Josh Gordon and eBay

[boredbird]

Someone told me that Josh is literally a Satanist, is that true?

[ericbarbour]

Someone told me that Josh is literally a Satanist, is that true?

From a biographical essay Josh himself wrote in 1988:

"First glimpse of Magick other than the usual hippie tarot stuff: my best friend (in high school, and now) is a guy named Robin (a wizard musician, best baroque bassoonist in the universe). On his bedroom shelf in Tarzana were a bunch of old books belonging to his grandfather. Among the books were a complete set of the Equinox, a first-edition 777, Book 4, and several signed and numbered Frater Achad books. Seems that Robin's grandpa was a travelling salesman and an Achad student. The books were very used, and we looked at them with some interest. However, at the time I was a pretty strong rationalist, an avowed atheist; and it wasn't much more than strange and interesting. I did get into astrological charts and such; they pleased my mathematical mind. And I got into the habit of scrawling the Tree of Life on all my possessions. Several years later, a friend turned me on to Robert Anton Wilson. A little after that, Piers Anthony started his Cluster trilogy. The Crowley references in the works of both authors piqued my curiosity again, so I bought a copy of "The Book of Thoth" and got a Thoth deck. The "Naples arrangement" discussion in "Thoth" opened my eyes to the Qabalistic structure. I then picked up the Book of Lies and discovered my guiding poem: "Doubt. Doubt thyself....Doubt all. Doubt thou doubtest all." This poem, by Crowley, somehow made me feel free to immerse myself in the study of Crowley, because I knew he was telling me to keep open my channels of scientific skepticism. My education in the concepts of Thelema and my acceptance of the Law of Thelema as the ideal state of Man followed in the next couple of years. One day at Shambhala (a local bookstore), I noticed a flyer with an OTO address; I sent them a letter, expressing interest and asking what I should do if I wanted to learn more. I got a response suggesting I read some stuff and maybe attend a class. I went to one of the Tarot classes, decided I liked the people, and took my Minerval initiaiton with the OTO in March of 1981. "(sic)

"Since that time, I've had interesting and varied experiences within and without the Order. I was instrumental in the discovery and return to the Order of the manuscript of the Book of the Law, which, as far as I'm concerned, suffices as my life's work for the Order (if I do nothing else, that was enough). In the last couple of years, I've realized that OTO is not sufficient for me; I've also needs on the "earthy" side, as well as the intellectual side, so I've been working Wiccan as well. In fact, I've dedicated myself to the Great Work of tearing down the walls between Craft and Craft, between Ceremonial Magick and Wicca. I see no need for the strong distinction some people insist on making, and I live my life as an example that no such distinction is necessary. "

Yes, he was a member of the Ordo Templi Orientis. And dabbled in Wiccanism on the side. Remember that his family background is Russian Jewish (originally they were called Khrabalavsky) and that he's cooperated with the Jayjg and Cirt crew many times. Wonder if they know--or care--what a crazy off-the-wall, and not really Jewish, hippie Josh actually is.

[ericbarbour]

An important update: in June 2024 Josh got something he obviously wanted, and the "Criticism of eBay" article was deleted. Some of the content was folded into the main article.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... sm_of_eBay

The history is still there. You can see examples of Josh removing things that make eBay look bad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =269427739

The article about the stalking scandal is still up. And I continue to wonder if Josh grinds his teeth over its continued existence. It's really difficult to make that disappear given all the media coverage for the past 4 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay_stalking_scandal

[Archer]

Someone told me that Josh is literally a Satanist, is that true?

From a biographical essay Josh himself wrote in 1988:

"First glimpse of Magick other than the usual hippie tarot stuff: my best friend (in high school, and now) is a guy named Robin (a wizard musician, best baroque bassoonist in the universe). On his bedroom shelf in Tarzana were a bunch of old books belonging to his grandfather. Among the books were a complete set of the Equinox, a first-edition 777, Book 4, and several signed and numbered Frater Achad books. Seems that Robin's grandpa was a travelling salesman and an Achad student. The books were very used, and we looked at them with some interest. However, at the time I was a pretty strong rationalist, an avowed atheist; and it wasn't much more than strange and interesting. I did get into astrological charts and such; they pleased my mathematical mind. And I got into the habit of scrawling the Tree of Life on all my possessions. Several years later, a friend turned me on to Robert Anton Wilson. A little after that, Piers Anthony started his Cluster trilogy. The Crowley references in the works of both authors piqued my curiosity again, so I bought a copy of "The Book of Thoth" and got a Thoth deck. The "Naples arrangement" discussion in "Thoth" opened my eyes to the Qabalistic structure. I then picked up the Book of Lies and discovered my guiding poem: "Doubt. Doubt thyself....Doubt all. Doubt thou doubtest all." This poem, by Crowley, somehow made me feel free to immerse myself in the study of Crowley, because I knew he was telling me to keep open my channels of scientific skepticism. My education in the concepts of Thelema and my acceptance of the Law of Thelema as the ideal state of Man followed in the next couple of years. One day at Shambhala (a local bookstore), I noticed a flyer with an OTO address; I sent them a letter, expressing interest and asking what I should do if I wanted to learn more. I got a response suggesting I read some stuff and maybe attend a class. I went to one of the Tarot classes, decided I liked the people, and took my Minerval initiaiton with the OTO in March of 1981. "(sic)

