street,
Tut! As if they would deign to tread upon soiled (shudders) commoner’s ground, or suffer the indignity of having such lowly eyes gaze upon them. Ugh! /s
I’m definitely not pro eugenics (or pro Palantir and billionaires), but that was not what I read in there. Taken on itself it had some merit to engange in discussion. I don’t agree with a lot of the points, of the tweet but there are, in my opinion, some are pretty valid. “The ruthless exposure of the private lives of public figures drives far too much talent away from government service.” for instance.
I think in a normal society, such ideas could be engaged with and weighed and measured as you say.
However right now, we’re in a ridiculous parody-like peak of modern corruption and shameless greed.
These screeds are written to sound intelligent in order to welcome this “debate of ideas” and lower our guard, but simply by the context of those pushing them, we know it’s just another attempt at manipulation and manufacturing consent, in order further farm the poor to enrich the rich.
It’s just mental ransomware: It’s constantly hammering us looking for any open port, any vulnerability, any slip-up, so it can take everything from us and rent basic humanity back to us with interest.
Fair enough, I’m myself am from the netherlands (where polarisation and rise of the far right does happen, but we still have some semblance of normalcy and social welfare and cohesion), so my context is a bit different. That’s maybe why I saw the merit of discussing some of these points.
But you are right, this coming from an AI surveillance company CEO and all the other weird shit happening in the US, and more places in the world, does warrant a heavy dose of skepticism and alertness.
I just was taken aback what people were reading here (like eugenics), what I totally couldn’t glean from the original tweet.
I understand and respect where you’re coming from, especially with your added context. I’m also sincerely happy for you living in a functioning state where people can still civilly disagree and discuss the merits of various viewpoints. :)
(I’m in the U.S, so yeah kind of surrounded by all this nonsense haha)
I too, find exaggerated and tilted reactions from any side to be exhausting. I know especially online these days people can be especially “knee-jerk” in how they respond, but at a core and human level I appreciate you trying to see this thing objectively. That’s very valuable.
But…yeah. That’s what these monsters do: They masquerade as “reasonable”, push views to extremes, pollute our discourse, and turn us on each other.
But I think that you and I simply having this conversation is a point for an optimistic outlook. :)
yeah it’s great we can have this conversation, one of the things I love about Lemmy. There is room for listening, discussing and trying to understand each other.
Do you think that people like Alex Karp believe themselves? I mean, does het just follow the billionaire script, and thinks he does good (while doing a lot of harm). Or that this is intentionally masking the bad motivations of himself and allies?
So I’m reading basically:
yes draft
yes eugenics
yes war
yes religion
no free anything
no social services
no shaming rich people
no cultural humility
Also, the definition of “peace” in there is suspect
You have to understand. The billionaire class is the master race, somehow ordained by God. We owe them.
That and Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal ( a short read ) is something of a handbook for Thiel, if I’m understanding released ramblings of the guy on his speech tour.
It continues to astound me that rich so-called Christian people ignore important parts of the Bible …
Never underestimate people’s ability to ignore inconvenient information.
…Presumably written by someone looking to keep a population poor / profit off them
i think it is more:
Basic necessities contingent upon obedience to the billionaires. Don’t like it? Tough shit. Take what we give you, and keep any complaints locked in that empty, non-rich hat rack you call a head. In fact, we mandate that you smile and thank us as we pass you by on the street, grateful that we have granted you the privilege of another day of living. But be mindful, we can revoke that privilege any time it so pleases us.
Tut! As if they would deign to tread upon soiled (shudders) commoner’s ground, or suffer the indignity of having such lowly eyes gaze upon them. Ugh! /s
Reminds me of of a good joke:
“My lord, the workers are revolting!”
“Well stop staring at them then!”
You forgot “yes to more bribes to politicians”
I’m definitely not pro eugenics (or pro Palantir and billionaires), but that was not what I read in there. Taken on itself it had some merit to engange in discussion. I don’t agree with a lot of the points, of the tweet but there are, in my opinion, some are pretty valid. “The ruthless exposure of the private lives of public figures drives far too much talent away from government service.” for instance.
You are a fool if you think this means anything beyond eliminating public accountability of the actions of the government
I think in a normal society, such ideas could be engaged with and weighed and measured as you say.
However right now, we’re in a ridiculous parody-like peak of modern corruption and shameless greed.
These screeds are written to sound intelligent in order to welcome this “debate of ideas” and lower our guard, but simply by the context of those pushing them, we know it’s just another attempt at manipulation and manufacturing consent, in order further farm the poor to enrich the rich.
It’s just mental ransomware: It’s constantly hammering us looking for any open port, any vulnerability, any slip-up, so it can take everything from us and rent basic humanity back to us with interest.
Fair enough, I’m myself am from the netherlands (where polarisation and rise of the far right does happen, but we still have some semblance of normalcy and social welfare and cohesion), so my context is a bit different. That’s maybe why I saw the merit of discussing some of these points.
But you are right, this coming from an AI surveillance company CEO and all the other weird shit happening in the US, and more places in the world, does warrant a heavy dose of skepticism and alertness.
I just was taken aback what people were reading here (like eugenics), what I totally couldn’t glean from the original tweet.
I understand and respect where you’re coming from, especially with your added context. I’m also sincerely happy for you living in a functioning state where people can still civilly disagree and discuss the merits of various viewpoints. :)
(I’m in the U.S, so yeah kind of surrounded by all this nonsense haha)
I too, find exaggerated and tilted reactions from any side to be exhausting. I know especially online these days people can be especially “knee-jerk” in how they respond, but at a core and human level I appreciate you trying to see this thing objectively. That’s very valuable.
But…yeah. That’s what these monsters do: They masquerade as “reasonable”, push views to extremes, pollute our discourse, and turn us on each other.
But I think that you and I simply having this conversation is a point for an optimistic outlook. :)
yeah it’s great we can have this conversation, one of the things I love about Lemmy. There is room for listening, discussing and trying to understand each other.
Do you think that people like Alex Karp believe themselves? I mean, does het just follow the billionaire script, and thinks he does good (while doing a lot of harm). Or that this is intentionally masking the bad motivations of himself and allies?
While maybe not eugenics, it is 100% white nationalist.