Why I’ve lost respect for Peter Thiel

Photo credit: Heisenberg Media.

I had known Peter Thiel as the co-founder of PayPal and the dude who invested in Facebook.

But my first real exposure to the billionaire came when I read his book Zero to One, in which he eloquently presented basic startup concepts like no one else could.

And then it happened.

Peter was exposed for financing Hulk Hogan’s libel lawsuit against Gawker Media, all because it once outed Peter for being gay.

A lot of ink has been spilled about this already.

As much as Gawker deserves retribution for its tabloid trash, Peter was roundly slammed for setting a dangerous precedent, since other thin-skinned, obscenely rich people could launch similar legal fusillades against small publications.

Some folks naturally jumped to Peter’s defense, citing how the media needs to be kept in check, and how Gawker needs to be obliterated.

But these arguments are problematic.

First of all, Peter is using a sledgehammer against a tiny nail. Gawker Media consists of a network of blogs, including Gizmodo, Kotaku, and Lifehacker, many of which are benign.

It is Peter Thiel that needs to be kept in check.

By going nuclear on Gawker, Peter is putting the jobs of many innocent people at risk.

Next, if you consider a global perspective, it becomes clear that we need more press freedom, not less.

Silicon Valley has become a power center rivalling Wall Street, and countries around the world are trying to create their own Silicon Valleys.

Lawsuits are expensive