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Flirting with Trump is flirting with Nazism - Response to Andy Yen (CEO of Proton AG) on Reddit 📢📢📢 (lemmy.ml)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

330 comments fedilink hide all child comments

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1i2ff6q/call_for_andy_yen_to_resign/

(page 4) 50 comments

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 5 days ago

Andy out here shooting straight through his foot and putting holes in his boat's hull.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 5 days ago (16 children)

A wise man once told me, don't mess with politics. The moment you show stance (which usually isn't beneficial), you cut off options from yourself and endanger customer relationship.

Proton should just do business as usual, without that single post things would probably be just fine.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (6 children)

This needs to be pinned at the top: only a Nazi goes out of their way to put an 88 in their username. He thinks he’s clever by putting it in binary so people don’t immediately call him out. Nazis get off on that kind of “clever” dogwhistle.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 days ago (3 children)

When was he born? Not everyone knows all the "secret" signs for stuff. How 18 is A.H or how 81 is H.A (Hells Angels) 1% biker clubs have surprisingly much of such codes. 8 is also the number of Khorne in the Warhammer fantasy/sci-fi setting. And before we start with that there are surprisingly few Nazis who play, but the few are very vocal.

Years ago I saw a guy in a crocery store in Norway wearing a "Combat18 Böhmen" hoodie. Buying ingredients for tex-mex taco incidentally. And when I pointed him out to my wife, she said that you are probably the only one in here to know this, and spot him for what he is.

So if Andy was born in 1988 I hope it's why he has 88 in his username.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 days ago (1 children)

He's apparently said he was born in 1988. In another thread others mentioned that would make him 21 when he started his PhD, which checks out.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Here's all I could find about his age in a few minutes:

https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/the-ceo-of-protonmail-andy-yen-says-apple-cares-about-profit-more-than-privacy.html

He was actually born in 1988, according to the author's article. If anyone can find a more reliable resource, please, post it here🙏

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[+] [email protected] -23 points 5 days ago (22 children)

When was he born? Not everyone knows all the “secret” signs for stuff.

I don't care when he was born. Who puts their birth year in their username? "Here, internet. Here's one less piece of information you need to steal my identity!"

No. "ItS mY bIrF YeEr" is just what nazi shit says when they get called out on being nazi shit.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Look, I can't comment on the significance of binary 88 in this instance with any confidence, but a lot of people use their birth year in their username.

Is it stupid? Absolutely, alongside demonstrating a total lack of any creativity whatsoever. But it's 100% a thing.

Edit: Lol, will also note the first 'people also search' suggestion coming up when Googling Andy Yen is "When was Andy Yen born", and in the 5 seconds of drunken searching I still haven't seen a birth date.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Look, I can’t comment on the significance of binary 88 in this instance with any confidence, but a lot of people use their birth year in their username.

A lot of people who like trump were coincidentally totally born in 1988.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

To be clear, I'm not arguing that people don't put 88 as a clear dog whistle to white supremacists/general Nazi bullshit. This is more to the comment "who puts their birth year in their username?" bit specifically. The answer is a lot of people.

I also am not excusing Yen for his pro-Trump comments - that was fucking bullshit and I'm deeply disappointed - I'm just saying the YOB thing is a thing, but also coincidentally I also can't seem to find a source to prove if he's also doing the YOB thing or something else.

Note to self: Limit Lemmy to 3 beers max, particularly where Trumpian bullshit is involved. And thank god for autocorrect. Apologies, I really should not be interneting right now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (4 children)

To be clear, I’m not arguing that people don’t put 88 as a clear dog whistle to white supremacists/general Nazi bullshit.

To be clear, anyone who supports trump is already nazi-adjacent enough to get no benefit of the doubt, and I don't buy the "It's my birth year" shit from any of them. Even if they were born in 1988, that's not the reason 88 is in their username.

I also don't believe that someone whose entire personality centers around cannabis has "420" in their username because they were born on April 20th. I don't believe that some fratboy who is constantly making horny comments has "69" in his username because he was born on June 9th, either.