Comment by kfreds | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kfreds | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I'm sorry to hear that. For what it's worth I think there's nuance in his decision that most people don't see. Of course that doesn't mean I think it was the right decision to make.

Here's something worth considering: why would someone whose ideal is open borders, who has been an animal rights activist, and someone who has led Mullvad for 17 years (with the track record it has), choose to donate to this party? If you like what Daniel and I have done together over the past 17 years, and now vehemently oppose his choice to make this donation, doesn't that make you just a little bit curious?

It made me curious. It didn't change my ultimate stance, but it did temper my emotions about it.

What are you inferring here? That your friend only makes moral choices, so this one should be judged through the same lense?

What "moral choice" specifically was Daniel supporting?

> That your friend only makes moral choices ..?

No. I observed that they liked Mullvad and now considers it complete garbage. I shared some priors with them, suggesting that there is evidence that they haven't seen yet. This evidence didn't change my stance on the party, or Daniel's donation. It did make me understand, which is not the same as agreeing.

A political discourse which only knows 0 or 1, GOOD or BAD, Nazi or Good, is not a healthy discourse. There's almost always something to learn, if you lean into curiosity instead of just labeling things right away.

So your stance seems to be "It's okay to fund Nazis as long as you like what they have to say about the trains running on time."

I understand that you want to defend you business and your friend, but signing up with the Nazi party means you sign up with all of it. I find it highly unlikely your cofounder was unaware of the rest of the racist and viscous rhetoric when he opened his checkbook to buy the party the equivalent of a house.

Mullvad likely makes good money, but thats not a casual "I read this one article and didn't look into it deeper" kind of donation for anyone.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com