
Thread in Which DHH and Paul Graham Argue about Thiel's YC Position - exolymph
https://twitter.com/dhh/status/785786822471192576
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bosdev
\- There is a difference between who you vote for, and you you vocally
campaign for. He spoke at the convention, he didn't just share his views.

\- You have a right to say anything you want, but that doesn't mean you can't
be fired for it. If Thiel agrees with Trump, and Trump is counter to the
values of YC, maybe Thiel isn't right for YC. He's in a position of advising
companies, probably sometimes privately, how does YC know his advice aligns
with their values?

Conversely:

\- We don't definitively know Trump has done anything more than be a bombastic
creep, so anyone comparing supporting him to supporting Hitler or Stalin is
going a little far.

~~~
dogma1138
As much as I don't like trump, what I like even less are people suggesting you
can or should be fired for voicing a political argument or an opinion.

You are correct that technically you can be fired for what you say, but not
when it's protected speech.

You would not support some one being fired for voicing political opinions that
you agree with, so this is not only illiberal but also quite likely
hypocritical.

~~~
bosdev
Just to clarify, the position you have is you should only be able to be fired
for your actions, not your beliefs (however widely communicated)?

And, as an extension, the beliefs of it's members should never be taken to be
the beliefs of an organization?

~~~
whamlastxmas
Supporting a political candidate doesn't mean you support literally everything
they have ever said. It only means you prefer them out of the given viable
options.

~~~
dogma1138
Even if you support everything they say you can't be sanctioned for that by
your employer.

They can require you not to do that at the office, or using any official
company channels (as long as this policy applies equally) but if you comply
you should be protected from any sanctions.

Without this pluralism dies and with it democracy, and this is how you get
partisanship to its current levels.

~~~
whamlastxmas
Too bad people like you don't work at Mozilla, where their CEO got fired for
his political donations

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bruceb
First they came for the billionaires but I did not speak up because I was not
a billionaire...

But really this election has made we want to avoid the zealot supporters of
both major canditates. Hold your ground Paul.

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presidentender
I am deeply unimpressed with DHH's position.

~~~
bosdev
Can you give some more explanation of why?

~~~
whamlastxmas
He's implying we should retaliate against people because of their voting
decisions, which is a hugely shitty thing to do. There is no black-and-white
in politics, and someone who supports Trump doesn't mean they support
literally everything Trump has ever said. But thanks to the divisive bullshit
of this campaign, everyone hates each other.

~~~
evanelias
Not simply a voting decision. As DHH explained, "this is a man who's a Trump
delegate! Keynote endorser at his convention! Political action and operative."

~~~
true_religion
I think most people who vote for Trump would be happy to be nominated as his
delegate. All things aside, it is seen as a social honor to be a delegate.

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meira
This thread blew my mind. Initially, I thought DHH was just been a duchbag as
always, but then he used very good arguments. I hope to not be banned, but pg
has very weak arguments in this matter, and it is a very important one.

~~~
dogma1138
He actually made very poor arguments to the point of not not even making one.

Then he made things worse by literally invoking the post facebook/liberal
Internet Godwin's Law by tieing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to this issue
trying to bait Graham with a nonsensical argument.

And the argument is nonsensical because nothing morally, ideologically or
politically prevents one from being both supportive/attentive to the cause of
the Palestinians seeking statehood while being against BDS or any other
boycott movement because boycotts by definition prevent any type of dialog and
make any issue considerably harder or near impossible to resolve.

~~~
meira
Só pg should not also boycott Trump and their supported? No "join the
resistance" at all?

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bisRepetita
Interesting how this story has been kicked out from front page.

~~~
bosdev
It's currently on the front page in the RSS feed:
[http://hnrankings.info/12689700/](http://hnrankings.info/12689700/)

But it seems like you're right, they've killed it on the actual site.

~~~
pfg
"They" most likely being actual users flagging the submission, as happens
often with political stories.

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cwisecarver
I wouldn't kick Thiel out for his Trump support. I'd kick him out because he
funded a proxy war against the media and the First Amendment.

