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Oculus Founder Palmer Luckey Is Secretly Funding Trump's Meme Machine (thedailybeast.com)
The founder of Oculus, Palmer Luckey, has backed a pro-Trump political organization called Nimble America that is dedicated to "shitposting" and spreading inflammatory memes about Hillary Clinton. In 2014, Luckey's virtual-reality company, Oculus, was acquired by Facebook for $2 billion. Forbes estimates his current net worth to be $700 million. The Daily Beast reports: "The 24-year-old told The Daily Beast that he had used the pseudonym "NimbleRichMan" on Reddit with a password given to him by the organization's founders. Nimble America says it's dedicated to providing that "shitposting is powerful and meme magic is real," according to the company's introductory statement, and has taken credit for a billboard its founders say was posted outside of Pittsburgh with a cartoonishly large image of Clinton's face alongside the words "Too Big to Jail." "We conquered Reddit and drive narrative on social media, conquered the [mainstream media], now it's time to get our most delicious memes in front of Americans whether they like it or not," a representative for the group wrote in an introductory post on Reddit. Potential donors from Donald Trump's biggest online community -- Reddit's r/The_Donald, where one of the rules is "no dissenters" -- turned on the organization this weekend, refusing to believe "NimbleRichMan" was the anonymous "near-billionaire" he claimed to be and causing a rift on one of the alt-right's most powerful organizational tools. Luckey insists he's just the group's money man -- a wealthy booster who thought the meddlesome idea was funny. But he is also listed as the vice-president of the group on its website. In another post written under Luckey's Reddit pseudonym, Luckey echoes Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire who used his wealth to secretly bankroll Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker. The Daily Beast adds: "'The American Revolution was funded by wealthy individuals," NimbleRichMan wrote on Saturday. Luckey confirmed to The Daily Beast he penned the posts under his Reddit pseudonym. 'The same has been true of many movements for freedom in history. You can't fight the American elite without serious firepower. They will outspend you and destroy you by any and all means.'"
We complain about lobbyists... but this is so much worse
There are a LOT of good reasons to be against Hillary without being for Trump.
A big one is this - after what she and the DNC did to Sanders, you all plan to reward her by voting for Hillary? Do you think the DNC will become more, or less corrupt if Hillary wins.
In the end it will not make that vast a difference in Trump or Clinton wins, two arms springing from the same body politic. So don't vote to destroy whatever shred of goodness was left of the DNC by rewarding corruption and massive corporate backroom deals which will be rewarded lavishly during her time in office (just as they were while she was secretary of state).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Guess I shouldn't be surprised. Glad I gave up on Oculus the second Facebook bought them.
He's proven himself to be a duplicitous piece of shit since the acquisition. This is not shocking.
Hillary is also a piece of shit, but not one that would immediately alienate 90% of the rest of the planet, and likely plunge us into thermonuclear war within 6 months of taking office.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
Trump may be the president America deserves.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
We complain about lobbyists... but this is so much worse
I'm curious why you think this is.
We've just had an article about lobbyists that prevent Tesla from selling in Michigan without going through dealerships (which are universally hated), another recent article where lobbyists caused a town to lose it's working gigibit fibre internet.
For contrast, note that the democrats put up a billboard of Trump kissing Cruz, and naked statues of Trump in several cities.
Question 1: Why is this worse than what Democrats do, and
Question 2: Why is this worse than lobbyists who actually screw us over and make our lives miserable?
Really. I honestly want to know. Why should this be of any concern to anyone?
The American Revolution was funded by wealthy individuals
On the one hand, the American Revolution was also lead by philosophers, scientists, judges, generals, etc. These guys had some ideas about how to create a better system than what they inherited.
On the other hand, you have Donald Trump. His philosophical concept of government is that "Only I can fix it" and "All you need to know is that I'll take care of it. Don't worry about." "There's going to be so much winning." etc. Luckey and Thiel should be so proud.
Play Command HQ online
outside of the USA, and if you think there was anti-Americanism before, if Trump is elected, it will be an all-out continuous, and well-deserved shitpost on America.
Gasp! The Germans are here!
Allooooo Americans! We love you
Welcome back, Americans!!!
