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Palmer Luckey is now mentor for 3 VR accelerators (Tokyo, Seoul, Nordic VR Startups)

Riposte

Member
You twats are normalizing, legitimizing, or even celebrating the cunt who weaponized anonymous hate to push a political campaign.

While Luckey seems to have some crappy political views (i.e., Trump) and other failings, including lying, the idea that he was funding hateful anonymous "shitposts" or trolls online doesn't seem to be supported anywhere. The fairly benign billboard ad against Hillary Clinton was the only thing reported on then. Nimble America didn't seem to be anything more than a standard PAC. This article from earlier this year highlights how the journalism was fairly sketchy (and archives the reaction to it, referring to it as a sort of game of telephone):

https://uploadvr.com/fake-news-happens-reporting-palmer-luckey-nimble-america/

Like I said: this is something that had been on my mind, but it was something I tried to push aside while I finished up my new book (the one about VR). Until, unfortunately, such an incident became part of the story that I was writing about; when, in September, The Daily Beast published an article titled Palmer Luckey: The Facebook Billionaire Secretly Funding Trump’s Meme Machine.

I’m sure you remember that article (how could you not with a headline like that!) and I’m sure you recall some of the pieces that followed—like Ars Technica’s How your Oculus Rift is secretly funding Donald Trump’s racist meme wars or Boing Boing‘s Facebook ‘near-billionaire’ Palmer Luckey secretly funding racist pro-Trump hate meme machine—as well as the social media assassination of Palmer Luckey (and his girlfriend).

An assassination that, by the way, I’d argue would have been warranted…if what was described in those headlines had actually been true. But that’s just not the case. Not even close. I can go into more detail if you’d like, but here’s a generic overview of what happened and why—initially for my own records—I put together this timeline.

In mid-September 2016, Palmer Luckey donated just shy of $10,000 to a recently formed pro-Trump non-profit organization called Nimble America. At the time of his donation, the entire body of Nimble America’s work consisted of putting up a single billboard in the Pittsburgh area [pictured below]. Going forward, Nimble America planned to put up more billboards in battleground states (hence the organization seeking donations).

...

Now, whether or not you like Donald Trump, and whether or not you find the above billboard tasteful, it is important to note the following:

*Nimble America was not responsible for creating or spreading any memes online.

*Nimble America’s goal was to take meme-like images [like the billboard above] and put them into the real world (via billboards, t-shirts and stickers).

*There is no evidence—nor, based on my research, do I see any reason to believe—that this organization promoted any sort of racist, sexist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic or white supremacist agenda. Neither is there any evidence of Nimble America engaging in any sort of trolling, harassing or “astroturfing.”

*Milo Yiannopoulos had no affiliation with Nimble America other than to endorse the cause and, in his capacity as a moderator of the The_Donald subreddit, verify that there was indeed a wealthy backer [Luckey] who had donated to the organization [a little less than $10,000].
 
People making software for the Oculus Store were pretty much directly putting money into the pocket of a man who was diverting a chunk of it into a racist hategroup. In some cases these groups were attacking those very developers, or their family or friends.

You can't guarantee where every dollar you spend or generate goes, but if you KNOW it's channeling right into the pockets of terrible people, you can do something about that.

Palmer tried to do this anonymously for a while, then revealed it as if it was no big deal based on a casual question. Then tried to (needlessly) lie about his further support of Trump despite obvious evidence. Then the girlfriend's despicable Twitter was found, and it became obvious what kind of company he prefers to keep. And I don't think he's expressed an ounce of shame over his act.

He taints what he touches. Developers in Japan and other countries ignoring his history are contributing to the problem. In this situation, you can't separate the man from the act.
 

Codeblue

Member
If Finland wanted to create a family comedy about a black doctor and hired Bill Cosby to write it some of you would nod your head thinking "Yeah, good business decision. That makes total sense".
 
