The dinner that destroyed Gawker | Hacker News Reader

The dinner that destroyed Gawker

techcrunch.com

19 pointsmastazi12 comments

Cool writing but ended like the author had to get up to go get lunch and never came back, and the editor was just like "fuck it, publish as is, yolo"

I also don't understand TechCrunch's angle on this. Are they trying to say this is bad or good, or just write a novella about Peter Thiel. It was gripping as long as it lasted.

It's a book excerpt, not a regular article.

Are people still going on about how Thiel taking down Gawker is some chilling story about the elite silencing journalists?

First they published a story of debatable newsworthiness: Hulk Hogan having sex on tape.

When they were ordered by a judge to take down the story, they stood defiant (the famous "A judge told us to take down our Hulk Hogan sex tape post. We won't." post: https://twitter.com/gawker/status/327537977922318337?lang=en).

Then someone came along who actually had the resources to see the whole thing play out in court (a funny reversal of the old "this giant corporation has the money to outlast any court case, don't bother Mr. Little Guy"), they rightfully lost, and STILL the bitching continues over something that could have been prevented entirely if Gawker had simply listened to that judge's orders. They're not martyrs, they're idiots.

Yep, good riddance. Can imagine it spooks the press to be held accountable.

This is an interesting documentary on this subject.

Nobody Speak: Trials of the free press https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6333064/

From the article: "... the same model he has idling outside with a driver, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, wherever he is in the world."

What? He has someone sitting outside in a running car while he sleeps? If true, that's remarkably stupid.

If it's to Peter Thiel's benefit and his benefit alone to do something, he will assuredly do it. What's best for other people, society, the environment, etc., doesn't ever factor into his calculus.

He does certainly give that impression, nothing I've ever read about him has given me another.

This is common among the ultra-elite. If there is a threat, their security literally carries them to an idling car, throws them in and it drives off. Can’t risk the car not starting I guess. I’ve read this in multiple locations but usually related to people like the POTUS or the Pope. It doesn’t surprise me that multi-billionaires do this too.

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