As long as Hillary wants to 'correct the record' Trump gets his online engine too. The DNC's youth (and staying power online) was mostly behind the Bernie campaign. Any attempt by Hillary to 'connect to the youth' has backfired terribly. Most recently in her Between Two Ferns interview.
After some 'incidents' the high schools around here let students know that their first amendment rights didn't go to football games. Some photo of a bunch of teens with a trump banner saluting. It went 'viral' in this region. If I had to guess knowing teens they're Trump because their parents are "Anyone but". A lot of the 4chan, "shit posting" youth of 2016 is behind Trump and it shows on Reddit (Where there's a strong correlation to "Red Pillers"). [And consequently a lot of Bernie teens because their parents are Trumpers].
It's 21st century political satire. If the memes were in the NY Times as a political cartoon it would be ignored.
I heard once that this is the classic dilemma in politics: do you vote for the knave, or vote for the fool?
The answer: vote for the knave, because the knave is competent. But watch the knave like a hawk.
I'll leave it to the reader to decide which is which in this discussion.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Chelsea Clinton is on the board of directors of their parent company. Go look.
Slashdot, do better. Put a disclaimer in next time.
And maybe what both parties need to get out of the trench warfare that they currently have as well.
He's not really a good alternative, but neither is Hillary. The difference is that Trump don't have many followers from either party while Hillary has a lot of Democrat followers and a few Republican.
Both have a luggage of questionable actions throughout history but the stuff Hillary has seems to stink worst when you dig. Trump luggage is what you expect from a person in his position.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
When posts on /. were intelligent and the users replied with equal intelligence. Now it's no better than comment sections on any other website on the internet.
Everyone who claims what Trump would do as a president is lying. Including Trump.
It doesn't work that way. The US's economy and actions are intrinsically tied to most of the world nowadays, we live in a global economy for better or worse. Whether it is his protectionist economic views or his stance on world politics or the withdrawal from that stage it will have a massive effect on the rest of the world. The Large economies of the world cannot do anything of significance at home or abroad without affecting others.
We didn't have immigration laws until the 1920s
Who's "We," paleface?
Well then it should never have been allowed to get that way and disentanglement should be the order of the day.
Are you serious? Trump has stated 1) he wouldn't necessarily honor NATO commitments and 2) he is a "big fan" of the leader of the country NATO was created to resist. You better believe the rest of the world is acutely interested in the results of this election.
Besides, it sounds like you are an American - and the typical American who makes broad assumptions about the rest of the world without actually ENGAGING with it. Pretty much every non-American friend I have is interested - sometimes literally fascinated - with what's going on right now in American politics.
by giving power to Trump. Words fail me.
Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
Not really, what makes it hard to take Italy seriously are prosecutors who during a single trial advance motives ranging from normal sociopathy to crazy sex games to devil worship and do so completely seriously.
I agree that people have to be all that to be ardent Trump supporters. But as a foreigner that have seem what Hillary has been doing to Americans and to the world, as well as her threats against both Iran and Russia, I'll say you are partially wrong (on the anti-Americanism growth).
If Trump wins we will shitpost on how stupid Americans are, both because many of you are, and to shame you for having him as president.
But we'll be glad if you elect someone that doesn't finance terrorists and start proxy wars with Russia.
He is really embarrassing, but most people I know down here in Brazil think that if Trump wins it will be mostly on the "lesser of two evils" concept. We (the people I talk to) think most Americans voting on him are in a desperate attempt of doing something for your country, but don't really believe on his white supremacy speeches. Specially after the support that Sanders got and the way that the Democrats pushed Clinton. There are plenty of polls that show that most Americans (rightfully in my opinion) dislike both your candidates.
Foreigners opinions are based on discourse only right in the very beginning. Trump's speeches are not inspiring, but we won't become anti-Americans because of that (at least not for long), we'll be more anti-Americans next time you finance armed "rebels" or start a war. Just like we became more pro-Americans when you elected the constitutional lawyer against surveillance and pro-healthcare, but only for a very short time, as we quickly realized it was just another lie (and that he would spy on our entire populations in spite of international agreements and the notion that men are created equal).
Anyway, if you care about anti-Americanism, vote for who you think will actually murder less, it is in direct relation to that, not on how bigoted your presidents are.
