Peter Thiel: A time for truth and reconciliation
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> Can we believe that a Brazilian judge banned X without American backing, in a tragicomic perversion of the Monroe Doctrine?
Yes? Why? Is it hard to block?
(in a more charitable interpretation this can be construed as a statement of disbelief more than a question over capacity - but that again betrays a certain naivety over how things work. And yes I was never in favor of that block)
It's funny how these people ignore any agency of other countries or people. In a way it tells a lot how much these people take democracy and self-determination seriously. Of course given the quality of education in the US and the size of their egos, it's not surprising
> Our First Amendment frames the rules of engagement for domestic fights over free speech, but the global reach of the internet tempts its adversaries into a global war. Can we believe that a Brazilian judge banned X without American backing, in a tragicomic perversion of the Monroe Doctrine? Were we complicit in Australia’s recent legislation requiring age verification for social media users, the beginning of the end of internet anonymity? Did we muster up even two minutes’ criticism of the UK, which has arrested hundreds of people a year for online speech triggering, among other things, “annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety”? We may expect no better from Orwellian dictatorships in East Asia and Eurasia, but we must support a free internet in Oceania.
I'm trying to find a way to interpret the argument charitably. I think that he's saying that foreign countries may be free to sanction or block US internet firms, but that the US should respond forcefully to such actions.
There is a certain degree of hypocrisy here, given the impending TikTok ban which Peter Thiel himself supported. That ban, universalized, implies that nations should be able to manage internet-based services and applications on their sovereign territory.
> I think that he's saying that foreign countries may be free to sanction or block US internet firms, but that the US should respond forcefully to such actions.
My read on that is he's obtusingly saying that "US (old) leaders" are prevented by the US Constitution from doing stuff they'd like to do .. and so instead they use five eyes allies and partners to do these things about the globe with a view to normalising them and bringing them to the US seemingly without direct US involvement.
It's commonly held that the US | UK | AU agencies spy on each others citizens in order to have clean hands and truthfully state that they don't spy on their own.
Presumeably he wants to champion Trump as someone to clean house, etc. but I have my doubts about the machinations of Thiel .. he's more complicate than most via the panopticon of Palantir .
That Monroe Doctrine jab also makes zero sense. The Doctrine doesn't hold that other countries in the Western hemisphere shouldn't be allowed to decide matters of law and trade policy for themselves.
All in all, what Thiel is trying to say is terribly unclear. Open to multiple Straussian interpretations, I guess.
We're in furiously colorless green sleepy agreement here.
Is this deliberate or old age creeping up on someone who once had realistic Supreme Court ambitions and clerked at the highest level in the US legal system.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorless_green_ideas_sleep_fu...
( FWiW the entirity of what the Brazilian judge did or didn't do of his own violoition is a sideshow here )
The US had decades of low interest rates, dollar hegemony and no large power challenger. So its easy to get away with lot of excess. Until you can't.
Archive link in case it gets paywalled: https://archive.ph/h1GOf
"How the Deep Right is Coopting Conspiracy Consciousness" https://open.substack.com/pub/childrenofjob/p/peter-thiels-g...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/listen-to-the-jeffrey-epstein-...
What a fucking hypocrite Thiel is. His purchased president is, without exaggeration, likely to be a child rapist. I suggest he dig for "truth" in his own backyard.
You words have been well-marked since the 1970's, consistently proven decade after decade. Now might as well be etched in stone since it's too late for sensibility to creep in, and some of the stupidest shit will probably outlast the vehicle.
>It may be too early to answer the internet’s questions about the late Mr Epstein.
No need, Epstein & Trump were well-proven to be low-class untrustworthy operators by nature way before the internet existed.
All of the old money in Palm Beach would question your judgment of character if you associated with low-lifes like this. They were so out-of-place in the respectable yachting communities and had no legitimate business in the high-class country clubs of South Florida. 19th century and 20th century titans of industry did kind of look down their nose at fake millionaire wannabes for a reason.
After the old money died, oh well there went the neighborhood.
>A time for truth and reconciliation
If past performance is any indication, the next 4 years will not be one of those times.
This may prove true, but the observation is considered to apply to the current pack of louts, as well.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-far-right-german-leade...
Thiel and his cronies can go fuck themselves. These people are liars and social parasites of the lowest order.