Paddy Cosgrave said his "personal comments have become a distraction from the event, and our team, our sponsors, our startups and the people who attend."

Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave steps down in wake of controversy over his Israel comments::Paddy Cosgrave said his “personal comments have become a distraction from the event, and our team, our sponsors, our startups and the people who attend.”

  • stifle867@programming.devEnglish
    179·
    1 year ago

    For context what he said was:

    war crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are

    Apparently condemning war crimes is enough to lose your job these days.

      • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
        13·
        1 year ago

        I, for one, do not want to live in the kind of dystopian wasteland where we allow our allies to be called out for their war crimes…

      • stifle867@programming.devEnglish
        34·
        1 year ago

        Everything you said is valid… but to me, it doesn’t really apply to this specific context. As far as I could see (admittedly I did only skim the article) but the general statement he made did not mention any specifics. I think it’s unfair to take a broad statement such as condemning war crimes, and to rebut it by saying well a lot of other people are calling this one specific instance a war crime when it hasn’t yet been proven.

          • stifle867@programming.devEnglish
            18·
            1 year ago

            It’s not a competition to see who can commit the most war crimes. This whole idea of comparing one faction against another to see who is worse is just stupid. It should not even come into play when someone simply condemns war crimes! The fact that people read so much into a simple statement says more about them than the person who posted it. If someone’s reaction to someone saying “war crimes are war crimes even when commited by your allies” is to think “well that person is justifying Hamas’s actions” then the problem lies there, just as much as it is to think “that person is saying Israel doesn’t have a right to defend themselves”.

            All it is is making the world more divisive when it should be unifying to condemn the tragic loss of innocent human life. People should not impose their factional viewpoints on something as simple as that.

              • stifle867@programming.devEnglish
                10·
                1 year ago

                These are all points to be making to a totally different conversation. The original comment that caused this person to step down was a condemnation of committing war crimes, not an analysis of which specific acts qualify as war crimes nor whether they support a specific party. These type of comments further the exact problem I pointed out. It’s not an excuse to say “but they do”. Be better, don’t make the same mistakes just because everyone else is.

      • vzqEnglish
        11·
        2 months ago

        deleted by creator

    • onlinepersona@programming.devEnglish
      5·
      1 year ago

      Even though he’s right, this is why you should have an anonymous account. Just focus on your business with your real account and stay out of trouble.