We all form our own echo chambers. People who think they are interacing with the rest of the world are still only intetacting with people who are interested in interacting with them. On Steam, I interact with a person in the Ukraine and a person in Iraq. Both are quite interested in what game keys I have and haven't expressed the slightest bit of interest in politics, American or otherwise.
Tell that to Georgia and Ukraine. You are delusional if you really think that.
But really what did the DNC do do Sanders (who was not a Democrat prior to trying to run for President as one)?
They said mean things in private? They stacked the deck for her prior to Bernie running? And you think it is worth fucking-over America (the globe even!) so that she is not "rewarded"?
Early this year, when Bernie raised $60 million and Clinton had raised only $20, the DNC moved $60 million in funds earmarked for local campaigns directly into Clinton's account.
Bernie and Clinton won popular votes by roughly the ratio of their campaign spending, so the extra $60 million made a huge difference.
Bernie had momentum at the time, and would have outspent Clinton 3-to-1 in political ads. The extra advertizing would have very likely won him many of the early state primaries, and would have likely won him the national primary as a result.
Moving the money as they did is almost certainly a violation of federal election law, likely a violation of money-laundering law, and goes completely against any sense of neutrality in the DNC towards candidates. (Additionally, they short-sheeted all the local campaigns, giving republicans an edge in many areas.)
Effectively, they took all the campaign contributions people gave to Bernie and wasted them.
And you think it is worth fucking-over America (the globe even!) so that she is not "rewarded"?
It's worth standing up and saying "no" to corruption.
The people who gave support to Bernie Sanders should not have had their efforts wasted due to cheating.
HAH. Yes, an online game is totally the best forum for interacting with someone and discussing their politics. I guarantee that Ukranian has an interest in politics, the fact that you didn't ask him doesn't mean anything. I got in an Uber last month with a driver from Ukraine and talked about a bunch of random things. Eventually when I asked him what he thought of Putin, he said "Fuck Putin, and fuck Trump for supporting him!"
Daily at my workplace I "interact" with - in person - a person from Ukraine, 4 more persons from Russia, one from Latvia, two from Germany, two from UK, one from France, four from China, a half dozen from India, two from Japan, one from Jordan, one from Uganda, one from Egypt, one from Israel... ok, it's just getting tiring now, I could name 20 other countries. Sounds like a real echo chamber!
And you know what the weirdest thing is? Almost every one of them thinks Trump is utterly dangerous to the US and the rest of the world and doesn't understand how he got to where he is when there were a half dozen actually qualified Republicans running. Lucky for Trump the whole world doesn't vote on the US president, or he'd lose in an utter landslide.
I think most US citizens are going to get fucking upset when they suddenly find most of the items they use on a day to day basis become unavailable or cost 10 times more. I always find it amusing the ignorance of the people that push the protectionist or disentanglement view, when the reality of that view kicks in and they realise it means a lower standard of living for themselves they quickly change their mind. The people of the U.K. are only just now starting to realise the consequences of brexit and are pretty upset, many voted thinking it would just be about supporting their own economy and controlling their borders and would not listen to the people explaining what they would have to give up with imports, exports, visas, travel etc etc. now the reality is being explained to them they are pissed.
I too work daily with an international crew. And you know what the weirdest thing is? Almost every one of them thinks Trump is utterly dangerous to the US and the rest of the world and doesn't understand how he got to where he is when there were a half dozen actually qualified Republicans running.
Sorry. Guess there's an echo in here today. ;-)
The non-echo part: My Russian colleagues don't seem to like Putin much, either, but they are very cagey about it when it comes to saying so online--even the ones who don't actually live in Russia. They're much less reticent about it in person. Gee, I wonder why.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Trump and his supporters are white supremacists.
Oh boy, here we fucking go again. More buzzwords, more fear, zero evidence.
They clearly think that "mexicans", i.e. anyone who is poor and speaks Spanish, doesn't belong in the US no matter where they were born.
Citation needed. He has ONLY expressed that he doesn't want ILLEGAL immigrants here. You know, people who break the law?
They think that all Muslims are terrorists.
Citation needed again. He has never said this.
