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'I'll Make Their Life Miserable': Tech CEO Bullies Low-income Vendors By His Home (theguardian.com)

Posted by msmash on from the beware-of-karma dept.

An anonymous reader quotes an article on The Guardian that has caused a spark on social media: A Silicon Valley tech CEO has sparked backlash for comments slamming local fruit vendors, saying he would "make their life miserable" and "destroy" their produce if they were stationed near his house -- making him the latest wealthy Californian entrepreneur to publicly rail against low-income people. Mark Woodward, CEO of software company Invoca, published -- and later deleted -- a Facebook post saying that he would have no qualms about aggressively harassing unauthorized fruit sellers in his neighborhood if they got near his home. "I would go out there and make their life miserable. I would do whatever it took to make them leave. If that meant destroying some of their produce, or standing out there with signs to chase everyone away, Or just making them very uncomfortable, I would do that in a heartbeat."

13 of 524 comments (clear)

  1. And when we have no home no job no doctor by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    And when we have no home no job no doctor. We will just hang at your place and go head and call the cops the jail will give us room and board + a doctor.

    1. Re:And when we have no home no job no doctor by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And when we have no home no job no doctor. We will just hang at your place and go head and call the cops the jail will give us room and board + a doctor.

      There are already people doing pretty much the same thing because they've fallen off the ladder. It costs way more to keep them in jail rather than help them get back on their feet.

      --
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    2. Re:And when we have no home no job no doctor by kheldan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It costs way more to keep them in jail rather than help them get back on their feet.

      Sure it would, and it could be done. But have you noticed that such things need to be a 'top-down' solution, but instead it seems like 'someone' keeps trying to force people closer to the bottom to solve it instead? It's almost like the rich want to keep reminding the rest of us that we shouldn't complain because it could be made much, much worse for us (e.g., we could be made to 'fall off the ladder', and end up jailed, in essence, for being jobless and homeless -- so you'd better keep your 'proper' place).

      --
      Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
    3. Re:And when we have no home no job no doctor by tlhIngan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And when we have no home no job no doctor. We will just hang at your place and go head and call the cops the jail will give us room and board + a doctor.

      And that's why when you hear anyone spout "responsibility" or "no more handouts", it's really code for "I'm rich, f**k you, lower my taxes".

      Because welfare and other programs, yes, they are handouts, but they also try to keep people on the straight and narrow and try to help them stay on the right side of the law.

      Cut them off, and they still need to eat - it's not like they're going to find a job because you cut them off (assuming they can hold a job). Instead of buying their food, they're just going to steal it. And steal everything else they need. Throw them in jail? Well, good for them.

      It's just that while the rich lower their taxes by cutting them off, we end up paying for it still. The stores have to make up for the stolen goods, damaged stores, etc, so prices start rising in general. The poor get health care by ER, which is the most expensive health care around (seriously - if you could give them access to a doctor's clinic, you can save so much money - treatment by ER costs double to triple what a doctors office would charge), so we all pay in increased health care costs because they're using the most expensive form of health care we can provide. And then there's the whole justice thing - courts, police, jails, etc., taxes go up so we can house them. It costs over $100K per prisoner per year. And that doesn't even include intangible costs like the degradation of society.

      Of course, the rich save because they don't live in areas that have to deal with these issues.

      So it doesn't matter if you want to preach "responsibility" - you're not going to save money. Sure you save on your taxes, but you'll pay for it everywhere else. Sure it doesn't show up under a neat little line item, but that's just because it gets added up under a bunch of different other line items.

    4. Re:And when we have no home no job no doctor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're not factoring in that a lot of humans are sadists and get off on making life miserable for weaker humans, no matter how much it costs.

    5. Re:And when we have no home no job no doctor by Pax681 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It costs way more to keep them in jail rather than help them get back on their feet.

      Sure it would, and it could be done. But have you noticed that such things need to be a 'top-down' solution, but instead it seems like 'someone' keeps trying to force people closer to the bottom to solve it instead? It's almost like the rich want to keep reminding the rest of us that we shouldn't complain because it could be made much, much worse for us (e.g., we could be made to 'fall off the ladder', and end up jailed, in essence, for being jobless and homeless -- so you'd better keep your 'proper' place).

      Yeah and there's a lot of lobbying dollars behind those privatised prisons too , we can't be interrupting their profits with progressive laws!!!

    6. Re:And when we have no home no job no doctor by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But still at the expense of the taxpayer

      Yes, but the people who get the benefit are people who own things and so it's good solid American Capitalism(TM). We wouldn't want poor people to benefit from things funded by the taxpayer, that would be Evil Socialism(TM).

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    7. Re:And when we have no home no job no doctor by hey! · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, I've known some rich people; they aren't necessarily assholes.

      The problem is that a rich asshole is still an asshole, and unlike an ordinary asshole he's got an enormous societal and political footprint.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    8. Re:And when we have no home no job no doctor by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 5, Funny

      The obvious solution is to just kill anyone caught stealing/etc.

      But then what would we do with all those empty Wall Street offices?

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  2. Consider the source... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...Invoca is a software company based in Santa Barbara, California that develops a Software as a Service platform for marketers...

    Yeah, so, to guy is pretty much an asshat anyway.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  3. Re:Christ... by misosoup7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Then you are just doing what he's doing, being a vigilante.

    If he wanted the fruit vendors gone and they were truly unauthorized, then call the police on their non-emergency number. It's that simple. If the fruit vendor were authorized, then take it up with the city. Going there and destroy people's produce is destruction of property, which is vandalism or malicious mischief in California punishable by up to a year in prison.

  4. Re:Christ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    CEO of a telemarketing company. What did you expect?

  5. Re:Christ... by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Going there and destroy people's produce is destruction of property, which is vandalism or malicious mischief in California punishable by up to a year in prison.

    I live in Texas, it is often punishable by death*. I'm not advocating DOING this, just pointing out exactly what you said. If we're just going to throw law and order out the window and inflict suffering on our fellow man because what they do annoys us. Doesn't really sound very nice, and certainly this will escalate. Incensed by a newly damaged lawn, our temper-challenged CEO will likely step this one up and retaliate. Someone will end up being hurt over unlicensed fruit sales.

    * As long as you can find a way to couch it in the right terms under the castle doctrine or property crimes laws