Joshua Coon
Christian. Student. Photographer.
2/3/2017 1 Comment Putting People Before PoliticsIn the wake of President Trump’s executive order to temporarily prevent citizens from the countries of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen to cross into the US, many people are speaking out in opposition of these new developments. As of now, most everything that Trump does is deemed ‘controversial.’ Whether this is merited or not, the trivialization of Trump is having a pretty dramatic affect on genuine progress in our country. After Trump signed the executive order restricting immigration from certain countries in the Middle East, members of Trump’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC) came under massive scrutiny from the media and social platforms for associating with the Trump Administration, especially EAC members who are from the tech industry. Just a few days ago, Travis Kalanick, the CEO of the San Francisco-based company, Uber, stepped down from his role in advising the President due to sharp attacks which have caused his company to lose more than 200,000 users. He also received many letters of complaints from employees who were disgruntled by his political involvement. Although not necessarily wrong, the uncanny uproar from Twitter and other social media platforms has caused a great deal of unnecessary and unhelpful damage to these tech leaders and their interests. Rather than promoting progress and supporting someone like Travis Kalanick, who might have had a lasting impact on the future policy decisions of the nation’s Commander-in-chief, many people have opted to stanchly oppose Kalanick’s (and others) efforts to better the nation as a whole. On the contrary, Elon Musk, the notorious CEO of Tesla and Spacex, did not allow for the threat of a loss in revenue or the scrutiny of thousands to deter him from playing a significant role in the current Administration's policy and decision making. Musk said in a recent Twitter post. “In December, I agreed to join the Presidential Advisory Forum to provide feedback on issues that I think are important for the country and the world. In tomorrow’s meeting, I and others will express our objections to the recent executive order on immigration and offer suggestions for changes to the policy. Musk makes it clear that his purpose is to “serve the greater good.” This is a noteworthy goal. On one hand, is it best to serve the greater good? Or on the other, like Kalanick, is it more appropriate to strictly serve those who you oversee? Only time will tell. Although I do not blame Travis Kalanick for stepping down from the council, I admire Musk’s prerogative to set aside the social and economic pressure, in an attempt to improve the world as a whole, no matter who’s in office.
1 Comment
Mikey
2/5/2017 12:18:21 am
Hi Joshua,
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