And if you don't or won't acknowledge that reality then you are just as much of a racists scum as Trump himself.
"Agree with me or I'll call you names like racist!"
This is why so many people are getting sick of the left. Too many buzzwords, everything is an -ism of some kind, which only helps to divide the country further. It's an endless game of the oppression Olympics.
Not that the right is any better, I'm getting sick of both sides lying through they teeth, it's just a matter of which bullshit annoys me more.
Exactly what "piece of shit" things has she done?
Libya, Syria, Yemen (by selling weapons to the people who are bombarding them)
when have American war crimes ever mattered much to the USA?
Oh, I see, you don't care about war crimes. Then yes, she's fine, just an average politician getting bribes and corrupting the election.
I'm increasingly convinced that the Donald's secret plan for quickly defeating Daesh involves nuclear weapons
According to him, it's to bomb the oil fields and to cut the money that they get from "US allies" (in reality Hillary's allies, as they are donating for her).
But if you don't care about war crimes when it's Hillary, why care when it's Trump?
"Start proxy wars with Russia"? How about Russia not starting proxy wars with the West? Russia invades and seizes part of Ukraine just when they decide they want to be more pro EU. It even currently enjoys a "civil war" that wouldnt have lasted a week without Russian arms and soldiers. They control a tiny portion of the country but somehow are capable of withstanding the rest of the country's army not to mention performing large offensive pushed early in the war? Clearly all of those photos of Russian military equipment Ukraine never owned from within Ukraine show something is going on, right?
Or maybe Syria is the "proxy war" you speak of? Was all of the Arab spring started by the US or just the Syria part? Is our extensive campaign against ISIS, where ever they may be, a secret move against Russia?
Or maybe the proxy war was those evil Georgians that got invaded by Russia right when entering into NATO might have been a possibility?
Please. Tell me. What are these terrible evils the US visits on Russia?
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
If Trump wins it will be confirmation that democracy is failing in the English speaking world. Brexit happened because the UK has post-factual politics, and it's looking like the US is the same.
The internet and social media were supposed to improve democracy, but they seem to have reduced it to the level of memes and feelings counting more than facts and ability.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Clinton is a typical exaggerating and cherry picking politician. Trump's pants have achieved stable nuclear fission.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
By attacking the person and not the message you are just being stupid, but since you implied that the current state of my country of origin makes me less qualified to talk about the subject, I'll answer.
Your government meddles with ours. Your country implanted a dictatorship some time ago when we were getting better, huge setback, but we got out. We had a pretty good run for 14 years (just go check anywhere), even between two world economic crises. But when our president complained (2013) that your country was violating our constitution and our human rights, your president appointed a coup specialist as ambassador. Three years later, our president was taken out of office in the same way Paraguay's one was taken when this American coup organizer was working there (through a flaw in the law that permitted legally removing the president as long as enough congressmen lied together).
So yeah, we were fixing our government but America keeps fucking us. So don't complain when people talk about it, and don't blame us for everything that happens here, we are pretty shit alone, but you help a lot. As you should know, fixing broken governments is really hard, I'm working on it too.
But if you read my previous post, that's not even the reason I care the most about your politics, personally I really dislike murder, as most people I know (including several Americans). Considering your poor options as candidates, something I relate to, I wrote "who you think", as not to give an absolute opinion on the person you should vote to, but on one issue I think you should consider to be top priority (not that employment doesn't matter). To make it clear I wasn't telling on who to vote, I also gave a very conditional advice:
If you care about anti-Americanism, vote for who you think will actually murder less
I babbled a lot in my comment, but in the end the advice that I gave was that one. Do you think it is a bad advice? Do you think the US will become a banana republic if voters think about that? If so, isn't it worth becoming one? And in the end it was a conditional advice, so if you don't care about anti-Americanism, or about murdering less, it's ok, you can do whatever you want. But I will not restrain from speaking.
Exactly what "piece of shit" things has she done?
Libya, Syria, Yemen (by selling weapons to the people who are bombarding them)
I'm increasingly convinced that the Donald's secret plan for quickly defeating Daesh involves nuclear weapons
According to him, it's to bomb the oil fields and to cut the money that they get from "US allies" (in reality Hillary's allies [ibtimes.com], as they are donating for her).