While Luckey seems to have some crappy political views (i.e., Trump) and other failings, including lying, the idea that he was funding hateful anonymous "shitposts" or trolls online doesn't seem to be supported anywhere. The fairly benign billboard ad against Hillary Clinton was the only thing reported on then. Nimble America didn't seem to be anything more than a standard PAC. This article from earlier this year highlights how the journalism was fairly sketchy (and archives the reaction to it, referring to it as a sort of game of telephone):

https://uploadvr.com/fake-news-happens-reporting-palmer-luckey-nimble-america/

People will still hate on palmer regardless of evidence and subject in hand.

The best way to stop the derailers who aren't interested in discuss the topic at hand is to stop answering them so we can continue talking about how palmer can improve the VR scene in Asia.
 

L Thammy

Member
I mean, the UploadVR thread was locked for a reason.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1366678

Ya'll might do well to read over this thread though http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1283045

In there, there are links to Nimble America's racism and screencaps of the racism Palmer's girlfriend spews. Oh and Palmer being a GamerGater.

If we're talking about UploadVR, I think they've got problems of their own.
https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/15/u...or-in-the-workplace-and-wrongful-termination/
 

Alucrid

Banned
While Luckey seems to have some crappy political views (i.e., Trump) and other failings, including lying, the idea that he was funding hateful anonymous "shitposts" or trolls online doesn't seem to be supported anywhere. The fairly benign billboard ad against Hillary Clinton was the only thing reported on then. Nimble America didn't seem to be anything more than a standard PAC. This article from earlier this year highlights how the journalism was fairly sketchy (and archives the reaction to it, referring to it as a sort of game of telephone):

https://uploadvr.com/fake-news-happens-reporting-palmer-luckey-nimble-america/

wow, someone actually trying to pull some "fake news" bullshit
 

Riposte

Member
I mean, the UploadVR thread was locked for a reason.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1366678

Ya'll might do well to read over this thread though http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1283045

In there, there are links to Nimble America's racism and screencaps of the racism Palmer's girlfriend spews. Oh and Palmer being a GamerGater.

I realized the article may seem questionable, so I checked up on the author, Blake Harris, before I posted the link. He seems reputable (written for ESPN and AVClub) and I didn't see anything too questionable (he recently retweeted anti-Trump tweets, for what it is worth). If uploadvr is a problem, then perhaps this will do instead?

http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/09/who-is-palmer-luckey-and-what-is-nimble-america.html

It's less "forgiving" to Luckey and agrees with the idea that Luckey is dishonestly pro-Trump and vaguely within the sphere of GamerGate (which isn't a point of contention). It also includes this:

Because he now has more money than sense or experience, Luckey threw some of his cash toward a nonprofit called Nimble America — a nonprofit, pro-Trump political organization that, according to its own literature, makes anti-Clinton memes. (To be clear: There is no hard evidence so far that Nimble America has made any memes or funded any trolls, though it exists, has money, and bought a billboard in Pittsburgh.)

Linking old threads without a specific claim doesn't really conflict with what I've posted, because the primary sources (the articles) behind threads are what is being scrutinized. The point is to cut the game of telephone out and focus what was initially presented. Having participated in the older, longer thread myself and finding nothing really meaningful in the very short, recent one that I missed, there isn't much to say that the "meme machine" paying trolls to spread memes ever existed (even conceptually). It's not really a matter of linking an article which "proves it wrong", the initial Daily Beast article doesn't actually support that claim (there was only the billboard ad), with the claim itself seemingly birthed and transformed through misinterpretation (Harris, if his word still counts, documents how this happened over twitter). There's a lot to dislike about Luckey, even on just a personal level, but there's pretty much no evidence to the claim that he funded online trolls or hateful online memes through Nimble America - this is despite headlines explicitly saying he did.

