[EDIT: Commenters bring up that in the 2003 recall election,
Democrats fielded a great replacement candidate, lots of Democrats who
disliked the governor voted yes on recall because it was costless with
such a good replacement, and then the governor got recalled and
Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger won the replacement election. Now they
want to try the opposite strategy of forcing Democratic voters to oppose
the recall entirely.]
This is just perfect Scott Alexander. An edit acknowledging that some
basic research (or even, just, remembering the biggest political event
of the state you live in of the last 20 years?) would have provided some
very relevant information that he did not consider in his argument, but
rather than take his article down or actually revise his thesis, he just
throws it in a parenthetical and moves on as though he’s actually
addressed it. Just an incredible move.
I truly don’t understand how you could write that paragraph about the
Newsom recall. The leading Republican is Larry Elder, who has raised .5M
and who is an anti-vax idiot. If Thiel wanted to maximize his chances of
being or owning the next Governor, why wouldn’t he just field a
Republican candidate?
Or, why doesn't Scott consider that if he thinks Thiel is such a genius who would normally get involved in something like this, and Scott's pretty sure Thiel hasn't gotten involved, maybe it's just a little bit more complicated of a situation than Scott thinks it is?
That’s the blind spot, right? In order to explain why Thiel isn’t involved, he has to completely forget that Thiel could get involved on the Republican side.
If there’s a reasonable way for Thiel to get involved, and he doesn’t, then either Thiel isn’t brilliant or Scott’s wrong. Neither of those possibilities is acceptable.
I’d love to read a single thing by these fucks that DOESN’T somehow
portray Peter Thiel as the Smartest Man With Money Who Is Smart Because
He Is Rich And Rich Because He Is Smart. I think I would weep with
joy.
The rest of us should keep re-reading Zero To One until it
penetrates our thick skulls.
Why would anyone presume that a book “by” a rich business guy
actually contains any useful knowledge? If the author is Smart at
Capitalism, why would he be creating competition for himself? Shouldn’t
our default assumption be that any such book is just part of his
personal brand? Scott, you can’t admire Thiel for his savvy and then
treat him like a schmuck.
ive read zero to one some years ago basically the TLDR of zero to one is that monopolies are good and are formed by secrets, saved you 200+ pages.
Unsurprisingly Theil is friends with [fascists and right wing extremist](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosiegray/peter-thiel-donald-trump-white-nationalist-support), Thiel hosted a party called "right wing dinner squads", an obvious allusion to ["right wing death squads"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravan_of_Death) where he hosted some of their most prominent figures (btw [the figure in attendance](https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/kevin-deanna) in that event praises [James Mason](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Mason_(neo-Nazi)), who believes in violent racial warfare and is tied to terrorism.
You are doing the same thing here. What if Scott isn't actually on the level, and he is actually training his liberal readers to bring a butterknife to a gunfight (and not to distrust the billionaire capitalists). That would also explain the weird focus on strange metrics. (Having your election run by statisticians didn't work out that well for Hillary after all).
(E: and yeah, Scott could also just have not thought this remark of his through well enough, sloppy thinker or crafty neo-reactionary, we sneer, you decide!).
A third alternative: a neo-reactionary who [isn't actually clever enough to be crafty all the time](https://www.reddit.com/r/SneerClub/comments/oplf25/scott_writes_a_convincing_case_against_the/h66v9ah/?context=3), and so sometimes the slop spills forth.
I feel like a good way to understand the praise people like Scott and
Eliezer offer to Peter Thiel is that a good way to keep getting paid by
rich fascists is to be their PR firm
No worries, it happens, thanks!
E: wait, in his 'why are you not gov' piece, why doesn't he analyze what the actual power of the gov is? I know nothing about Californian politics, but does holding just (so without the implied party support) the office of governor have any meaningful power? (I'm reminded of a piece of writing in one of the Shadowrun books, where they talk about why the corporations have not simply taken over the governments, it is because there is not enough profit in collecting the garbage, and it is cheaper to have the government minded people worry about that).
E2 also interesting to note, this post about elections doesnt talk about ideologies nor policies at all. It does talk about betting markets and YouTube subs
And the comments talk about expected revenue from post-gubernatorial speeches. It’s awfully transactional.
This is particularly interesting because the office of California governor is at peak importance right now. Dianne Feinstein, one of the CA senators, is 88 years old and the governor gets to appoint her replacement. This would prevent Biden from passing anything. Even just pragmatically, if Thiel could improve the odds of a Republican winning by 5%, it would be worth whatever he might spend.
Possibly the hidden assumption here is that Thiel is done with the Republican Party, but if that was the case he wouldn’t be backing two other senatorial candidates.
This is just perfect Scott Alexander. An edit acknowledging that some basic research (or even, just, remembering the biggest political event of the state you live in of the last 20 years?) would have provided some very relevant information that he did not consider in his argument, but rather than take his article down or actually revise his thesis, he just throws it in a parenthetical and moves on as though he’s actually addressed it. Just an incredible move.
I truly don’t understand how you could write that paragraph about the Newsom recall. The leading Republican is Larry Elder, who has raised .5M and who is an anti-vax idiot. If Thiel wanted to maximize his chances of being or owning the next Governor, why wouldn’t he just field a Republican candidate?
Edit: source.
I’d love to read a single thing by these fucks that DOESN’T somehow portray Peter Thiel as the Smartest Man With Money Who Is Smart Because He Is Rich And Rich Because He Is Smart. I think I would weep with joy.
Why would anyone presume that a book “by” a rich business guy actually contains any useful knowledge? If the author is Smart at Capitalism, why would he be creating competition for himself? Shouldn’t our default assumption be that any such book is just part of his personal brand? Scott, you can’t admire Thiel for his savvy and then treat him like a schmuck.
I feel like a good way to understand the praise people like Scott and Eliezer offer to Peter Thiel is that a good way to keep getting paid by rich fascists is to be their PR firm
Source?