Stays.
when have American war crimes ever mattered much to the USA?
Oh, I see, you don't care about war crimes.
Arguable, so I do apologize. You said that American war crimes doesn't matter to the USA, not to yourself. And you worried about a nuclear attack, that proves me wrong.
But it is strange when you ignore Libya, Syria and Yemen, her threats against Iran and Russia, and then say "pretty unlikely she will do anything terrible", and also "I don't think a highly limited nuclear strike is such a terrible thing in the big picture", that's were my (apparently wrong) assumption that you don't care about war crimes came from.
Did my apologies get it right? Or there was some other misinterpretation (English is not my native language)? I realize you said that global warming might be the largest risk, but I don't see how that could relate to the points on how "piece of shit" she is. Also, it is unlikely that four years of Trump will be enough to impede "the survival of your own descendents" on the global warming side of things. Just because he is mindless, doesn't mean the rest of the world is too (including good portion of the US). We can hope he will have some opposition and some decent technical advisors.
BTW, I'm not in power to vote for him, foreigner. My survival is more likely to be ended by an American drone (for posting links from wikileaks on extremist sites like slashdot) than by American global warming.
That might be because Trump is unapologetic in his avocation for prioritizing American interests over those of the world at large - in foreign trade, in overseas military action and in diplomacy. Naturally this will annoy denizens of European nations that've drastically under-spent on their armed forces for decades, preferring to freeload off the guaranteed protection of US/UK forces. Even former defense secretary Robert Gates - who's gotten snippy with Trump's foreign policy statements - himself said that NATO was becoming a "two-tier" alliance of fighters and freeloaders. It's taken repeated and persistent Russian aggression to finally reverse that trend, and it might already be too little, too late. Someone rattling Europe's cage to stimulate defense spending is exactly what they've needed - a little more rattling can only produce more spending.
Some Americans have a strange fascination with the opinions of foreigners on our politics - the American left wing holds them in particularly high regard - for reasons I cannot fathom. Said people often cite said opinions as if they're significant to our internal discourse as American citizens.
When these foreigners pay taxes to the American government, then I'll care about their opinion. Until then, they can take a flying fuck at a rolling donut.
You really think that?
Or, rather, you really WANT that? You really want to pay more for your groceries, for your deliveries, for your repairs, for ... well, pretty much anything?
Before you cry "they took ur juuubs", ponder whether you'd WANT that job, or whether that job is done for you, and realize that if it's the latter, the price for this will go up.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Problem: The idiots are voting because they think they DO know that.
No, the real issue is this:
The vast majority of people are idiots. The problem is they're too stupid to realize it.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
There was a joke doing the rounds after the Brexit referendum...
USA and UK are competing to be the most stupid country. UK have just taken the lead but USA still have a trump card to play.
You make some accurate and yet irrelevant rhetorical criticism while missing (or ignoring) the point. Consider responding directly to your interlocutor's arguments with a less patronizing, more emotive style, I think you'll find people are less likely to mistake you for an asshat.
You really want to pay more for your groceries, for your deliveries, for your repairs, for ... well, pretty much anything?
Aside from the moral issue of uprooting established illegals that have made a life for themselves over the last 10 year, to answer your question economically, YES YES and YES! When you import cheap labor, not only are you leaving Americans without an opportunity to earn a living, you now drive wages into the ground and force all those effected into taking more government assistance. That assistance is payed for by the tax payer. And who shoulders the cost? The broad numbers of the middle-class. As such, the disparity between the rich and poo/middle class is growing exponentially!
Pay now, or pay dearly later, but we all WILL PAY in the end.
Life is not for the lazy.
His opponents are all about violence. They openly advocate it. Trump's rally in Chicago had to be cancelled, because of the threats of violence. A US President better be ready to respond to violent threats with overwhelming violence of our own. The era of apologizing and paying off the little bullies is over.
Now, has Donald Trump used violence in personal matters? Evidently not...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
The original poster is correct. We shouldn't be using illegal labor to justify low prices. I don't have a problem with immigrants. I have a problem with illegal immigrants not paying their fare share in taxes. Most of the money they make gets sent back to Mexico anyhow.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard