Author Topic: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes  (Read 3002 times)

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Offline Askold

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Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« on: September 23, 2016, 02:15:49 pm »
http://gizmodo.com/palmer-luckey-millionaire-founder-of-oculus-rift-love-1786994094

I'm not sure if you've been following this story, but TL;DR The man who founded Oculus Rift (and sold it to Google) was recently found to have been financing people who make anti-Hillary memes. (A group that proudly claims to be shitposting for Trump and trying to prove that meme-magic is real.)

Now it turns out that he is also in bed with the GamerGate. Quite literally because his girlfriend is a notable GG member and Trump fan.

So yeah, a "nearly billionaire" has been spending a small fortune to finance "shitposting" frog memes, Hilllary/Killary jokes and who knows what.

We shall wait and see what Facebook and Oculus Rift do about this PR nightmare...
No matter what happens, no matter what my last words may end up being, I want everyone to claim that they were:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Aww, you guys rock. :)  I feel the love... and the pitchforks and torches.  Tingly!

Offline ironbite

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2016, 02:56:54 pm »
Severely distance themselves from him and then go on with life?

Offline Askold

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2016, 03:12:21 pm »
But he's still working for them.

He sold the company but he didn't stop working there so they are going to have to fire him if they wish to distance themselves. Possibly quickly because some smaller developers have already announced that they are dropping Oculus support on their games (the bigger companies might not care about minor PR problems but the smaller ones are afraid of any customers boycotting them.)
No matter what happens, no matter what my last words may end up being, I want everyone to claim that they were:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Aww, you guys rock. :)  I feel the love... and the pitchforks and torches.  Tingly!

Art Vandelay

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2016, 04:06:39 pm »
I suppose we all need a hobby.

Offline Sigmaleph

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2016, 11:43:22 am »
We've been here before, but firing people for political beliefs (and political contributions) is pretty fucked up and should be a) illegal or at least  b) widely regarded as a betrayal of everything democracy stands for.
Σא

pyro

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2016, 04:04:41 pm »
Look at what happened when Mozilla did it. Granted, it would've been just as bad had they kept him on.

There's no way to win in a fiasco like this, is there?

Offline ironbite

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2016, 04:29:05 pm »
Its either they lose out on money or they lose out on principles.  Guess which one corporations value more.

Offline dpareja

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2016, 04:36:52 pm »
Its either they lose out on money or they lose out on principles.  Guess which one corporations value more.

If they're publicly owned in the US, they can only care about one of those.
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

pyro

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2016, 04:39:33 pm »
Its either they lose out on money or they lose out on principles.  Guess which one corporations value more.

You're missing my point. When your customers are split in two groups who want the opposite thing (Yes on DOMA! No on DOMA!), there's no way to make them all happy. If the thing you value is money, the best choice is to avoid donating to anything or expressing any political opinion at all. Otherwise, you're guaranteed to alienate somebody.

Offline dpareja

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2016, 05:37:09 pm »
Its either they lose out on money or they lose out on principles.  Guess which one corporations value more.

You're missing my point. When your customers are split in two groups who want the opposite thing (Yes on DOMA! No on DOMA!), there's no way to make them all happy. If the thing you value is money, the best choice is to avoid donating to anything or expressing any political opinion at all. Otherwise, you're guaranteed to alienate somebody.

Except that expressing no opinion is essentially expressing an opinion in favor of the status quo... and some of your customers are going to be opposed to the status quo.
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

Offline ironbite

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #10 on: September 25, 2016, 05:55:19 pm »
Its either they lose out on money or they lose out on principles.  Guess which one corporations value more.

You're missing my point. When your customers are split in two groups who want the opposite thing (Yes on DOMA! No on DOMA!), there's no way to make them all happy. If the thing you value is money, the best choice is to avoid donating to anything or expressing any political opinion at all. Otherwise, you're guaranteed to alienate somebody.


If you had a point I'd probably get it.  Problem is you don't have one.

Oculus Rift founder has been paying the chans to make racist memes in an effort to sway the internet over to Trump's side and make him President.  That's the story.  Oculus Rift is owned by Facebook.  People in the tech industry get this connection.  Trump is not well liked by the internet.  Ergo, Oculus Rift founder has chosen the worst hill to die on.

Ironbite-but that's ok pyro, at least you've still got a great ass.

pyro

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #11 on: September 25, 2016, 09:30:13 pm »
If he'd been paying people to make anti-Trump/pro-Clinton memes, you don't think there would be boycotts then, too?


Edit:

Except that expressing no opinion is essentially expressing an opinion in favor of the status quo... and some of your customers are going to be opposed to the status quo.

"Look at the cool VR goggles!"

"You support income inequality? You bastard!"
« Last Edit: September 25, 2016, 09:33:20 pm by pyro »

Offline dpareja

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #12 on: September 25, 2016, 09:41:17 pm »
Except that expressing no opinion is essentially expressing an opinion in favor of the status quo... and some of your customers are going to be opposed to the status quo.

"Look at the cool VR goggles!"

"You support income inequality? You bastard!"

I should clarify: expressing no opinion when asked your opinion.
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

pyro

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #13 on: September 27, 2016, 12:28:57 am »
I should clarify: expressing no opinion when asked your opinion.

At that point, yeah. There's no way out of that one.

Offline dpareja

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Re: Oculus Rift founder and his Trump-memes
« Reply #14 on: September 27, 2016, 12:38:04 am »
I should clarify: expressing no opinion when asked your opinion.

At that point, yeah. There's no way out of that one.

The issue, really, arises in the gray areas: would PayPal, for instance, have been supporting North Carolina's infamous HB2 if they'd continued with their plans to expand their operations in the state? Would Springsteen have been supporting it if he'd continued with his pre-scheduled concert?
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.