logoalt Hacker News

archagon01/21/20252 repliesview on HN

Big tech leadership cheerily cozying up to an authoritarian president, felon, and rapist who started an insurrection and literally tried to overthrow the last election.

Musk — one of the most powerful people in Washington — doing things like throwing a sieg heil salute, supporting the AfD, claiming that "Hitler was a communist,"[1] and calling for the execution of a government witness[2].

Thiel proclaiming to "no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible," and then half of Silicon Valley showing up to party with him[3].

Techno fascism is what it says on the tin: technologists who are very happy with fascism for the sake of money and power. (Just don't call them fascists, they hate that.)

[1]: https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-far-right-german-leade...

[2]: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...

[3]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42773678


Replies

throwway12038501/22/2025

A lot of really smart people in the 1930's were also really into eugenics and forced sterilization and so on. Hitler had a lot of support, even in the US, for what he was doing openly. Being smart doesn't prevent you from being an asshole. Only being empathetic does, and you don't have to be smart to be empathetic.