People who defend the Tech Oligarchs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve hated Thiel since he destroyed Gawker. I do think the tide is turning on these types. Does anyone still like Musk? Or Bezos? Or Zuckerberg? They are all so unappealing, they are perfect villains.

Some really bad sh!t on Zuckerberg was just filed in federal court.

Wow anything for a buck!

I got of FB and Insta a couple of years ago because Zuck sucks. I wish every American would delete their accounts. It's destroying our society.

I deactivated my FB account but I can’t stop Insta. I never see politics on it though; it’s all dogs and fashion/decorating.

[Anonymous]

I don't know why I should care if someone grew up rich or upper middle class. I grew up poor; it doesn't make me more noble or give me special insight into how the world "really works." Being poor gives you a perspective, being rich gives you another perspective. Both are reflections of reality.

Good on Elon for trying to advance the world through solar, EVs, and space exploration. You don't like him because he's rich. You don't like poor people if they are white. None of this makes any sense to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why I should care if someone grew up rich or upper middle class. I grew up poor; it doesn't make me more noble or give me special insight into how the world "really works." Being poor gives you a perspective, being rich gives you another perspective. Both are reflections of reality.

Good on Elon for trying to advance the world through solar, EVs, and space exploration. You don't like him because he's rich. You don't like poor people if they are white. None of this makes any sense to me.

Musk’s race is irrelevant. People hate him because he is not a nice person, like zero redeeming qualities. World would be better without him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The PP who enumerated the shortcomings of the Democrats and the PP that made claims that some tech billionaires indeed built something out of significantly less wealth failed to address the central point of the OP, which is their influence on politics and government and overall direction of the US and global economic structure.

Taylor Swift is a billionaire. She had wealthy parents. You may or may not like her music. But we are not complaining about Taylor Swift’s wealth because she is not buying politicians, interfering with the electoral system, buying entire media platforms, and orchestrating major mergers, outsourcing/offshoring labor, circular investing into AI, and implementing mass layoffs and setting economic trends that solidify further concentration of wealth. The OP isn’t even about the existence of billionaires, but addressing the issue of half a dozen billionaires essentially manipulating the entire economy and political system.

I'm complaining about Taylor Swift's wealth. No one accumulates a billion dollars without exploiting SO MANY PEOPLE. Also, she flies that damn plane everywhere with no concern for the environment, using publicly funded travel infrastructure for her own personal plane. There are no good billionaires and private planes should be illegal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know the ilk. Elon Musk. Peter Thiel. Marc Andreesen. David Sacks. Larry and David Ellison.

Personally, I think each of them are more dangerous than Trump himself. I'd say Thiel most of all because he and his fascist whisperer, Curtis Yarvin, are behind it all whereas Musk is too ketamine addled and unstable to have a grasp on everything in the long run. these people especially Thiel are anti-democracy and anti-humanity. Their end goal is techno-feudalism in which AI replaces most jobs, but instead of a benevolent utopima where everyone gets a universal basic income and doesn't have to work, you will be basically live like feudal peasants and own nothing and live at the mercy of the tech overloards.

So that's my take, and it seems like for the most part, most people across the political spectrum do not look favorably on these oligarchs. Unfortunately, we don't have a critical mass opposing them, certainly not in the French Revolution sort of way. There is still enough of this delusion that they are the embodiment of the American dream, that they each deserve their wealth, they earned it, they are innovators and job creators etc (never mind the fact that they are doing the opposite of job creation right now). I honestly want somebody to explain this to me. Even the most hardcore libertarian capitalist shouldn't like the oligarchy, because by nature this isn't a free market, it's an anti-competitive oligopoly.

I'm center-left. Left by US standards, center-left internationally. I believe in markets, regulated markets, with essential things like healthcare to be nationalized, but with private options for expedited and high end services. But I'm not a socialist in the definition in which the state owns everything. I believe in competitive markets and especially, healthy small businesses. But the way I see it, the tech oligarchy resembles more of a state-socialist system like North Korea or the USSR, except it's not the State or the Communist Party owning everything, it's the Tech Oligarchy owning everything. They own the media, the public square, the utilities by which information is exhanged, and this is very, very dangerous.

I agree that all this is happening.

I think that most people are not aware of the desire they have to be oligarchs. They see them as smart and successful. They admire smart and successful people and think they can learn from their example or get some mojo of their own just from admiring these guys. Tech people have been lauded and praised since the 1990s. People see them as thought leaders and listen to their ideas--many are part of our daily lexicon in business and general life. I think also they'd say that the oligarchy they propose can't happen or that they meant something else by it.

There are also people who DO agree.They think they'll be part of this group and think they're somehow similar--like if you're an upper middle class type you'll bevome part of this ruling class. They see themselves as rulers too.

And plenty of people have a desire to follow or even to act masochistically toward their leaders so it appeals to this darker side of humanity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why I should care if someone grew up rich or upper middle class. I grew up poor; it doesn't make me more noble or give me special insight into how the world "really works." Being poor gives you a perspective, being rich gives you another perspective. Both are reflections of reality.

Good on Elon for trying to advance the world through solar, EVs, and space exploration. You don't like him because he's rich. You don't like poor people if they are white. None of this makes any sense to me.

I don't really care about the wealth; I just don't like the way he does business or any of the things he's produced or any of his concepts about what "work" is.

Also, I believe he's still a Democrat.

[Anonymous]

My personal belief is that the Silicon Valley tycoons are an existential threat to all that is good and decent in humanity. They are a profound menace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve hated Thiel since he destroyed Gawker. I do think the tide is turning on these types. Does anyone still like Musk? Or Bezos? Or Zuckerberg? They are all so unappealing, they are perfect villains.

The day everyone stops using their products-- like ditch your FB account, it's not free, you're giving him data so he can eventually sell it all off to a foreign investor and become the next trilionaire after Musk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My personal belief is that the Silicon Valley tycoons are an existential threat to all that is good and decent in humanity. They are a profound menace.

+1 they really don't add any value to humanity. Their products don't improve life in any significant way other than play with people's vanity. They're not finding a cure for deadly diseases, improving education, saving lives, increasing literacy... they're just.... crap. And the oligarchs are rewarded for producing... crap.

[Anonymous]

Says OP, as she shares her gripes on infrastructure created by these villainous tycoons.

I bet she orders from Amazon, has a facebook account, and lurks on X.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why I should care if someone grew up rich or upper middle class. I grew up poor; it doesn't make me more noble or give me special insight into how the world "really works." Being poor gives you a perspective, being rich gives you another perspective. Both are reflections of reality.

Good on Elon for trying to advance the world through solar, EVs, and space exploration. You don't like him because he's rich. You don't like poor people if they are white. None of this makes any sense to me.

Provide your evidence for the bolded statement, you poor simple fool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Says OP, as she shares her gripes on infrastructure created by these villainous tycoons.

I bet she orders from Amazon, has a facebook account, and lurks on X.

What infrastructure did Amazon and X CREATE? They certainly USE the infrastructure that was already in existence (and funded by US taxpayers) for their own profit, but are you really so brainwashed as to believe that they have created anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My personal belief is that the Silicon Valley tycoons are an existential threat to all that is good and decent in humanity. They are a profound menace.

+1 they really don't add any value to humanity. Their products don't improve life in any significant way other than play with people's vanity. They're not finding a cure for deadly diseases, improving education, saving lives, increasing literacy... they're just.... crap. And the oligarchs are rewarded for producing... crap.

You’re being too generous. Their products are actively destroying the environment, society, and humanity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve hated Thiel since he destroyed Gawker. I do think the tide is turning on these types. Does anyone still like Musk? Or Bezos? Or Zuckerberg? They are all so unappealing, they are perfect villains.

Some really bad sh!t on Zuckerberg was just filed in federal court.

Wow anything for a buck!

I got of FB and Insta a couple of years ago because Zuck sucks. I wish every American would delete their accounts. It's destroying our society.

I deactivated my FB account but I can’t stop Insta. I never see politics on it though; it’s all dogs and fashion/decorating.

Politics is not the point. Everyone with FB and Insta accts are $$ in Zuck’s pocket. Plus, he’s using your personal data to enrich himself. He’s making $$ off of pedos contacting kids on social media. He’s making $$ on our society becoming more polarized and unhappy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve hated Thiel since he destroyed Gawker. I do think the tide is turning on these types. Does anyone still like Musk? Or Bezos? Or Zuckerberg? They are all so unappealing, they are perfect villains.

Some really bad sh!t on Zuckerberg was just filed in federal court.

Wow anything for a buck!

I got of FB and Insta a couple of years ago because Zuck sucks. I wish every American would delete their accounts. It's destroying our society.

I deactivated my FB account but I can’t stop Insta. I never see politics on it though; it’s all dogs and fashion/decorating.

Politics is not the point. Everyone with FB and Insta accts are $$ in Zuck’s pocket. Plus, he’s using your personal data to enrich himself. He’s making $$ off of pedos contacting kids on social media. He’s making $$ on our society becoming more polarized and unhappy.

+1

He’s done a lot of damage in this world. Read Careless People.