5d ago

Startup founders and others in tech call on Sequoia Capital to act after a partner called Zohran Mamdani an 'Islamist'

www.businessinsider.com

politics @lemmy.world

return2ozma @lemmy.world

5d ago

Startup founders and others in tech call on Sequoia Capital to act after a partner called Zohran Mamdani an 'Islamist'

www.businessinsider.com /open-letter-sequoia-capital-partner-shaun-maguire-zohran-mamdani-islamist-2025-7

12 comments

Bigoted shithead gets called out and doubles down, what a surprise (to no ine really). I would be very surprised if there are any consequences.
I'm sure he's the only person in venture capital with extremely bigoted views and that there is nothing about working in the industry itself that ruins people's brains while also giving them the power to ruin all of our lives /s
Someone please educate me - what is the hate speech and bigotry in calling someone an islamist? I have heard people describe fundamentalist Muslims that way, in the same way you would use "evangelical" or "fundamentalist mormon". Obviously that doesn't fit Mamdani! But it doesn't strike me as a particularly egregious insult. Looking for clarity, not down votes and insults, please.
- Islamist describes someone who advocates for a political ideology that seeks to implement Islamic principles in government and society. As someone running for this type of position, it's insulting to insinuate that these are his motives.
  
  Thanks for taking the time to answer. I get that it is insulting, and clearly incorrect as applied to Mamdani. The part I don't understand is how this particular insult rises to the level of "hate speech". Like, if I called you a white nationalist, that would (presumably) be wrong and stupid, and pretty insulting, but not hate speech AFAIK.
- "Mamdani comes from a culture that lies about everything," Maguire posted on X on July 4. He included a screenshot referencing The New York Times' reporting about how Mamdani marked his identity on a college application.
  "It's literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda," Maguire wrote in a post.
  Now imagine if he instead compared all white people to Nazis and used Nazi as a dog whistle.
  It's hate speech. There being real Islamists or Nazis in the world doesn't change the intention.
- I'm going to hinder the complexity that is required to properly answer your question, for the sake of brevity...
  Islamist=zionist=supremacist
  You can say that it's the same product in different colours.
  As to this case in particular... It's a racist trying to call someone a racist to distract from the fact that this is a capitalist that doesn't like a socialist, because power doesn't concede and it hates sharing.
  Mamdani is actually succeeding at connecting the elite class to all the societal issues in the population's eye.
  So... It's time for whistling in the racists through the post 9/11 phobia. Which in New York... you can fill in the rest.
  If someone wants to add more complexity to my very reductionist take, please do.
  
  Ah ok, so if I understand correctly, you're saying that in a vacuum the term "islamist" isn't necessarily hate speech, but becomes hate speech because of the motivations of the guy saying it?
Shaun Maguire is a closeted white nationalist.

12 comments