11 votes

Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of April 20

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11 comments

  1. [5]
    DefinitelyNotAFae
    (edited )
    Link
    Re: Palantir.... Hmmmm. I'm sure someone will defend this as sounding bad but "how do we know what they really mean?!" when really it's incredibly clear to me that this is some white Christian...

    Re: Palantir....

    1. The pervasive intolerance of religious belief in certain circles must be resisted. The elite’s intolerance of religious belief is perhaps one of the most telling signs that its political project constitutes a less open intellectual movement than many within it would claim.

    2. Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive. All cultures are now equal. Criticism and value judgments are forbidden. Yet this new dogma glosses over the fact that certain cultures and indeed subcultures . . . have produced wonders. Others have proven middling, and worse, regressive and harmful.

    3. We must resist the shallow temptation of a vacant and hollow pluralism. We, in America and more broadly the West, have for the past half century resisted defining national cultures in the name of inclusivity. But inclusion into what?

    Hmmmm.

    I'm sure someone will defend this as sounding bad but "how do we know what they really mean?!" when really it's incredibly clear to me that this is some white Christian nationalist shit.

    9 votes
    1. [4]
      TheRtRevKaiser
      Link Parent
      The whole thing is pretty vague - I suspect that's intentional to give them just enough cover to dodge specific accusations if needed while still appealing to techno-feudalists and conservatives....

      The whole thing is pretty vague - I suspect that's intentional to give them just enough cover to dodge specific accusations if needed while still appealing to techno-feudalists and conservatives. There's some language that seems to me to be trying to build more bridges between social conservatives and the tech right, which is troubling to me.

      1. [3]
        DefinitelyNotAFae
        Link Parent
        I mean cultural superiority of the "West" while insisting on religious freedom (but clearly not of inferior cultures) is not nearly as vague as all that IMO. The tech to conservative pivot is not...

        I mean cultural superiority of the "West" while insisting on religious freedom (but clearly not of inferior cultures) is not nearly as vague as all that IMO. The tech to conservative pivot is not new IMO this feels just like saying the quiet part.

        1 vote
        1. [2]
          TheRtRevKaiser
          Link Parent
          No you're right, it's definitely pretty mask off. It just seems like there's enough vagueness for them to say "well of course we didn't mean that" if pressed

          No you're right, it's definitely pretty mask off. It just seems like there's enough vagueness for them to say "well of course we didn't mean that" if pressed

          1. DefinitelyNotAFae
            Link Parent
            Oh there's a reason I'm sure someone can/will try to play reasonableness games with the language. They're trying to wear the mask still but it's mesh and we can see the whole face.

            Oh there's a reason I'm sure someone can/will try to play reasonableness games with the language. They're trying to wear the mask still but it's mesh and we can see the whole face.

            1 vote
  2. [6]
    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link
    I wasn't sure the most appropriate place to post this article about Palantir's Manifesto that was posted over the weekend. There's nothing particularly surprising here if you've read much about...

    I wasn't sure the most appropriate place to post this article about Palantir's Manifesto that was posted over the weekend. There's nothing particularly surprising here if you've read much about Thiel's particular brand of Yarvinite madness, but it is surprising in how mask-off it is about a number of things.

    1. Free email is not enough. The decadence of a culture or civilization, and indeed its ruling class, will be forgiven only if that culture is capable of delivering economic growth and security for the public.

    This statement isn't the most extreme or specific, maybe, but it was the most surprising to me in that it seems to state plainly the feeling of this group that they are the "ruling class" of America.

    6 votes
    1. [2]
      skybrian
      Link Parent
      I think point 6 is pretty concerning: Apparently everyone should be a cog in the military machine. The connection from there to Congress doing something about unnecessary wars seems pretty indirect.

      I think point 6 is pretty concerning:

      1. National service should be a universal duty. We should, as a society, seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force and only fight the next war if everyone shares in the risk and the cost.

      Apparently everyone should be a cog in the military machine. The connection from there to Congress doing something about unnecessary wars seems pretty indirect.

      4 votes
      1. TheRtRevKaiser
        Link Parent
        Yeah I've been seeing a lot of chatter about reinstating a draft coming from the right recently, which is deeply concerning to me.

        Yeah I've been seeing a lot of chatter about reinstating a draft coming from the right recently, which is deeply concerning to me.

        3 votes
    2. [3]
      skybrian
      Link Parent
      Yes, it does seem like overheated ideological nonsense, but it seems like that quote is ambiguous on who the “ruling class” is. Also, who will do the forgiving and what do they mean by...

      Yes, it does seem like overheated ideological nonsense, but it seems like that quote is ambiguous on who the “ruling class” is. Also, who will do the forgiving and what do they mean by “decadence?” It seems like it was written to sound impressive rather than to be clear, but it’s basically a defense of being a defense contractor.

      Lockheed is a defense contractor too and they don’t seem to have any need to publish overheated manifestos? They just keep building weapons. If someone goes to work for them, they know what they’re signing up for.

      But assuming a defense of being a defense contractor is necessary, it’s not hard to justify. Most countries have a military. They’re going to have defense contractors, because someone has to make the weapons.

      A defense contractor making artillery shells or missiles doesn’t get a say in whether they get shipped to Ukraine or are used in some more dubious cause. I wouldn’t want to work on that, but I also don’t want Ukraine to run short on artillery shells, because I don’t want the Russians to win. So I guess I’m happy that there are military contractors?

      The upshot is that if you work for a military contractor, you end up as a cog in the military-industrial complex and someone else gives the orders. That’s why a lot of people don’t want to work for defense contractors and that should be okay too.

      1 vote
      1. [2]
        TheRtRevKaiser
        Link Parent
        Given the sentence about free email pointing toward silicon valley, and other places in the post where they point toward a perceived need for silicon valley to take more of a lead in defense and...

        Given the sentence about free email pointing toward silicon valley, and other places in the post where they point toward a perceived need for silicon valley to take more of a lead in defense and crime prevention (plus prior knowledge of the kinds of thought these yahoos are immersed in) I feel pretty comfortable with my reading of that section. Could be that I'm wrong.

        5 votes
        1. skybrian
          Link Parent
          I think that’s a reference to Google, which provides free email and pulled out of Project Maven after employee protests. They want to pretend that they are somehow superior for working on Project...

          I think that’s a reference to Google, which provides free email and pulled out of Project Maven after employee protests.

          They want to pretend that they are somehow superior for working on Project Maven.

          And I don’t see why that market can’t be left to defense contractors. No company has to do everything, not even big tech companies.