Democracy is a myth anyway.
And by “freedom” he doesn’t mean your freedom.
Yes. Kant’s positive vs negative liberty applies; small gov advocates like Thiel tend to mean the latter.
He’s not entirely wrong. In a democracy we vote for people who (in an ideal world) would regulate assholes like him. In his fascist technocracy he’ll be able to do whatever the fuck he wants to the rest of us. So in that sense, sure, democracy can put limits on ultimate freedom™©®
…but we kinda want that because fuckbags like thiel exist.
I like that you had the TM C and R.
What democracies do is create freedoms for everyone, true freedoms.
The freedom to choose one’s path of life? Sure! Democracies create that freedom through good, cheap, universal education!
The freedom to be as healthy as possible? Sure! Democracies create that freedom through good, cheap, universal healthcare!
The freedom to have technology help us solve problems? Sure! Democracies create that freedom through effective investments in research and development!
These are just a tase of what democracies do to create true freedom.
They don’t do this inherently. What is happening in America shows that often people vote to restrict their own freedoms.
But that’s being caused by anti democratic forces.
Democratic countries need to keep progressing.
Concentrated power isn’t democratic, there needs to be an always on equalizer.
If we define democracy as voting, then you’re right. However, to understand what I’m saying it’s important to understand what I mean by democracy. I’m using democracy to mean inclusive institutions that invest in their citizens to increase their capabilities and therefore their freedoms.
And you’re right: America is exceptionally un-democratic. You’re actually doubly right: there are democratic backsliding pressures around the world.
It’s a matter of time to see what the more powerful pressures will be: democracy or authoritarian populism.
The evidence powerfully suggests one answer. If you want to know more about this, check out Christian Welzel’s articles on democracy!
often people vote to restrict their own freedoms.
Yeah, but usually in trade for something else. Gun laws, building code, mandatory driver licensing, having to pay for that soda pop; these are good restrictions we trade for safety, health, and reliable commerce.
I have no idea what Americans are getting out of the restrictions on freedom they’ve voted into effect recently.
I have no idea what Americans are getting out of the restrictions on freedom they’ve voted into effect recently.
Mostly it’s supremacist validation fed by self-destructive cultural narrative. Which kind of supremacist depends on the individual.
You’d be surprised how many people happily volunteer to suffer so long as they know the people you’ve convinced them to hate are suffering more.
America is ranked dead-last on most global lists of western functioning democracies, and for good reason.
Americans vote within a republic not a democracy. Republics are famously corrupt
A republic is just a state with an elected head of state. It says nothing else about the political system of te country. Nominally the US is a representiative democratic republic. Of course it is no longer either of those things, but it pretended to be so for a long time.
That is all modern “democracies”. There are no countries which run on pure democracy.
Small flaw in your reasoning here. The USA was never a democracy and, indeed, was designed not to be one. Your Founding Fathers held the masses in contempt and deliberately designed a system that would minimize the masses’ voice.
He is absolutely fucking wrong. This tech bro libertarian shit is like the textbook definition of bad philosophy where overconfident smooth brains think in broad strokes instead of reducing ideas to first principles.
His definition of freedom simply doesn’t exist, and this is an incredibly common trope in right wingers. He believes he is entitled to benefit from society without understanding the process by which those benefits arise. He misunderstands the distinction between “is” and “ought.” And even this is an incredibly gentle critique of a person who gives unhinges PowerPoint presentations about the antichrist which he seems to actually believe. The man is loony tunes. Idk what they had in the water at PayPal back in the day, but him and Musk seem to have unlocked an entirely new level of crazy.
Imagine the pure liquid wealth your company accumulates when it takes 2-3% of a large swath of financial transactions on the Internet. It’s like Visa/MasterCard obscene.
Then imagine someone tells you “no”.
I don’t think Thiel is compatible with freedom, nor democracy. If he died we’d all be better off.
He wants to be king.
We no longer believe that Democracy and Sociopathic Oligarchs can co-exist. We choose Democracy.
I mean no offense, but do you choose that?
What action are you taking towards that end? Because as far as I can tell only a small percentage of the population has rebelled in force, and while they’re celebrated online, the vast majority of people have taken no meaningful action.
Barney plays the long game actually. He befriends the wealthy and becomes their trusted advisor. He slowly poisons them against everyone until they are all alone and then eventually take their own life.
Billy, you are such a joke…you know nothing of the suffering Barney can cause. Your unimaginative Luigi solutions just show you don’t have the guts to do what it takes to destroy someone.
You’re not going to shoot your way out of this problem, Rambo III.
We need to stop using PayPal!
No need, just wait until they lock you out of your own account!
After Trump sanctions you for disagreeing with his policies.
It’s been 10 years since I got locked out of mine
Yeah, I’m ending my account today
I have used it twice once when Musk was just a billionaire and once after he was removed from paypal, they where 2 different accounts. I have no intention of using it again.
We need to kill this motherfucker, publicly, violently.
Take a good look, folks. This is the face of Anarcho-capitalism. Peter Thiel wants to be your new overlord. Unregulated and unrestrained.
I hate having to use that term. It’s just feudalism without even the illusion of a binding social order.
There’s nothing anarcho about it. This guy wants to be a king. A tyrant.
He doesn’t mean freedom for the proles. He means his personal total and absolute freedom to exploit other people relentlessly and without consequences.
French style revolution is the only solution
Daily reminder that 80% of people beheaded were working class.
Yeah, and the all the idealists within the Revolution were quick to crashout when they realised they had no answer on how to lead the nation let alone corral humans in a way THEY deem was best.
I’ll do it. I know how best to lead the nation.
Based on your username, I imagine you’d lead us by sun bathing on warm rocks and dry branches while contemptuously pondering the state of existence.
I believe in you!
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Says the guy who wants to kill the peasants!?
Not just poorly aimed, but also benighted.
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If your freedom depends on others not being free, you really just want the freedom to oppress.
These pieces of shit are especially egregious because they promised so much change and hope and opportunity for everyone but all their garbage companies just toed the old line instead of actually “disrupting” anything at all. The only thing they’ve disrupted is everyone’s savings and futures
Anyone should feel free to utilize the second amendment when this guy appears
Billionaire oligarchs are incompatible with democracy, he’s just got it backwards like most anti-humanity fascists tend to do
Well clearly Peter Thiel has never read Murray Bookchin!
Man, I remember a debate he had with David Graeber (Someone who knew and did read Murray Bookchin). Thiel got absolutely schooled by our late great anthropologist-anarchist. Like utterly trashed by him, in that Graeber wasn’t even trying to trash him he was just responding to Thiel’s horrid conceits with his casual and playful depth of understanding.
You’ve gotta look it up on youtube. Thiel had fucking daggers in his eyes. Graeber was just having a good time with it. You cannot completely convince me that Thiel did not have some sort of hand in Graeber’s early death.
freedom and democracy are compatible
Hmm, I might agree Peter
This has always been the position of the upper class and for that matter a good majority of the founding fathers were openly anti democratic.
