Thiel comes from a place where he clearly understands the rationale & goals of the modern left's social wing wrt diversity. I want to agree with him that he's raising substantive issues. On the other hand, his whole piece has such a tone of arrogance that it's hard for me to get through. The obsession with "speaking truth to power" (the exact phrase & the concept behind it) feels so childish and seems to be something many people in the alt-right seem to have.<p>I do think he makes some interesting points, especially at a high level. His "economically reductionist line of questioning" is something I think about... what are the incentives behind DEI, especially since DEI programs at large haven't seemed to accomplished their goals. And his point about rent/people wanting to live in cities seems true, too. Despite rent being crazy in NY/SF, for many people, those are the only cities they'd consider moving to.
> One of my smarter liberal friends said, “Maybe it’s all true, but isn’t it kind of pornographic, Peter? You just give us a bunch of pornography here, and it doesn’t really change anything.”<p>This quote struck me. Journalists look for sins/dirt, why aren't they interested in this stuff happening all around (and involving powerful people)? I think they would give the same excuse.<p>But Journalists criticize others using a moral framework that is never articulated. My best guess is they dont really have one, it's whatever they think you will find offensive and further their social goals.
I can't get over the fact that he attributed high rents in NYC and SF to.. Apparently the fact that gay people and women are too afraid to move anywhere else for fear of persecution?
> <i>“So in conclusion—and this is a simplification, perhaps a distortion, but I think you know what I mean—it would be healthier that, whenever someone mentions DEI, you just think CCP.”</i>
This could have been titled “Points Half Made.” Time and again he seems to set off on a path to saying something coherent, then mumbles snarky innuendo and changes to the next subject.
> An old-school Marxist critique of what we call “cultural Marxism” would say that all these identity politics, the whole diversity agenda, has only served to divide the working class.<p>I read this far in the spirit of curiosity, but I’ll bail here because it’s blatantly reinforcing antisemitism by citing blatant antisemitism that cloaked itself the same way.