EDIT: Note that I don't think "trump supporter" or "gamergator" is a bad reason to dislike someone or want to avoid their work (perhaps more interesting, this applies to those who willingly associate with him, like yosp and asian VR companies mentioned in this thread, although I guess I'm a little more hesitant in that case); as far as politics go, it's probably one of the better reasons. The thing is, the basis for the idea that Luckey is much more than just a trump supporter, like he was paying people to say racist shit online, is surprisingly light despite its wide acceptance.
 
People will still hate on palmer regardless of evidence and subject in hand.

The best way to stop the derailers who aren't interested in discuss the topic at hand is to stop answering them so we can continue talking about how palmer can improve the VR scene in Asia.

You serious? He just posted a link from a trash site. The only derailers are people like you who refuse to call out Palmer for the garbage he is.
 
You serious? He just posted a link from a trash site. The only derailers are people like you who refuse to call out Palmer for the garbage he is.

For someone fancying themselves a writer of gaming articles, proud enough of their portfolio they seek out larger American gaming sites to open a Spanish branch for them to write for, Foxy the Fox sure doesn't like to do background reading before voicing their opinions, don't they?

I kinda understand it.

I write reviews for local gaming sites and newspapers for already five years now and founded a videogame magazine three years ago. At first I was with a gaming site, then I founded my own and gave it to the other founder and now I just freelance.

I tried to contact the big American gaming outlets if they are interested in opening a spanish site or section and sent my portafolio with screenshots and links to my online articles and scans of my magazines articles.

Of course I didn't get any replies :(

Edit:

On the subject at hand, I don't care one bit how influential he can be to these three, VR is still such a young and nebulous industry that having this stain at the helm may indeed see short term boons in the advancement of VR in Asia, but he isn't any more remorseful over there than he was over here, he is a PR liability, and a costly one too. I have no faith in him, and I feel his attitude and beliefs are more detrimental in the long term than his abilities.
 

SeanTSC

Member
yes but we've done this same song and dance. Thread about Palmer Luckey becomes about people complaining that he supported Trump. Nothing is actually discussed, just how he's a bad guy because he supported someone I didn't. It's just so boring. The actual topic that he is consulting VR companies that aren't his is pretty big.

Racists getting called out as Racists and White Nationalists outed as White Nationalists is a good thing. The best part of these threads is people coming out and showing who they really are.
 

Joey Ravn

Banned
no where on that page does it say that is a white supremacist group, am i missing something? I didn't read the whole page, just did a quick search for the usually white supremacist words.

Even if "posting to /r/the_donald" isn't a huge red flag for you, you could have investigated a bit more by yourself. Say, for example, have you seen the official @NimbleAmerica Twitter account?

Nimble America is a crowdfunded 501(c)4 non-profit focused on promoting the ideals of America First, Smart Trade, Legal Immigration, and Ethical Behavior.

America First. America... First. Where have I heard about America First before?

Welp, you're right. In the "Know Your Meme" page for Nimble America there's no explicit mention of it being a white supremacist group. Therefore, there is no basis for the accusation. How unfairly was this poor fellow treated!
 

pkScary

Member
Businesses fire people over morals all the time because they dont want thier brand associated with whatever said person did.

Exactly - because if they don't fire said person, there will be a public outcry, which will negatively affect business. If there is no outside knowledge of the immoral activity, they will continue with business as usual.

Want an example? Look at the Jerry Sandusky's pedophilia at Penn State. There were countless warning signs that individuals inside the football organization ignored, simply because Sandusky was a damn good coach and problems with him would be inconvenient. An assistant coach walked in on him raping an 11-year-old boy in 2002, and yet he still had an office at Penn State in 2011.

Beyond Sandusky, there are countless other examples people can bring up about the amorality of capitalist business. Business does not care about morals - it cares about profit and organizational stability. It's an uncomfortable thing to admit, but it's true.
 
The amount of people defending this prick is really disheartening. It seems that you can cross any kind of moral or ethical line and get away with it if you make some kind of entertainment product.
 
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