Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/10/19/mark-zuckerberg-defends-facebo.html
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Thiel’s donation was the catalyst I needed to finally delete my Facebook account, something I’ve been considering for a while.
I can, if I try hard, understand why millions of unhappy people struggling on the breadline might vote for the ‘change candidate’, even if that candidate is as utterly ridiculous and toxic as Trump. And the ‘AMERICA!’ message is one that clearly makes more sense to people raised in the US educational system than it does to those of us raised in others.
But Thiel is privileged, immigrant and educated. There is literally no reason I can think of for someone like that to support Trump, except rabid self-interest at the expense of society in general.
Hence, I think Zuck’s post is wrong, and I’m out.
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Relax, Zuck.
We already know that you’re scum.
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News Flash: CEO lacks courage of convictions!
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Somehow, the idea of “diversity” has come to include loathsome ideas like bigotry. Um, no. I believe in diversity. I also believe that racism, sexism, or any kind of bigotry is wrong and doesn’t deserve a place at the table. I’ve had conservatives call me a hypocrite because I claim to value diversity. Their idea of “diversity” is like saying freedom of speech should include racial epithets and yelling “fire” in a crowded theater. Sorry, there are limits to everything, including freedom of speech, and the limit to my understanding of acceptable diversity is bigotry.
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Presumably, they feel the same way about the millions who believe in the ideology of Osama bin Laden.
Jesus christ, dial it down a notch.
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Given the number of American companies who do business in Saudi Arabia, I don’t think it’s that far of a stretch.
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Uh, no, that is the entire fucking point.
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Did he delete the post? I went onto his “wall” or “timeline”, and it’s not there.
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One of the the great central paradoxes of being a progressive (or generally speaking being proactive about not being an asshole) is that one must be intolerant of intolerance. This melts conservatives’ brains. And the fact that Zuckerberg makes this mealymouthed apology for the bigotry of Trump supporters shows that he himself has zero principles, and is all about the money.
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As a personal principle, that’s fine. But it does not extend to every single aspect of life. For example, the ACLU has had no problem defending the rights of Nazis and the Klan. Would you refuse to support the ACLU on the grounds of its collaboration with racists?
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Mark, have at least as much spine to admit that Facebook can’t afford to risk losing the business of those wackos and your support in from government (who would bring all those H1Bs you have in otherwise?) should they win the election and that it has nothing to do with diversity. Your “political correctness/cya/let’s not piss off anybody” attitude is disgusting.
Don’t talk about diversity when you obviously don’t know what that word means.
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You’re not comparing the ACLU to Facebook are you? Because that would be ridiculous.
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So is the official line now that firing someone for supporting a political candidate (supported by a large portion of the country) is ok? I really don’t like the idea of going that route.
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Yes, unless the fired person supports a Democrat, in which case s/he is a proletarian martyr.
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I’m not sure I get your point. I was responding to the general principle asserted that
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People can and should be fired or otherwise severed if they work against the goals of the company they work for. Happens all the time.
If the supposed goals of Facebook are to promote diversity, then Thiel is in conflict with those goals and should be let go. And that’s the point, and that is why Zuckerberg is so full of shit. Facebook isn’t about promoting diversity, it’s about exploiting it.
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No. Thiel is an investor and board member, not an employee. Facebook can’t ‘fire’ him. But they can easily ‘part ways due to irreconcilable differences’ if it’s important to them. It clearly isn’t, and that’s their choice. But for Zuck to claim it’s due to some holier-than-thou commitment to diversity is duplicitous nonsense, it’s because Thiel is valuable to Facebook and so are the 40m+ Trump supporters.
I’m an independent consultant. If I post hateful stuff all over the tubes and my clients see it, they almost certainly stop working with me. Same thing here. Trump is so far off the charts that he doesn’t represent a difference of opinion to me, but something far more base. He and Thiel can have their free speech, but I’m certainly going to do what I can not to enable or amplify it.
In hindsight, letting Thiel go would be bad for common sense because blah blah media bias martyrdom. So he can stay put and I’ll leave instead. Happy with that.
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$1.25M feels like a little more than “back”
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The point is, the ACLU’s specific
mission is to protect free speech. They are also a non-profit. Facebook is a business, one that supposedly promotes diversity and inclusiveness. They censor content all the time that they deem offensive. Comparing the ACLU to Facebook is stupid. That’s the point.
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