Shkreli

[John Bailey]

I feel that guys like Shkreli and to a certain extent a lot of the
'disruptors' see themselves as rebels, mavericks, visionaries who dare
to question the status quo etc. There's a long, strong trend among
humanities and arts kids to praise trickster figures but that's the
same impulse that can lead your Shkreli's into what from outside
clearly comes across as sociopathic behaviour.

That this is all now praised as agile disruption disturbs me.

On Sat, Dec 12, 2015 at 5:01 PM, Steven Koteff <steviekoteff at gmail.com> wrote:
> In light of the clock stuff, I wonder if you guys have any nuanced thoughts
> on this Shkreli dude.
> (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/12/business/martin-shkrelis-latest-plan-to-sharply-raise-drug-price-prompts-outcry.html)
>
> Maybe it doesn't even allow for much nuance because it's so
> one-dimensionally evil. Actually I find it kind of fascinating for that
> reason--he's like a comic book villain almost. Like a character out of
> Batman. Ditto Trump, really.
>
> I'll tell you what, guys, as someone who attended two relatively
> high-powered colleges/MBA-breeding-grounds in the last ten years, and who
> interacted with a lot of people who are going to be running the country,
> this Shkreli guy doesn't seem that aberrant.
>
> Reality has a liberal bias, it was reaffirmed on a thread here a few days
> ago. Okay. I do think in a lot of ways the center of this country is
> trending leftward (I mean, not actually leftward in any bedrock
> ideological/enlightened sense, but at least in terms of contemporary
> politics). And I think we'll see this bear out increasingly as the country
> gets younger. I really do. And I think the Republican party knows this and
> is attempting to use fear as ever, but in even more preposterous ways, to
> sort of head off that current. I don't think it will really succeed.
>
> But I do think that once the pendulum swings in the direction of the center
> leaning leftward in the coming years, it will sort of free up some of the
> most fundamentally-right-wing people to become increasingly open about
> certain ideas we find abhorrent: xenophobia, unabated capitalism, etc. I
> think Trump is an important sign of this. Of course he won't be elected, but
> he is dangerous in other ways. More importantly though I think he is a sign
> of something dangerous. He is a relic. He is what happens when the wolf
> doesn't even bother to wear sheep's clothing anymore, right? Shkreli is part
> of the next generation of the wolfpack. Ever a fucking arms race, dudes.
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l