Incompetent US senator

[Dante80]

LOL, you can see how senator Sullivan himself laugh indicate this is a joke for him, and if you are pretexted to what other people called "American dream" you will know it is a jab about that.

It's more like he is saying A kid from dorm room starting to rate girl (That's how facebook was started) to the global behemoth, this could only happen in America.

What I think is that Zuckerberg himself misunderstood the question, or rather, a remark. But realise after everyone laugh, and then he laugh.

I don't see what the OP article say" You can only get big tech company in the US not in China"

If you pay attention to the nuance here, you will see that this was a soft-ball towards Zuck, intended as a conversation starter, and as a confirmation of US exceptionalism as far as the Free Market MO works for technology growth. He was essentially asked - tongue in cheek due to the actual reason the hearing was about - to say to US Congress that US is the best.

As also listed in the video I posted above about Climate Change, the issue here is not that US Senators don't know the subjects at hand or that they don't understand science, technology, the world etc. It is simply the fact that they are acting according to the interests their donors/campaign contributors have. Which is a reason btw for much of their staff being former or future lobbyists.

 

[jhungary]

If you pay attention to the nuance here, you will see that this was a soft-ball towards Zuck, intended as a conversation starter, and as a confirmation of US exceptionalism as far as the Free Market MO works for technology growth. He was essentially asked - tongue in cheek due to the actual reason the hearing was about - to say to US Congress that US is the best.

As also listed in the video I posted above about Climate Change, the issue here is not that US Senators don't know the subjects at hand or that they don't understand science, technology, the world etc. It is simply the fact that they are acting according to the interests their donors/campaign contributors have. Which is a reason btw for much of their staff being former or future lobbyists.

An American senator playing with an American joke on an American, I don't see any exceptionalism about that. Again. That is a direct jab on the "American Dream" where any small guy can be big anywhere in the US, and he does, he was in college when he started facebook in his dorm with a couple of friend rating the girl living in the next dorm.

It's the same as 2 guy with a type writer in a garage take down the white house (referring to the Watergate incident). So, if that senator play the typewriter joke to a journalist, would you again consider that "Exceptionalism"?

If you are reading into what you said, then you are reading to between the line here. He is making a harmless joke, yeah, Zuckerberg didn't get it at the beginning (you can literally hear it from his answer) but he got it in the end, that's joke is for, in itself, it is not serious.

 

[Dante80]

If you are reading into what you said, then you are reading to between the line here. He is making a harmless joke, yeah, Zuckerberg didn't get it at the beginning (you can literally hear it from his answer) but he got it in the end, that's joke is for, in itself, it is not serious.

I am indeed reading between the lines, and that has to do with the amount of a actual hearing I have watched in their entirety on C-SPAN. Especially the Armed Services and Space committees.

I also agree with your interpretation btw, the two approaches are complementary.

 

[jhungary]

I am indeed reading between the lines, and that has to do with the amount of a actual hearing I have watched in their entirety on C-SPAN. Especially the Armed Services and Space committees.

I also agree with your interpretation btw, the two approaches are complementary.

Most people will get a giant LOL out of what that senator said and how Zuckerberg react, and that's about it. I once heard a judge playing jokes with the witness while presiding on a murder case (I think it was a drive-by shooting) where the lawyer ask the witness why he gave the police a "Not-so-detail" description and the witness said "So he wouldn't need to testify at the court" then the judge charm in and say "That didn't do you any good did it.."

Some people would think the judge is being unprofessional, some would simply get a huge LOL out of the judge comment and most people in the court, including me simply throw a few chuckle.

But if you are reading a simple joke like this, then I think you are reading too much into it.

Out of curiosity, would you consider the song "New York, New York" exceptionalism when one of the lyric stated, "If you can make it here (New York), you make it anywhere"?

 

[Dante80]

Out of curiosity, would you consider the song "New York, New York" exceptionalism when one of the lyric stated, "If you can make it here (New York), you make it anywhere"?

No, not really.

 

[UserUnknown2025]

Lots of chinese go to Japan to enjoy fresh air and to buy overpriced cosmetics. Isn’t Japan your arch enemy that still occupies chinese territory and refuses to apologize? Learn to differentiate between business and the rest.

Lost of Vietnamese go to US to work as dishwashers. Isn't US the one who killed millions of your people and gave you guys agent orange? Learn to stop making fun of other people's suffering.

 

[Logam42]

Exceptionalism is like racism, fascism, and misogyny.

Your Milage May Vary applies to everyone, and if you're to sensitive about it, everything starts looking like it.

That said, tbh the hearing was a sham from the start. Just a single session with each senator/congressman only having 5 minutes each. A far cry from month-long hearings with field experts being called in.