"Since that time, I've had interesting and varied experiences within and without the Order. I was instrumental in the discovery and return to the Order of the manuscript of the Book of the Law, which, as far as I'm concerned, suffices as my life's work for the Order (if I do nothing else, that was enough). In the last couple of years, I've realized that OTO is not sufficient for me; I've also needs on the "earthy" side, as well as the intellectual side, so I've been working Wiccan as well. In fact, I've dedicated myself to the Great Work of tearing down the walls between Craft and Craft, between Ceremonial Magick and Wicca. I see no need for the strong distinction some people insist on making, and I live my life as an example that no such distinction is necessary. "

Yes, he was a member of the Ordo Templi Orientis. ANd dabbled in Wiccanism on the side. Remember that his family background is Russian Jewish (originally they were called Khrabalavsky) and that he's cooperated with the Jayjg and Cirt crew many times. Wonder if they know--or care--what a crazy off-the-wall, and not really Jewish, hippie Josh actually is.

That's so corny. How does a pseudo-intellectual jerkoff like this guy wind up chief engineer at ebay?

However, at the time I was a pretty strong rationalist, an avowed atheist; and it wasn't much more than strange and interesting. I did get into astrological charts and such; they pleased my mathematical mind. And I got into the habit of scrawling the Tree of Life on all my possessions.

What a ninny.

[ericbarbour]

That's so corny. How does a pseudo-intellectual jerkoff like this guy wind up chief engineer at ebay?

You seem to forget how many raving maniacs, money-grubbers, grifters, pathological liars, and outright criminals were starting websites in the 1990s. Include Pierre Omidyar somewhere in there. Omidyar hired Josh Gordon. Blame him.

There are disturbing stories about Omidyar, none of which can be seen in his Wikipedia biography, thanks mainly to Josh. Omidyar keeps a very low profile, yet he's a classic example of an extreme libertarian Silicon Valley mandarin: "do what I say, not what I do", followed quickly by "SIGN THIS NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT DAMN YOU OR ELSE I WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE A HELL ON EARTH". Plus backstabbing his business partners and competitors. Yet this makes him only a "moderately kooky venture capitalist" by Valley standards. Some of the others should be in straitjackets, honestly.

Ask Mark Ames.....
https://www.hawaiifreepress.com/Article ... re-Omidyar
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/the-role ... e-ukraine/
(Note: "The extraordinary Pierre Omidyar" was written back in 2014 and quickly pulled down. I'm amazed someone reposted it. Omidyar absolutely hated Ames's take on him.)

Pierre literally pays people to write glowing bullshit about him.....
https://moneyinc.com/10-things-didnt-kn ... e-omidyar/

[Archer]

https://www.hawaiifreepress.com/Article ... re-Omidyar
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/the-role ... e-ukraine/
(Note: "The extraordinary Pierre Omidyar" was written back in 2014 and quickly pulled down. I'm amazed someone reposted it. Omidyar absolutely hated Ames's take on him.)

Looks like a decent writeup. Usury ought to be a capital offense.

[ericbarbour]

Usury WAS a federal crime.....until the 1980s, when the Reaganites got into power and started deregulating the banking and financial markets. "Greed is good, greed is right" and all that. I remember that credit cards in the 1970s were hard-limited by banking regulations to a maximum annual interest rate of (I think) 14.5%. The Reaganoids took away that restriction by steps--opening up the "revolving" credit card into a near universal consumer tool. And a major money well for banks and other lenders. I've seen MasterCards that charged more than 100% interest. Some states instituted laws against this sort of "near loan sharking" so it's much rarer today.

