So picture this. It’s 1992. Alex Karp is 24, fresh out of Stanford Law, and instead of doing anything normal with that degree he decides he’s actually going to be a philosopher. Not like casually interested in philosophy he packs up and moves to Frankfurt, Germany with what he literally described as a “firm and un-ironic hope” of becoming an academic. The man was dead serious.

His whole plan was to study under Jürgen Habermas, who at the time was basically the most famous living philosopher in the world. Habermas was premier of the Frankfurt School of “critical theory” fame. Karp spent years in his seminars, learned German, refined his dissertation which was this obscure critique of sociologist Talcott Parsons about the human mind’s instinct toward aggression. Very tedious very laborious and very rigorous stuff.

He finally submits 40 pages of his draft to Habermas. He gets back a three-page typed letter that basically says: you cannot compete. You’re not good enough. Go away. Done.

Karp described it as “an utter shock” that “wounded” him. Some rando sociology professor had to scoop him up and supervise the dissertation instead so he could at least get the PhD because Haberman refuses!!

Haberman says he:
“simply cannot compete with literary critics and theorists who have recently weighed in on this subject.”
OUCH!!!

This is what Karp’s IDOL SAYS TO HIM☝️

Now here’s the lolcow part, after getting told he doesn’t have good ideas and he won’t be a good philosopher he gets a job through good old fashioned nepotism.

Because his Stanford Law buddy Peter Thiel, who is at this point already doing well, essentially pulls him into co-founding Palantir in 2003 with zero technical or business background whatsoever. The man had never worked in tech. Thiel just handed him a surveillance company to run.

So now Karp is worth $18 billion. And when Habermas dies in March 2026, what does he do? Writes a eulogy essay in Politico about how actually the brutal rejection made him who he is, and how Habermas’s willingness to be “productively unsparing” is what we’ve lost as a culture.

The man got rejected, bailed to wealth via nepotism, and then had the audacity to write “actually getting told I wasn’t shit was a gift” after the guy died and couldn’t respond.

Alex Karp is one of the biggest lolcow’s in history and goes to prove anything is possible if the Anti-Christ is your college roommate.

By: @madeline_pendleton

Source: https://www.tiktok.com/@madeline_pendleton/video/7696892676238544158

Source: More Perfect Union (@moreperfectunion) | TikTok

Figure id ask here. Any suggestions on how to talk to a friend who is “apolitical”? I could ramble on about how intersecting forms of oppressive systems reinforce each other to continue these cycles AND uphold a capitalist, white supremacist, sexist power structure, but I feel passionately about it and it’s a nuanced conversation that doesn’t always come out well to someone who meets my feeling of frustration and sadness with “everyone should just get along” type shit or “everyone’s entitled to their own opinions and I want to focus on positivity”

She’s a black woman so I’m sure she’s experienced horrible racism and sexism in her life but even for issues directly affecting her, she wants to be neutral and apolitical. I tried to express how a neutral stand point only aids the oppressor. How not actively opposing these systems reinforce them. I find there is very rarely a neutral ground. Any suggestions?

Source: Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) | nitter.tiekoetter.com

We will pass a truly great healthcare plan that will stop all payments to big insurance companies which absolutely own the Democrats. They own the Democrats, and we will give the money directly to you, the people, and you will go out and buy better healthcare and have a lot of money left over for yourself.

By: @madeline_pendleton

Source: https://www.tiktok.com/@madeline_pendleton/video/7696520474032999710

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Source: A post by newsweek

Source: Paris Match (@parismatch) | TikTok

The recent U.S.-Venezuela oil deal leaves Venezuelans with very little income or benefits, and even less sovereignty.