Paypal - can this be true?

I would love to not have to continue to pound this drum but what evidence has been offered up to support that it isn't politically motivated?  It just seems like wishful thinking.  I wish you were right for what it's worth but as I pointed out, all I've seen over the last few years is de-platforming of people on the right.  I asked for one example on the left where the same has happened and it's crickets.  Has no one on the left espoused "disinformation" over the last few years(hello Covid).  Instead, all I hear back is "conspiracy theory"(you didn't say that for the record) etc.. but all I'm saying is this PayPal policy has the same stench to it of every other censoring tactic of those in power with left leaning politics of the last few years.  You took issue with the term "social justice" earlier and I pointed out that ESG is a real thing.  Those are facts, that's evidence.  So, all I'm saying is, if you disagree with what I'm saying here then please offer up some evidence to the contrary.  Just getting upset because you don't want it to be a political issue isn't enough.  I'll ask again, how does this policy make any sense if it is just PayPal trying to make more money?

And as far as unity goes I'd love to be right there with you.  I would love nothing more than to see a glimpse of the left I knew in my teens and twenties.  The party that was fiercely anti-censorship and anti-war but I can't seem to find it these days.  So if you wonder why it seems like I'm blaming the left, it's because I think the ESG/Woke style ideology is a mental virus that has damn near infected every facet of life...including PayPal.  

You're demonstrating here that you cannot find the left of your teens because you've bought into the narrative that corporations and rightwing media have sold you. And the opposing narrative (the one that unilaterally blames the right while excusing or even promoting corporate interests) exists on the left, just to avoid the impending whataboutism. This is the whole point I'm trying to get across here. I don't say this to condescend or disrespect, but to simply point out once again that folks here in this thread (and indeed, all around the country) are so quick to devolve into simplistic left vs right political debate, when the reality is that the *policy* is something that we by and large agree on, regardless of the so-called "aisle". This topic is great evidence of that fact.

Nobody I know on the left (which accounts for about 90% of my friends here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts and my pals over in the marxist utopia we call the euro zone) is applauding PayPal's policy here. It's grossing out people on the left AND on the right. But in this case, here in the US the folks on the right are all too eager to blame the left for a decision made by corporate masters, leaving those corporate masters free to bilk and swindle to their heart's content scot free. While we rabble debate partisan politics, the corporations run unchecked enacting insane policy like the folks at PayPal here.

The same is true for gas prices. Nobody in their right mind would blame any single world leader for changes (up or down) in gas prices, and yet the argument from the right leading up to the coming election is that gas prices are a referendum on Joe *no politics* and by extension, on Democrats. OK, fine, all is fair in love and politics. I'm an adult who accepts the political side of these things, and political parties will tailor their messaging to win elections. Fair. I'm sure when the (R)s take congress next month, we'll hear similar messaging from the (D)s, especially leading up to 2024. But meanwhile, oil companies are posting record-breaking profits, along with nearly every other corporate segment in the global market. It's corporate policy (ie - greed) driving steep increases in prices as much as it is good ol' fashioned global inflation, and the fact is, we the people only have a semblance of control over ONE of those things (it's the latter, in case anyone is wondering). But rather than condemn the folks who can ACTUALLY be held accountable (eg - the companies ramping up their margins and raking in record profits), we've been conned into griping about petty political contests.

It's a great distraction and boy how it pays for all those corner offices...

I don't know anything about a viral list; my wife is the director of a library at a prominent independent school and is in regular direct contact with other middle and high school librarians around the country, and I can assure you, the situation in Florida (and quite a few other red locales) is a far cry from the supposed free speech ethos of the political party enacting the restrictions I'm referring to. It is but one example of a greater evil -- the restriction of free speech in a multitude of public spheres, designed by one political "aisle" to limit or silence the voices of their opposition.

If you're willing to excuse it for reasons of partisanship, there's really no need to comment further. But I suspect you are genuine in your disgust for this sort of malpractice, and I would encourage you to not fall into a partisan trap here.

I can't find the left of my teens because the ones that feel that way have been cast out by the current left and labeled "far right."  You have got to stop pretending like you've somehow transcended all this and the rest of us are just falling for propaganda.  It's condescending and hilariously untrue.  I'll try this one more time, can someone here please explain how this decision by PayPal is not politically motivated and somehow was meant to increase profits and motivated by corporate greed?

If 90% of your friends are liberal and oppose the PayPal policy then I'd say you've found a great group of friends and that encourages me to hear that!  In this thread however, those numbers haven't panned out.  It's more like "don't piss off the government and you won't have to deal with the consequences"...🤐  

As far as the price of gas goes, leaders can't take credit when the price goes down and then pass the blame when it goes up.  If it were only the price of gas, I'd understand your point but literally everything financially speaking is a dumpster fire(have you checked your 401k/IRA lately?) since he took office and that's pretty hard to dispute:
ibb.co/RQTcng9

I think the notion that everyone on the left who reflected the ideals of your youth has been cast out (even in the face of people like me telling you in this very thread that “hey! We’re right here!👋🏼“) is far more condescending than my point that “hey everyone, we all agree that PayPal did a shitty thing, so let’s stop bickering about left and right and start condemning PayPal for the shitty thing we all agree they did.”

I dunno…is that crazy? I don’t think it is but I’m willing to accept that I have some kinda blind spot here. It is not my intent to condescend. Hell…I’m of the mind that condescension requires a disparity of status (either real or perceived), which isn’t the position I’m coming from here. I’m every bit as conditioned as anyone else here to immediately turn partisan (though I’d like to mention I’ve been registered as an independent since my 18th birthday). I’m just trying to make the point that we can simply choose to NOT debate things like corporate misbehavior through a partisan lens, and that such a decision would certainly inhibit these bad actors’ ability to act badly. ✌️

Reminds me of happenings a year or so ago.

Note to Johnkenn . . . either this topic has devolved into politics or seems a tad off-topic for its current location.

Edit: Just noticed you fixed that! Sorry.

Just a thought. I'm seeing two friends and customers going at each other, and it's making me uncomfortable too. Reminds me of happenings a year or so ago.

It's not new. The fine got reinstated. It was abandoned for a while, but existed before.

It's not the only shady thing PP has been doing. If you care to search for people who got robbed by PP, you'll find a lot of them. And there's a suspicious number of those who are politically or socially active.

I don't know if PP's motives are political. Could very well be it's just the fascist side of capitalism at work?

I wonder who took the decision to reinstate this fine. I mean who's on the board these days?

You did start your comment by saying you're a liberal so it's hard not to think about the aisle at that point 🤣.

To believe PP has nothing but the most capitalistic of intentions, we'd have to ignore the existence of ESG altogether.  The comment about a social justice score isn't just pulling something out of thin air(see China for example).  I don't think you're seeing a knee jerk reaction at all.  I think you have "the right" who has seen a double standard in censorship, deplatforming, debanking(is that a word? 🤣) time and time again over the past few years.  

I'd love to hear the example of a prominent person on the left that said something controversial and was simultaneously kicked off of all social media at the same time.  Or, how about this...tell me about the left leaning protest where the fundraisers were taken off of PayPal or GoFundMe and their bank accounts were shut down.  Who is the liberal actor that lost their job on a show or a movie for something they posted on social media? 

If there was consistency I don't think you'd have this reaction.  I think people are annoyed but in general can deal with losing a social media account, but when you start talking about their money that is some next level creepiness.  

Even in business, I think we're way past the days of Michael Jordan saying "  r e p u b l i c a n s buy shoes too."  Now, it's "believe the same as us or else."