A review by caradeane
Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue by Ryan Holiday

dark informative medium-paced

3.5

#12 for your girl. If Peter Thiel was a girl, he’d be named Cara. 💅🏽 For there are no bounds to his petty. A gay businessman who was not hiding but was also was sort of outed in 2007 by the celebrity blog Gawker. Well, first life lesson in this sordid tale— is know thy enemy. Peter Thiel, the co founder of PayPal and Palantir (and also a billionaire many times over), takes slight offense to being thrust in the public spotlight and so he hires a team… who sits in the shadows FOR YEARS and patiently waits for the perfect time and place to strike. Enter Hulk Hogan— who in 2012, FIVE YEARS LATER, is non-consensually taped having consensual sex with his consenting best friend’s consenting wife (while going on the ol racist rant every now and again while on video)… he’s not the gleaming victim of innocence (because let’s be honest, every layer of the tape is a disgusting indictment of this washed up B-list celebrity…) BUT it is the prime example of Gawker outing a personal moment to the world when they should not have. Yet again. Thiel secretly funds the lawsuit that in 2016 (more than a decade from his initial offense!) doesn’t just wound the ginormous media empire but casts it into oblivion— with a $140 million award to Hogan that is bargained down to $31 million and bankruptcy for Gawker. (Bye, Gawker.) So the lessons are— Careful what bears you poke. Or maybe, be kind lest you meet karma. Or maybe sometimes a conspiracy really is… but also, a wise poet once said… if you don’t want a sex tape on the internet, don’t make a sex tape. I would add to that nugget that if you don’t want a sex tape on the internet also don’t have sex with your sleazy best friend’s weirdo wife in their home while your best friend hangs out in his office and waits for y’all to finish. 
Red flag.
Conspiracy. 💯
#iread #chasingcarabooks #chasingcarabooks2023