Let’s be very clear about this. Virtual Reality firm co-founder Palmer Luckey, a 24-year-old with some $700 million burning a hole in his pocket thanks to Facebook buying his company and VR headset invention, has every right as an individual to secretly (well, not so secretly now!) bankroll neo-Nazi, white supremacist, pro-Trump hate groups. For the moment at least — assuming racist sociopath Trump isn’t given the keys to the White House and the control of our nuclear arsenal that could destroy civilization — “it’s a free country” as the questionable saying goes.
But what’s not acceptable is for Oculus the company to effectively endorse his actions by not clearly and decisively condemning them.
Other than some rather milquetoast “we’re disappointed” comments from a couple of Oculus execs, the firm itself has as far as I know issued no formal statement to make clear that from a corporate standpoint such activities are unacceptable and call into question Luckey’s future roles in the direction and actions of Oculus going forward.
To not firmly condemn Luckey’s actions is to provide the hate groups that Luckey funded with a form of tacit approval and support courtesy of Oculus itself. There is no middle-ground between support and condemnation of such groups.
Keep in mind that Luckey is such a “poor little rich kid” jerk that he didn’t even have the guts to openly support these horrific hate groups like a man — he tried to hide it all and only admitted involvement when his carefully constructed charade collapsed around him. What a dismal excuse for a human being. You can see how he fit right in with the neo-Nazi Trump crowd.
Some VR developers are appropriately already pulling support for Oculus in the wake of these revelations.
Oculus basically has two choices now.
They can stay effectively silent and be forever stained by their tacit endorsement of their co-founder’s contemptible behavior.
Or Oculus can issue a clear and forceful statement of condemnation, along with a plan for making sure that Luckey’s operational roles in the firm are minimized to the greatest extent practicable.
The VR development world awaits Oculus’ response. Oculus can either step up to the plate and act in a responsible manner, or they can continue their current apparent “non-action” course and likely see the VR community wish Oculus a direct and rapid descent into a self-made technological hell.
We shall see which path Oculus chooses.
–Lauren–
I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently doing so — my opinions expressed here are mine alone.
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The correct term is “Internet” NOT “internet” — please don’t fall into the trap of using the latter. It’s just plain wrong!