The Billionaire Boys of Summer
In early July – Independence Day Weekend – 1500 tech leaders and shakers and movers and government representatives met in Sun Valley at the Allen & Co Summit
/Billionaire’s Boys Camp ostensibly to “discuss and somewhat unofficially close on deals that go on to have a greater impact on the rest of the regular world.” Most arrived by private jet as, although lowering the carbon footprint is important to the climate change agenda that applies to the world at large, they’re just not the ‘rest of the world.’
The event was invite-only, and security was tight: we know how much the tech cabal values privacy – theirs. Said the New York Post, “this year their tactics seemed excessive even by their historical standards. Guards prevented reporters from asking the CEOs even the most benign questions.”
Several three-letter acronym government security agencies were also in attendance and odd as the timing may seem, it was not long after that summit that Biden Administration colludes with social media to censor Americans’ speech. Can you guess which Americans are being censored? Don’t worry, it’s for your own good. And Biden Wants to Censor Your Text Messages for COVID ‘Misinformation’. Since when do we have government-controlled media in the United States? There’s a military term for it: full spectrum dominance and not surprising that US has lowest levels of public trust in media among 46 countries, according to a Reuters survey.
Disruption? Really?
‘Disrupt’ is a term that is bandied about a lot in the tech industry, and truth be told, mostly wrongfully so. As the tech industry’s second iteration – the Age of Social – dawned, ‘disrupt’ was decidedly the claim/investor rallying cry du jour. Did Facebook, Google, Netflix et al truly disrupt? Or as a participant in an online discussion in which we partook suggested, did they instead ‘renovate?’ They didn’t create global communications. The telcos did that long before the tech industry came along. They renovated. They innovated. They upgraded – to a point, all things considered, not the least of which comes to mind is the overarching censorship that we’re witnessing these days. Maybe at this juncture they are what they first claimed to be: after all, they have managed to disrupt the First Amendment.
So, if you’re waiting for that big government anti-trust crackdown which has been dangled in front of us for so long, might be a good idea not to hold your breath. Let’s be honest: Big Tech and the government were both fully represented in Sun Valley out of the public’s view and in the full heat of summer and a fitting backdrop after all. Given all of the above, let’s face it: at the end of the day, all of those anti-trust threats amount to little more just so much hot air. Onward and forward.
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