His original post , titled I can’t sleep, is some brilliant writing. When we talk about the chilling effect that criticism of Israel creates in industries everywhere (including ours) this is what that looks like.
When you read about the Holocaust and the Nazis, you like to imagine you’d be the good guy. You’d fight the Nazis, you’d free the concentration camps. But apparently I wouldn’t. Apparently I would have just sat there paralyzed, incapable of doing anything about the genocide I see every day. Unable to think of any way to help. All I can do is retweet and protest and write a stupid blog post. I feel so stupid…
I wasn’t ready to see that my friends are Brownshirts [34]. That they actively cheer on the genocide…I wasn’t ready for my friends being [concentration] camp guards, party officials, propagandists.
Fuck, such an accurate picture
I wasn’t ready to see that my friends are Brownshirts [34]. That they actively cheer on the genocide…I wasn’t ready for my friends being [concentration] camp guards, party officials, propagandists.
Yeah that’d do it
Did jews do terrorist strikes on German population during and before WW2? Genuine question: it wasn’t easy finding data on this.
This doesn’t have to do with Jews
I don’t know what to do, but I know these are not my people. Who can work with people whitewashing genocide. Are we supposed to pretend it’s business as usual as we send our friends’ intros, frolic at conferences, discuss monetization strategy.
To Ed Sim, Erica Brescia, Michael Dearing, and especially Matt Ocko, we’re done [47]. I’ll never pitch you again, never ask for help, never send intros or recommend you. I’m done with Boldstart, and DCVC, and Harrison Metal, and Redpoint. (I’m also done with Bessemer [48] and Sequoia [49] and First Round [50].)
Damn, the balls on this guy. Very inspiring
Nothing short of heroic - too many people in a similar situation find themselves saying that it’s awful what’s happening, but there’s nothing they can do about it.
Well, it turns out there is. Inspiring as hell.
Paul, you are clearly a man who would have refused to take part, even when those you held dear cast aside their humanity. Keep the fight up, your people are out there making the same sacrifices in their life.
I’m not him, just someone sharing his story.
I know.
I am also not Paul
Not supporting the Nazis had financial impact on people. Some American compagnies in fact gladly did business with the Nazis and made bank from it . But after a while they still managed to scrape some morals from the bottom of the barrel and say “hey this Genocide thing is maybe not okay”.
Paul can stand proud for standing up for his morals. Sadly seems like many western companies and even the entirety US congress loves to sell their souls for genocidal Nazi stuff these days. Modern day America would have been a dream come true for Hitler.
Paul is a chad. He also got kicked out of ycombinator for outing the founders skipping vaccine lines and encouraging others to do the same.
Does someone know if anyone maintains a list of companies or organizations where this kind of bullshit has gone down, with link to sources? Could be useful to keep track.
I can’t believe how quickly we went from pretending we thought murdering civilians was a bad thing to concluding it’s merely a matter of killing the right civilians.
There’s a conversation going on in that Mastodon thread where one dude is proposing a static site fueled by a fact-checked list, but that’s the only thing I’ve seen other than BDS.
Thanks - here’s a direct link to the conversation, for anyone interested.
Shit, I’m on the phone over the holidays, will keep an eye on this. Thanks!
I will preface this by saying that there are risks to being openly involved.
There are people work to avoid taking actions that may benefit Israel:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott,_Divestment_and_Sanctions
Definitely doesn’t help that most of the damn US has some form of Anti-BDS laws. Because everybody knows Anti-Zionism is Anti-Semitism right guys?
The US ““free market”” - Where if you choose not to do business with somebody they make it illegal not to.
Anti-Zionism and antisemitism are not the same thing, but neither are they mutually exclusive.
Anti-fascism and anti-semitims are also not mutually exclusive. Anti-communism and anti-consumerism are not mutually exclusive. Anti-war and anti-liberalism are not mutually exclusive. Anti-abortion and anti-gay rights are not mutually exclusive.
Hell, few things are mutually exclusive. You had a handful of god-damn Jewish Nazis and one fucking honorary aryan during the war. So not even Semitism and anti-Semitism are mutually fucking exclusive.
Things not being mutually exclusive is a pretty fucking moot argument.
Things not being mutually exclusive is a pretty fucking moot argument.
It’s not an argument.
So what is it?
