
Zuckerberg Pays $19B for Startup Whose Founders Couldn't Get Jobs at Facebook - diamonis
http://vdare.com/posts/despite-h-1b-shortage-zuckerberg-not-yet-broke-pays-19b-for-whatsapp
======
_pius
You guys realize VDARE is a well-known hate group and bastion of white
nationalist angst, right?

[http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-
files/gro...](http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-
files/groups/VDARE)

~~~
ruhruh
Yup.

Here of all places I think we should be open to provocative & "dangerous"
views but in this case one should be aware of the source.

~~~
diamonis
Yes. Be aware of the source, viz, $PLC exposed...and it ain't pretty to look
at...)

[http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/king-
fearmongers_7145...](http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/king-
fearmongers_714573.html?nopager=1)

"Critics have charged that the way the SPLC counts hate groups renders its
impressive tallies essentially meaningless. One of the most vocal critics is
Laird Wilcox, a self-described political liberal in Olathe, Kansas, who has
been tracking radical-fringe organizations on both the left and the right for
five decades, amassing an enormous documentary archive that is now housed at
the library of the University of Kansas. According to Wilcox, many of the
organizations on the SPLC’s expansive list “may be two guys and a post-office
box,” while others might not exist at all. “Their lists of hate groups never
have addresses that can be checked,” Wilcox said in a telephone interview.
“I’ve had police departments across the country calling me and saying we can’t
find this group [on the SPLC’s list]. All they can find is a post-office box,
so I have to tell them that I don’t know whether they even exist.” In a self-
published book, The Watchdogs, he criticized the SPLC for having “misleadingly
padded” its list of white-supremacy organizations. In particular, Wilcox
faulted the SPLC for maintaining that three men accused of killing a police
officer in Cortez, Colorado, in 1998 had belonged to a supposedly racist and
anti-Semitic militia group called the Four Corners Patriots for whose
existence no evidence ever emerged. “People have tried to track down these
groups, but they couldn’t find them,” Wilcox said."

~~~
ruhruh
Ahh there it is.

"The Southern Poverty Law Center? Yah they're a bunc of phonies and the real
racists!"

Do you think any of the SPLC's designations are legitimate? Or is it all a
plot by globalists/blacks/Jews/George Soros?

People who think like you don't need to be censored, just mocked &
embarrassed.

Go back to your hole

~~~
diamonis
Not racists.

They need to be mocked and embarrased and ignored. Unfortunately, they have
the pernicious effect of turning political disagreement into quasi-crimes
through their witch-hunt mentality.

------
sssilver
I'm here in USA on H1b. I'm 29 and I've only arrived about a month ago. Coming
here has been an extremely difficult and long process for me, with thousands
of job interviews ending with the first question -- "do you have a work
permit". Presumably I'm not exceptional enough to just get a job with a
company like Google, so it's supposed to be this difficult for someone like
me.

But articles like this still make me feel very sad.

------
selectout
Chances are he wouldn't have created WhatsApp at Facebook so this is actually
a win all around for both parties (assuming Facebook can find the value they
think they will in WhatsApp).

~~~
nilkn
> assuming Facebook can find the value they think they will in WhatsApp

History has shown it is quite difficult to monetize a large user base acquired
in this way. It is very possible that Facebook will get nothing out of this
besides the elimination of an opponent.

That said, there's really nothing particularly special about WhatsApp. There
are many other apps just like it. Perhaps it just came a bit sooner than the
others, but it seems clear that something else would have taken its place had
WhatsApp never been made.

------
ryguytilidie
Perhaps human beings experience growth over many years? Perhaps this guy was
nowhere as good when he interviewed?

~~~
jamesaguilar
Or, more likely, he was good then too, and hiring at most competitive firms
has a high false negative rate. This should surprise no one who's been
involved in it. It's by design.

------
ruhruh
I'm not in favor of censorship, I think everybody be able to say whatever they
want blahblahblah

However, vdare is a joke. Wtf is this doing on HN, this has no business here

[http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-
files/gro...](http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-
files/groups/VDARE)

~~~
_pius
Heh, we were clearly saying "wtf" at the same time ...

