This letter to the editor from Tom Perkins about the anti-tech backlash in SF is just breathtakingly stupid. I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its “one percent,” namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the “rich.” … This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent “progressive” radicalism unthinkable now?This comparison is so obviously idiotic I’d just ignore it. But it’s by Tom Perkins, founder of Kleiner-Perkins, one of the most influential VC firms in the tech industry. Blogging it so we “never forget” if you know what I mean. I’m concerned about the growing class tension in the SF Bay Area. While I think some of the rhetoric in the protests is deplorable there’s significant, meaningful issues of equality and access in the Bay Area that need to be addressed. But then to have some jackass come in and Godwin the whole discussion, in the Wall Street Journal no less, just ick. Maybe it’s time for Kleiner Perkins to rebrand. |