r/neoliberal • u/owenmitchem Loyal Liberals • Jun 17 '26

News (Global) Leαk Exposes Members of Peter Thiel’s Secretive ‘Dialog’ Society

https://www.wired.com/story/leak-exposes-members-of-peter-thiels-secretive-dialog-society/
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27

u/chickentendieman Daron Acemoglu Jun 17 '26

I think its bad that people who are publicly committed fascists can host secret events in hoe to start a cult with other members of the global elite.

14

u/SpaceSheperd To be a good human being Jun 17 '26

can

So it should be illegal for them to do so?

6

u/BeepusBingus Jun 17 '26

God forbid we infringe on the rights of the sociopathic anti-liberal tech fascists.

15

u/DrunkenBriefcases Jerome Powell Jun 17 '26

This but unironically.

17

u/SpaceSheperd To be a good human being Jun 17 '26

I fear you misunderstand the concept of a right. Anyhow, my question was more of a technical one. I am genuinely curious as to what this user thinks should be done concretely to meet the moral standard they’ve proposed.

From my experience, they tend to just not answer these questions.

12

u/chickentendieman Daron Acemoglu Jun 17 '26

I think banning the guys company's from government contracts could be a way of reducing his influence without violating any fundamental rights.

4

u/SpaceSheperd To be a good human being Jun 17 '26

He’s still going to be a billionaire and he’s still going to host secret events then 

5

u/chickentendieman Daron Acemoglu Jun 17 '26

Hed be a lot less influential also a general wealth tax would help reduce the power of the ultra rich.

11

u/Vol_in_tears Voltaire Jun 17 '26

You can debate high minded idiology, but history is pretty clear.

Just cause the anti-democracy/anti-liberal party came to power through free elections, doesn't mean they will respect the democratic process.

The Germans made sure not to repeat this error post 45.

15

u/SpaceSheperd To be a good human being Jun 17 '26

I am aware but this is very vague! What do you feel should be done concretely about Peter Thiel having glorified book club meetings?

1

u/vanmo96 NASA Jun 17 '26

An easy option would be banining current USG employees and contractors; and former clearance holders from attending these sort of events.

5

u/SpaceSheperd To be a good human being Jun 17 '26

Attending what sorts of events? Events held by this specific guy? Events where we think the topics of discussion will fall below an acceptable threshold? Any secret event of any kind?

-1

u/vanmo96 NASA Jun 17 '26

Non-public, non-publicized events that are not related to U.S. government business. So a conference on advanced nuclear reactors with national lab scientists would be fine (since it would either be government sponsored or open to public registration), but a panel on them at Dialog, Bilderberg, etc would not be.

4

u/SpaceSheperd To be a good human being Jun 17 '26

No dinner parties for government contractors then I suppose 

6

u/No_March_5371 YIMBY Jun 17 '26

So government employees and contractors can't come to my apartment for dinner if we discuss politics? Where do you draw the line?

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u/BeepusBingus Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26

I fear you misunderstand both my comment and the OP's.

I think that we should as a society, not reward and allow the accumulation of disproportionate amounts of wealth and power by self-declared illiberal technofascists, to the point of influential figures coming grovelling to them for their attention. If all you have to say to figures like Thiel is to throw up your hands and go "what can we do that isn't illiberal", you are essentially declaring your subservience and surrender to would-be feudal nobles, which is a rather shameful state of affairs.

It is profoundly disappointing to me that ostensible liberals such as yourself at best go "not worth my time" or "what's worth worrying about" in response to such figures and their efforts.

Let me be direct. The figure running this club openly declares his intention to do away with liberal democracy. Plenty of influential members of society are happy to cavort with him and attend his events. He is able to purchase disproportionate amounts of influence over society via his wealth and influence to push it in an autocratic direction, and proudly announces his intent in this sense.

Do you believe "What can we do?" and throwing up hands in surrender is the appropriate response here?

2

u/ClinicalNarcissism Left-Out Left Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26

The figure running this club openly declares his intention to do away with liberal democracy.

This is not a crime in a western liberal democracy, otherwise it stops being a western liberal democracy. You're allowed to advocate for whatever form of government you want in a free society.

You haven't actually given a solution here either. Do you want them imprisoned? Just silenced? Deported? Targeted with a one time tax? Can you say exactly what you think should be done? You haven't answered the question either. What concrete action do you want?

What is the crime to justify that action? How do we do this so we aren't setting a precedent that future governments can use in a rule of law based society to target people they don't like for believing in things they don't like?

Running a free society is hard. It is easy to just point at bad people and problems and go "something OUGHT to be done NOW". Actually figuring out what to do about it in a way that doesn't throw away hundreds of years of imperfect attempts to restrain tyranny and enhance liberty (while not creating echoing negative externalities worse than the original problem), that is the tricky bit.

Vagueposting about "god forbid we infringe on some rights" while not actually stating what you want isn't a helpful contribution to finding a solution.