Yes. But then he'll turn around and pretend that JD Vance, Josh Hawley, and Matt Gaetz are serious anti-corporatists, so I don't take him seriously on much of anything anymore
Oh, trust & believe. I think I told you, or someone else here. I interviewed Matt in 2017 —he has an Atlantic article abt how the Dem party threw out the populists. What I didn’t realize, the hero in his story was a racist congressman fr Texas
Stoller is clever about his framing but if you pay attention there's endless not so subtle hints that he has foundationally terrible race and gender politics
Huge congrats to every “progressive” Facebook employee who helped Thiel-protege Mark Zuckerberg make all of this possible. Couldn’t have done it without you, hope the tax cuts are worth it!
Haha, you just know that in a remotely ideal media landscape anybody who is wrong as often as he is would be financially audited to see what shadowy billionaires are promoting him
This idea of deciding which side you are on because of the way you are treated by or the quality of the people in that ‘side’ has to STOP. You support something or someone because you believe in the policies or ideologies. Anything else is best left to sports and entertainment. So inane.
Google stopped being interesting or moral sometime around 2008. Facebook was never a progressive ally. Netflix stomped all over net neutrality the second it was financially convenient.
Dem position has been fairly consistent in protecting consumers regardless of Big Tech politics.
Rep attitudes (& outrage theater) has always been dependent on Big Tech’s politics.
They're mad because Lina Khan got people talking about antitrust reform seriously for the first time in fifty fucking years and the brunchlords like andreesen can't be having that
Heard tell that Vance would support her sticking around, but don’t imagine that the Andreessen wing would dig that. All that world-building being dismantled by a commie and such.
Besides, all the major players in the industry became older, more experienced, more cynical, and significantly richer during the last decade. “Tech world is progressive” was an Obama-era stereotype, not a historical constant
It's hilarious how in liberals blaming wokeness for the Democrats losing I saw one or two people try to sneak in antitrust as one of those "woke" issues.
Silicon Valley was only an ally insofar as they were startups Obama was signing continuous subsidies too. Now that they're established megacorps, Republican economics magically works better for them.
Yes much of the SV workforce is progressive, but the founders and VCs have always been libertarian supervillains with completely utilitarian view of their fellow humans
Facebook started out as a way for men to rank women on their “hotness.” Reminds me of the folks who think The West Wing was some progressive utopian vision. Which only makes sense if you put aside the pervasive misogyny. 🤷♀️
Who knew that when they said, "Nerds will rule the future," what they meant was, "Nerda will go all supervillain the moment they're scorned and attempt to take over the world or some shit."
whatever happens it's important to glean the absolutely wrong lessons from everything, constantly, then leverage that ignorance for widespread public attention and applomb
Yep. They’re helpless children so as the adults in the room we must always be the bigger person.
Fuck that shit. I resigned my role as family caretaker and I ain’t gonna take on millions of crybaby overgrown toddlers.
In relative terms, considering that they are still corporations that need to make profits for stakeholders and not NGOs, I would argue that corporations like Microsoft and Google were more open to progressive ideas than, say, Goldman Sachs or Cargill
There was a brief window during the Obama era where these companies briefly pretended to care about diversity and progressive ideals but given how quickly they kissed the ring of the complete decimation of democracy you can see in real time what that was worth
Trump and his team is the worst ever seen, but I still think that it’s not going to be totally catastrophic. Reality is a good constraining force, one thing is bullshitting in a campaign, another is dealing with the real world and its constraints. Let’s be optimistic here
It's going to be pretty catastrophic. The supreme court has effectively already dismantled all federal consumer protection, labor, public safety standards and they control both houses of congress.
That said there are a absolutely opportunities for creative reform and public education here, and I refuse to believe the country is inherently and permanently doomed
The problem was they were creating massive "unintended" consequences and *did not care* because it would eat into the bottom line.
Every time you hear a SV VC/tech bro complain about how they got treated, remember that they were not good partners when confronted with what they wrought.
Andreessen’s ridiculousness is astounding. Big Tech is mostly dressed up information gathering advertising agencies tuned to engagement, not values, as engagement = profit. And treating Big Tech as a monolith is stupid. Is Apple conservative? Is Microsoft? No, bc unlike VCs they play the long game!
