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
this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2026
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Remember kids, look around you. Too much money will fuck you up big time.
Tbh this guys method is ‘the boy who cries wolf’ in the most random ways.. anyone who gives this guy a seconds worth of your attention just needs to reevaluate their why they are trying to rationalize or give chance to ppl with greed as their best interest
And by "freedom" he doesn't mean your freedom.
Yes. Kant’s positive vs negative liberty applies; small gov advocates like Thiel tend to mean the latter.
Billionaire oligarchs are incompatible with democracy, he's just got it backwards like most anti-humanity fascists tend to do
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 like that you had the TM C and R.
What democracies do is create freedoms for everyone, true freedoms.
The freedom to choose one’s path of life? Sure! Democracies create that freedom through good, cheap, universal education!
The freedom to be as healthy as possible? Sure! Democracies create that freedom through good, cheap, universal healthcare!
The freedom to have technology help us solve problems? Sure! Democracies create that freedom through effective investments in research and development!
These are just a tase of what democracies do to create true freedom.
They don't do this inherently. What is happening in America shows that often people vote to restrict their own freedoms.
But that's being caused by anti democratic forces.
Democratic countries need to keep progressing.
Concentrated power isn't democratic, there needs to be an always on equalizer.
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We no longer believe that Democracy and Sociopathic Oligarchs can co-exist. We choose Democracy.
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If your freedom depends on others not being free, you really just want the freedom to oppress.
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He is right. HIS freedom is not compatible with Democracy.
Not even trying to understand. He's just another bored billionaire trying to stir the pot.
I no longer believe that Peter Thiel and oxygen are compatible.
Eh hope it is otherwise he can't burn.
I don't think Thiel is compatible with freedom, nor democracy. If he died we'd all be better off.
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I have similar suspicions. "Democracy" tends to mean, "governed by corporations and foreign oligarchs" over time. It is extremely vulnerable to outside influence and depends on its constituents' conscientiousness to protect it from that influence. The study of human psychology and manipulation (or just call it mind control) keeps leaping forward, but democratic structures aren't benefiting from the advances and the gap is widening. Democratic methods work great when everyone knows each other and respects the process, and they don't really work in the presence of bad actors.
That’s pretty much only because the idealized form of democracy in the West is a representative one, i.e. the people vote in a representative when a certain period of time passes and hope they don’t cave in to foreign interests/bribes.
In a direct democracy, the people have a direct say in government policy and can make their interests known via regular votes and meetings. I’m not going to pretend like it’s a flawless form of democracy, but it’s definitely harder for bad actors to push their agenda if citizens can directly push back against that without any red tape getting in the way. Unfortunately even consideration of it is extremely rare in the world though.
Do you have an example that supports your view? How does a system with thousands of votes a year survive the effects of voter inattention better than one that has one big one every four years?
Something that came to my mind as a possible such example is open-source software. But I think that only maps in an analogous way, not literally.
For sure! Switzerland is definitely the biggest example, though there's also Liechtenstein and arguably Cuba (not saying it is outright). If I were to play devil's advocate I'd say that those are all semi direct democracies, though considering how abstracted they all are from representative democracies in general I'd also say that it hardly makes a difference from a relative standpoint.
In Switzerland's case, there's no need to register directly as a voter, and every citizen has an opportunity to vote on various issues on about a quarterly basis, or 4 times per year. People can also vote on appending the constitution and can vote against bills approved by authorities. According to the Politics of Switzerland Wikipedia page:
The people also assume a role similar to the constitutional court, which does not exist, and thus sovereignty resides with the people, who exercise supreme political power and act as the guardians of the rule of law. According to the V-Dem Democracy indices, Switzerland was, in 2024, the most participatory democratic country in the world and Freedom House has Switzerland as one of the freest countries in the world, scoring 39 out of 40 points on political rights, and 57 out of 60 on civil liberties for a total of 96 out of 100 in 2024.
Why does he think his opinion on this matters?
You've read that in. You shared an opinion just now, but that doesn't mean you believe your opinion is important and matters on this issue. Keumars Afifi-Sabet (or more likely, their editor) thinks his opinion matters, or at least, is marketable.
I didn't read that in. He travels all around the world and spends millions upon millions of dollars to astroturf his opinion on politics and governance. He clearly thinks his opinion matters, and he thinks his money is what makes it matter.
Contrast that with everyone else whose opinions he apparently thinks doesn't matter, since A). They don't have the money to do what he does and B). He wants to disenfranchise them by ending democracy.
Probably because every stupid mouth shit he takes gets breathlessly printed and discussed around the world.
He doesn't mean freedom for the proles. He means his personal total and absolute freedom to exploit other people relentlessly and without consequences.
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.
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Democracy only works when the people is at the wheel, not the oligarchs.
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.
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Yeah, I’m ending my account today
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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.
Anyone should feel free to utilize the second amendment when this guy appears
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
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.
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.
“I no longer want the restrictions on me that are punitive and serve to protect the masses at my expense.” -Thiel
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.
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