It was a statement. Why do you find it so upsetting that something antisemitic might also be called anti-Zionist?
If you want a precise list you need to precisely define the bullshit you’re referring to. You want a list of companies that have done what exactly?
Grear idea! I’m curious if theres an equivalent for BLM that can be forked
You are gonna want to clarify that.
Did we used to conduct war in a way that was safe for civilians? I’m not aware of that history. The war in Gaza looks like war to me. The same way we have been practicing it since we picked up our first sticks in anger. Murdering civilians is a consequence of war. The “good guys” fire bombed Dresden and nuked Japan.
I would give more examples but being honest I am straining to think of other wars in human history that were worth fighting. I am drawing a blank. All of it is pointless slaughter. At least in Gaza you can understand that the Israelis were provoked to war. Can’t say the same for the US in most of our wars.
The circumstances of Gaza seem to warrant them attacking their captors. I don’t support any attacks on civillians, but Israel being attacked seems to be a result of a failure on their part to make peaceful change possible.
When we start making excuses for violence we abandon any hope of a peaceful world. There is always some slight that requires reprisal which will begat further reprisal. No party in this conflict has the strength to resist. No part has the moral high ground.
Might as well hunt down Churchill and Truman’s descendants and murder them to avenge their grandfathers casting the first stones in this conflict.
Did we used to conduct war in a way that was safe for civilians?
No.
I’m not aware of that history. The war in Gaza looks like war to me.
The Israelis say they are prosecuting a war against Hamas.
How many members of Hamas have been killed? How many remain?
It’s extremely rare to see someone like Paul Bigger whose morals are not for sale
somebody had to be the bigger man about the situation
When there is a war, there are war crimes - it’s not surprising, it’s not new and it’s not special. Every single time, regardless of nationality, race, creed, invader or defender. Every single time. You give a lot of people guns, teach them to de-humanise the enemy and then put them through unimaginable stresses, it’s inevitable that some will do bad things. Those who orchestrate such actions and trigger events like this know, accept and want these atrocoties to achieve their own ends.
I respect Paul Biggar for having an opinion and writing a well researched and unimpeachable personal blog about it. Why should any of us who hold feelings have to suppress them?
It’s sad that he’s become yet another victim of this unwinnable war, it’s even sadder that he won’t be the last.
This is today’s reality on the Internet. We used to think it would free us from capitalist control of public discourse. Hahahaha no, anyone saying anything contentious without good anonymity can be fired from their job or face other consequences.
Actions have consequences, and that’s ok.
That is, sincerely, such a hugely refreshing statement in any current affair. I don’t mean to distract from his more specific points, but that key insight really shows integrity in a way that I wish didn’t seem so rare.
What is the insight from your perspective?
Most people who find themselves fired for their viewpoints decry “cancel culture”. To be clear, booting him of the board was an act of censorship. This acceptance of (the existence of) consequences helps to indicate how strongly one holds to their values.
He addresses related notions in his essay. Why he chose to accept the consequences in advance and why some others may not be able to. It makes it real.
Removed by mod
He attacked their investors by name and said they support a genocide. Either they back him and everyone looses their job or they fire him
AH. Well then… that makes a bit more sense lol
“Loses.”
No Investor, even a billionaire, is going to fire everybody.
They just pull their funding, and everyone looses their job. No firing needed.
Or, they back him and acknowledge that they supported genocide but have since realised how wrong they were?
Ya, he’s an idiot who thought he was bigger than The mission and got shown he’s not. You’re not coming out ahead acting like that.
Don’t worry, Bari Weiss will come to his defense any time now.
Between the recent breach and the clear sentiment behind their staff, I really don’t know why anyone chooses CircleCI over GitHub / GitLab Actions.
My friend used to drive me nuts because he kept getting ads about them so he parrot the ads bullshit at me just to grind my gears.
Like CI/CD is a space full of eatabled and power opensource options, why am I paying for a proprietary app.
Not free but definitely wonderful
It is sickening the double standards we have. And all because of money and powerful lobbies.
This is why I hate startup culture. When you give off your equity to capitalist fat cats, you make yourself a bootlickers of mainstream discourse, even if that discourse is calling for genocide.
Fuck CircleCI
Such a powerful article! Standing up for what’s right, I would always invest in such a person if I had any say in it.
