Shkreli

[Steven Koteff]

Yeah I agree with all that. 

> On Dec 12, 2015, at 12:16 AM, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 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.
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l