This is why it's so hard to speak your mind in Silicon Valley, if you say anything out of the norm, they will come after you. I think he really does believe the National Guard is needed in San Francisco, but that's not the regional sentiment, and it's only inciting violence against you when you come out with comments like that.
No don't you understand? Free speech is when conservatives speak their minds to advocate for the state deploying a force of violence against its own citizens and democrats shut up. /s
... One very odd conception of freedom of speech that some people have is that _they_ should be free to say whatever they want, but that _other people_ must then take their nonsense seriously and may not criticise it.
The story here is fairly simple; stupid guy says something stupid, is humiliated by the people pointing and laughing at the stupid thing he said, backs off.
In this case the guy literally calling for armed soldiers to be positioned on US streets is being defended by an HN commenter who thinks disagreeing with that opinion is violence.
In 2025, with a Trump presidency, and the majority of mainstream tech at least acquiescing to him, he would have faced massive difficulties expressing this point?
In all honesty, if he hadn’t backed down he would have faced zero important repercussions.