Totally, totally, if we forget to tell the Capitalists “thank you sir” they have to punish us. That’s just the moral order of the universe reasserting itself
the tech industry is grotesquely anti-organized labor and full of climate denialism and public health disinfo, so it's hard to find a nugget of "progressiveness" in that steaming pile
'progressives treated then like shit', 'pounded daily' I would love for them to explain what this means. Like explain what 'progressives(?)' did, specifically
Everyone convinced themselves that Google having nap pods made tech companies buck the trend of being soulless monstrosities consuming every competitor, legality, and adjacent field n their path to 0.01% higher profits and stock buy backs.
They got billions of OUR tax money in subsidies, grants, and tax breaks👇
They operated without any oversight because they were 'innovating.'
They bought presidency with OUR money, and now they are complaining that we are not nice to them 🤷🏼♀️ https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html
Love how Andreessen who admits being aligned with Republican thinking for more than 15 years is to believed on this topic at all…. Why not just ask an idiot like Marc Theissen for an unbiased take…
Oh no. We still thought they should be regulated and pay their taxes and not intentionally poison the public discourse for the sake of clicks. We’re so mean you guys. Why aren’t we giving them the Standard Oil pre-antitrust treatment they so clearly deserve! 🙄
Also, Cory Doctorow gave us the word enshittification and that made it so much easier to identify it in everything they’ve done in the last 15 years. :P
This is quite long but I watched it yesterday & although the focus is Facebook, I think most of the broader points apply to most tech corps, disputing entirely Andreesen’s assertion: https://youtu.be/MPyJBJTHyO0?si=xPj_UuXNjo7ggP5P
"Big Tech" is just a euphemism for Elon Musk. I never understood why he appealed to my progressive friends. And I will never understand why bro dudes think he would give them the time of day.
Same. I think Zuckerberg had a an “expression board” up for people to write out their feelings during BLM at the headquarters once. So maybe that’s it?
Remember when the social media companies constantly got in journalism's way at every turn and spread misinformation and platformed nazis and knew their platforms were toxic and didn't do anything and
Why do people care what that idiot contrarian says about literally anything? I don't get it. Is he particularly qualified in some way? Does he ever say thoughtful or interesting things? Seems like the answer is no. Garden variety "centrist" pundit.
I do not think I can roll my eyes any harder. What a load of BS, all the tech billionaires care about is making more money and buying more power. Who the hell do they think they are kidding? They were progressive because it is good for business.
Conor Freidersdorf (or however you spell it) 5 years ago.
All these guys pretending to be the "reasonable moderates" who, when they get called out on their bullsh*t, take off the mask and reveal the hidebound to conservative beneath it all.
"The tech industry was a staunch progressive ally" Yeah, its workers still are, as evidenced by the data on small donations. But I'm sure that's not what he meant
That was the point where they all started to openly court the Republicans. Many of them felt they weren't being treated well enough, "kept in the loop", and treated special. And now they can't get the banks who bout SVB's assets to do what SVB did for the VCs.
Their assertions are so transparently delusional but it is a clarifying look at how these most privileged of privileged assholes position themselves as the martyrs. Whiny little shits
Does making a Billion dollars in SV turn you into an Idiot Man-Baby? Or does being an Idiot Man-Baby make you more likely to make a Billion dollars in SV?
Surface level analysis here but I'm always struck by how much this kind of attitude mirrors basic incel philosophy. "We were nice to you for years and when we tried to do something you didn't want you said no, now I'm blackpilled"
This is like a @chucktingle.bsky.social book title. Giant Tech Companies Pounded In The Butt On A Daily Basis By The Woke Mob Until They Are Forced To Become Republican Megadonors
Big Tech as described has not been a “progressive ally” for years. People assumed that support for gay marriage and a Black Lives Matter sign in summer 2020 meant the company anthem was The Red Flag
The monarchist technocrats who love eugenics don't seem the progressive allies to me, but then I didn't get a metal pipe stuck through my skull during a railroad construction accident, like Noah did
This contingent of writers is really, really into accommodating, defending, apologizing for, and rationalizing the powerful, aren’t they? And it will bring them—meaning the writers, but also the powerful figures they kiss up to—continued, probably increasing success.
It does & it doesn't for the writers. They are infinitely replaceable so first time they annoy the billionaires, they can be out on their butt. They must constantly be fluffers to survive or prosper.
Their entire job is to discredit the left and label as radical any policy ideas that could change the status quo or cost anything or provide any regulation.
The ride hail companies alone spent gobs of money and the better part of a decade in every state capitol possible trying to stop/slow any kind of regulation possible. Miss me with this haute take that is untethered to reality.
“He supported Mitt Romney in 2012, and has been fairly outspoken on Twitter about his libertarian pro-business views on many issues, so the question wasn't totally out of line.”