The 1980s was also when Silicon Valley, an endless series of investor grifts based on computer technology, came into its own as a political/economic force. The Valley gave us the concept of the "venture capitalist" by making him into a little god. Inerrant and capable of magic. He was actually a petty dictator looking for a new industry to dominate and monopolize.

eBay was threatened with antitrust action by the Feds a few times--in the late 90s they utterly ruled the online auction business. Only Yahoo had a competing auction site of any size, and eBay used Yahoo Auctions to claim they weren't a monopoly. Today the market is even more fractured and eBay has less power than any time in 20+ years. Plus, their foundational patents are starting to run out. Even Google is being threatened with a serious antitrust action. Finally. Just like AT&T in 1982, Google might be forcibly broken into pieces. And other big Valley companies, like Meta and Intel, are shaking in their boots just a little.

[Archer]

Usury WAS a federal crime.....until the 1980s, when the Reaganites got into power and started deregulating the banking and financial markets. "Greed is good, greed is right" and all that. I remember that credit cards in the 1970s were hard-limited by banking regulations to a maximum annual interest rate of (I think) 14.5%. The Reaganoids took away that restriction by steps--opening up the "revolving" credit card into a near universal consumer tool. And a major money well for banks and other lenders. I've seen MasterCards that charged more than 100% interest. Some states instituted laws against this sort of "near loan sharking" so it's much rarer today.

The 1980s was also when Silicon Valley, an endless series of investor grifts based on computer technology, came into its own as a political/economic force. The Valley gave us the concept of the "venture capitalist" by making him into a little god. Inerrant and capable of magic. He was actually a petty dictator looking for a new industry to dominate and monopolize.

eBay was threatened with antitrust action by the Feds a few times--in the late 90s they utterly ruled the online auction business. Only Yahoo had a competing auction site of any size, and eBay used Yahoo Auctions to claim they weren't a monopoly. Today the market is even more fractured and eBay has less power than any time in 20+ years. Plus, their foundational patents are starting to run out. Even Google is being threatened with a serious antitrust action. Finally. Just like AT&T in 1982, Google might be forcibly broken into pieces. And other big Valley companies, like Meta and Intel, are shaking in their boots just a little.

Usury has been national policy ever since the federal reserve act passed. I'm not saying Reagan was any good at all, but you've probably got the causal relationship backwards. It only takes a simple thought experiment to demonstrate this. If any administration since Reagan were/are "left of Reaganites", why haven't they passed new laws that effectively limit debt/lending or even just make an effort to inform their public? Rather, they seem to provide cover for lenders, run up the national debt, and habituate the American public to exploitative lending and the refractory long-term debt that predictably results. One can't simply chalk it up to Reaganomics.

Even Google is being threatened with a serious antitrust action. Finally. Just like AT&T in 1982, Google might be forcibly broken into pieces. And other big Valley companies, like Meta and Intel, are shaking in their boots just a little.

I put little stock in the 'maybes' that circulate the news cycle. The possibility of action is not action itself (obvious, but so many people seem to be placated by the former), nor am I convinced such measures are effective (much less ideal) in the first place, either for achieving a 'free market', putting corporate greed in check or generally any other plausibly rightful civic objective.

[suckadmin]

It only takes a simple thought experiment to demonstrate this. If any administration since Reagan were/are "left of Reaganites", why haven't they passed new laws that effectively limit debt/lending or even just make an effort to inform their public? Rather, they seem to provide cover for lenders, run up the national debt, and habituate the American public to exploitative lending and the refractory long-term debt that predictably results. One can't simply chalk it up to Reaganomics.

Seems like this is an example that is contrary to what you're suggesting? Although a good amount of time and administrations on both sides came and went before anything was done to curb some of the abuses

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_CA ... ir%20bills.

[Archer]

It only takes a simple thought experiment to demonstrate this. If any administration since Reagan were/are "left of Reaganites", why haven't they passed new laws that effectively limit debt/lending or even just make an effort to inform their public? Rather, they seem to provide cover for lenders, run up the national debt, and habituate the American public to exploitative lending and the refractory long-term debt that predictably results. One can't simply chalk it up to Reaganomics.

Seems like this is an example that is contrary to what you're suggesting? Although a good amount of time and administrations on both sides came and went before anything was done to curb some of the abuses

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_CA ... ir%20bills.

US household debt and national debt are at record highs and have been increasing for a century. The only time household debt seems to decrease is when the economy crashes and that's probably due to defaults.

I digress. So has anyone on Wikipedia pointed out this obvious COI?