And by "freedom" he doesn't mean your freedom.
this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2026
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Yes. Kant’s positive vs negative liberty applies; small gov advocates like Thiel tend to mean the latter.
He's not entirely wrong. In a democracy we vote for people who (in an ideal world) would regulate assholes like him. In his fascist technocracy he'll be able to do whatever the fuck he wants to the rest of us. So in that sense, sure, democracy can put limits on ultimate freedom™©®
....but we kinda want that because fuckbags like thiel exist.
He is absolutely fucking wrong. This tech bro libertarian shit is like the textbook definition of bad philosophy where overconfident smooth brains think in broad strokes instead of reducing ideas to first principles.
His definition of freedom simply doesn't exist, and this is an incredibly common trope in right wingers. He believes he is entitled to benefit from society without understanding the process by which those benefits arise. He misunderstands the distinction between "is" and "ought." And even this is an incredibly gentle critique of a person who gives unhinges PowerPoint presentations about the antichrist which he seems to actually believe. The man is loony tunes. Idk what they had in the water at PayPal back in the day, but him and Musk seem to have unlocked an entirely new level of crazy.
Imagine the pure liquid wealth your company accumulates when it takes 2-3% of a large swath of financial transactions on the Internet. It’s like Visa/MasterCard obscene.
Then imagine someone tells you “no”.
I don't think Thiel is compatible with freedom, nor democracy. If he died we'd all be better off.
We no longer believe that Democracy and Sociopathic Oligarchs can co-exist. We choose Democracy.
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We need to stop using PayPal!
No need, just wait until they lock you out of your own account!
After Trump sanctions you for disagreeing with his policies.
It's been 10 years since I got locked out of mine
Yeah, I’m ending my account today
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Take a good look, folks. This is the face of Anarcho-capitalism. Peter Thiel wants to be your new overlord. Unregulated and unrestrained.
I hate having to use that term. It’s just feudalism without even the illusion of a binding social order.
There’s nothing anarcho about it. This guy wants to be a king. A tyrant.
He doesn't mean freedom for the proles. He means his personal total and absolute freedom to exploit other people relentlessly and without consequences.
If your freedom depends on others not being free, you really just want the freedom to oppress.
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These pieces of shit are especially egregious because they promised so much change and hope and opportunity for everyone but all their garbage companies just toed the old line instead of actually "disrupting" anything at all. The only thing they've disrupted is everyone's savings and futures
Anyone should feel free to utilize the second amendment when this guy appears
Billionaire oligarchs are incompatible with democracy, he's just got it backwards like most anti-humanity fascists tend to do
Well clearly Peter Thiel has never read Murray Bookchin!
Man, I remember a debate he had with David Graeber (Someone who knew and did read Murray Bookchin). Thiel got absolutely schooled by our late great anthropologist-anarchist. Like utterly trashed by him, in that Graeber wasn't even trying to trash him he was just responding to Thiel's horrid conceits with his casual and playful depth of understanding.
You've gotta look it up on youtube. Thiel had fucking daggers in his eyes. Graeber was just having a good time with it. You cannot completely convince me that Thiel did not have some sort of hand in Graeber's early death.
freedom and democracy are compatible
Hmm, I might agree Peter
This has always been the position of the upper class and for that matter a good majority of the founding fathers were openly anti democratic.
I no longer believe that MY freedom and YOUR democracy are compatible. So you can't have democracy anymore so I can have my freedom to not be regulated.
It's really kind of sad that these people are surrounded by Yes men for so long that they think every thought they have and everything they say is correct and brilliant.
It's like they've built their own little personal echo chambers.
We humans really are a dumb fragile bag of meat and bones.
He's right. In his own twisted kind of way. Democracy is in the way of the overly rich to take complete control and become dictators. Being a dictator is their ultimate power fantasy of 'true freedom'.
I agree that Democracy is not compatible with his definition of giving the richest people on earth the freedom to have planar authority. So we must get rid of them to save democracy and our own freedom.
It's funny how he calls it a lack of freedoms and we call it laws and human rights.
That's what he has an issue with: human rights and laws.
“I no longer want the restrictions on me that are punitive and serve to protect the masses at my expense.” -Thiel
He is right. HIS freedom is not compatible with Democracy.
I no longer believe that Peter Thiel and oxygen are compatible.
Eh hope it is otherwise he can't burn.
Not even trying to understand. He's just another bored billionaire trying to stir the pot.
Remember kids, look around you. Too much money will fuck you up big time.
He thinks he should be free to rule over everyone poorer than hin
Democracy only works when the people is at the wheel, not the oligarchs.
The sooner we eat this guy the better.
Don't eat this guy. He has used blood boys to try to keep himself young.
That's probably the kind of unregulated shit the gets you exposed to unknown pathogens and such. You don't want to eat that kind of meat.
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Well isn't it obvious? Freedom is only compatible with wealthy elites pressing their boots (or the boots of their paid hirelings) against the necks of the people.
Ah it seems like the didn't say the entirety of what he believes, he really means:
I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible with my need to have more control over everyone else
Remember it's his vision of freedom and democracy. Which doesn't have freedom and democracy for you and I.
Is that why I keep seeing so much pro-China shit on corporate social media like Reddit and Youtube lately?
The capitalists finally realized they weren't actually communist, they just created a hypercapitalist paradise with zero democracy, and they want in on the deal.
Just so everybody knows, he said this almost 20 years ago
well neither is fascism, you damn fascist
Why is the headline and article about a quote that's almost 2 decades old?
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