“Tech,” no matter how big or small, has no feelings. The stunted egos of the lords of “Tech,” however, seem to be imprisoned by their feelings (inadequacy, victimhood, jealousy, etc.)
The tech company CEOs immediately welcomed Trump after he got elected and Elon is part of the reason Trump got elected. I don't think tech companies were as progressive as these people are saying.
These companies intentionally targeted newspapers revenue, boosted hate speech - all for the $$$. They’ve never been an ally to progressives. They are the Walmart of the 2000s - destroying the neighborhood and not caring one bit.
San Francisco tech bros are literally funded by the far right and pushing the crime hype, recalling progressive DAs, pushing to round up the homeless and ballot measures to put non violent offenders in jail.
Andreesen has always believed that that the "concerns of Big Tech"--which are synonymous with his own wealth, power, and self-interest--are primary. Any perceived alliance with progressive values was simple financial calculus.
They should move out of the liberal places of the country to the non liberal places, not just move from blue state to red state but move to a red area in a red state. They can have their workforce recruited from the hillbillies and white supremacists. Let's see how it would work out for them.
Can someone explain to me like I’m 5, what is the value of Noah Smith’s thoughts? Didn’t he have to blog years ago? & Marc went on Rogan, is pushing conspiracy theories abt the CFPB (they’re debanking Trump supporters!)
I read Noah Smith substack for a while. He thinks neoliberalism really works, that the US should invest more in military because of China and other insanities.
Like the week Biden got inaugurated he and yggy were gassing each other up about how wonderful a war with China would be. Some of the most ignorant shit I’ve ever seen
Matthew Yglesias, another blogger from the GWB years. A weirdo centrist who got extremely lucky. Way too dependent on Twitter (another reason to make twitter irrelevant), was pro-Iraq war.
LMAO that’s right. Noah has always been a huge neoliberalism pusher. The Isolationist policies of Trump 2.0, tariffs, the opposite of unfettered free trade, etc are going to blow noah’s mind
people read him that want to be able to sleep at night, so they need someone to feed them delusions that the neoliberal war-empire status quo is going to work out well for anyone
Comments
Andreesen's entire premise is a fiction.
Rep attitudes (& outrage theater) has always been dependent on Big Tech’s politics.
"Populism for me, but not for thee", as they say.
It's somebody that brunches a lot and has also failed upward into positions of unearned importance and routinely does nothing of actual value
https://youtu.be/NDzMY5GiSrI
The techbros are about accumulating more wealth ('cause apparently what they have still isn't enough), & fascism will assist them in doing that.
Fuck that shit. I resigned my role as family caretaker and I ain’t gonna take on millions of crybaby overgrown toddlers.
This level of plutocracy has not been seen in the United States for decades if ever
Every time you hear a SV VC/tech bro complain about how they got treated, remember that they were not good partners when confronted with what they wrought.
Having used the Dems to protect them from culture warriors on their way up, they now want the GOP to protect them from taxes.
Really nothing "progressive" about it, never was.
They operated without any oversight because they were 'innovating.'
They bought presidency with OUR money, and now they are complaining that we are not nice to them 🤷🏼♀️
https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html
Do you know the reputation that tech bros have for their progressive politics? I do: None at all.
Please point to the chapter where they were progressively allied.
Because I sure as fuck never saw that.
They were apathetic, at best, and when that was called out by the Right in 2016, they pivoted right.
Any other take is fantasy.
But contrariness, as we know, has to go further and further.
Wanting to be always in the side that's "winning".
All these guys pretending to be the "reasonable moderates" who, when they get called out on their bullsh*t, take off the mask and reveal the hidebound to conservative beneath it all.
A. It’s a good thing if Trump deprives unions of power.
B. Migrant camps? It’s fine if we just deport asylum seekers and “illegal immigrants.”
https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/the-best-case-scenario-for-trumps
Notice these billionaires From South Africa want to control media and power here?
Is Soon-Shiong a crypto advocate as well?
Funny, but aren't these the very elites that the Trump followers are supposed to despise?
The Eternal Question...
If he got every opinion right from now until he passes away I don’t think he’d get over the Mendoza line
“He supported Mitt Romney in 2012, and has been fairly outspoken on Twitter about his libertarian pro-business views on many issues, so the question wasn't totally out of line.”
I mean obviously he’s progressive 🙄
https://www.businessinsider.com/marc-andreessen-trump-and-clinton-2016-6