
Peter Thiel Trump Speech - dev360
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfYLEPRiIyE
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danblick
Well, I can't stand Trump, but I liked Thiel's speech. Trump's status as a
political outsider (and political disruptor) seems pretty valuable to him. I
haven't met anyone here in the valley who supports Trump. It's too bad that
means there isn't much discussion about the broken state of national politics.

~~~
ebfe
The issue as I understand it is that having a discussion with a Trump
supporter gives their views a platform and potentially exposes other people to
them.

Arguments that wide-scale non-white immigration is detrimental to white
societies, that the black-white IQ gap includes a non-zero genetic component,
that biological differences exist between men and women, etc. cannot be
refuted through rationalism, so we have to resort to other methods to prevent
their spread.

~~~
nanistheonlyist
"biological differences exist between men and women"

I think this is fairly settled science, last time I checked men do not
normally have a uterus.

~~~
Aloha
I also the socialization (and probably biological) factors also result in
vastly different communications styles between men and women.

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jimrandomh
This is a speech that was immediately followed by an interview; the longer
video at [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob-
LJqPQEJ4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob-LJqPQEJ4) includes the
conversation that followed.

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dev360
Don't understand why this was flagged. HN had no problems piling on Thiel when
he announced his support for Trump, and we're not allowed to post something
where the man is defending his viewpoint.

This smacks of intellectual dishonesty and flagging this post just goes to
further show that Thiel is right regarding diversity in SV. All of this is
relevant discussion because of his affiliation with HN and tech as a whole.

~~~
rfrank
> This smacks of intellectual dishonesty

Not surprising given the nature of both HN and the valley. It's weird watching
this site justify ostracizing/harassing people with different politics than
them. Conformity of thought is highly valued within the tech community in the
bay.

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SkyMarshal
I agree 100% with Thiel, but Trump is not remotely the right messenger for
this message and Thiel is making a huge mistake supporting him as such. If
ever there was an appropriate time for "shoot the messenger" this is it, lest
Trump taint the entire message.

Additionally it's not even clear Trump fully understands the problem Thiel
cares about, but may just be exploiting a political opportunity with just
enough rhetoric picked up from alt-right forums and publications to get the
job done, rather than any substantial understanding of or personal commitment
to it.

It's a great shame that two of the most eloquent and legitimate people trying
in recent times to publicly address these fundamental problems - Thiel and
Andy Grove [1] - are foreign born, hence not eligible to run for President.
But they should be archetype candidate and messenger for this message.

[1]:[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Grove#Preference_for_a_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Grove#Preference_for_a_.22job-
centric.22_American_economy)

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clydethefrog
Dose of humility? Questioning American exceptionalism? I wonder why there was
$3.2 million spent on hats saying the except opposite? [0] And how do you make
a country normal again by electing someone that broke all the rules for normal
political behaviour?

[0] [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-
fix/wp/2016/10/25/do...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-
fix/wp/2016/10/25/donald-trumps-campaign-has-spent-more-on-hats-than-on-
polling/)

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jrfarina
Is it just me or does his voice sound exactly like a text-to-speech reading?

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tempvc
People should be careful voting for Trump. In 20 years, the PC ideologues then
in charge may dig out that data and the Trump voters may suffer consequences,
like during the Stalinist purges. Thiel is brave.

~~~
danblick
You have a point in that it's hard to predict the future. On the other hand, I
think freedom of the press and freedom of speech are pretty central American
values. (Which doesn't mean they can't be eroded.)

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ilostmykeys
Evil knows evil.

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brador
It's all hot air around maximising shareholder value but he can't come out and
say it because then he'd be labelled evil.

