Jack Halprin is a Google employee who bought a multi-unit dwelling in San Franscico and evicted the occupants. He's getting a roasting, as you can imagine. Here's Benjamin Wachs, writing as "Faux Jack Halprin" defending his decision.
What I'm trying to say is that, in a free society, some people make better choices than others, and we reward those people with the homes of their vanquished enemies. Some people, for example, choose to be teachers, and spend their lives teaching other people's kids things that they can Google for free. Naturally, we pay them very little money — so little that they're practically homeless already. Frankly, I'm surprised that anyone even notices when I evict someone making under $150,000 a year. Honestly, how can you tell?
Then there are other people, like me, who make good decisions, becoming important parts of the companies that sponsor TED talks. Naturally, we pay these people what they're worth. Why am I so highly compensated? Well, if I weren't at the office every day, doing the work I do, the government wouldn't be nearly as good at spying on you.
The humor is brutal and crude in its villain-painting, but it's that last line that really stands out. The perception was the tech industry is a victim of domestic surveillance, but this perception has changed. Zuckerberg's affected outrage doesn't cut the mustard, whereas the "get with the program" nonchalance of hiring Condoleezza Rice just cuts.
To be seen as selfish, exacerbating a city's housing problems while abusing its public services, is one thing. But to be seen as the intelligence community's self-justifying handmaidens? If you're betting on public complacency and disinterest, it's worth remembering that this is a bet you won't be able to change mid-race.
