The issue is that Thiel had no direct connection to that incident. The issue is that he funded everything because they outed him as gay (completely legal), with the express goal of bankrupting them via lawsuit. He didn't want them to learn a lesson, he wanted to fucking end them.
While he didn't do anything illegal, I think it absolutely counts as eroding modern society.
Outing Thiel as gay is legal. Thiel funding Hogan is legal. The only party here who fucked up is Gawker by flagrantly skirting the law.
Lol, I don't know about this.
If I were a pretty public outlet media and said to everyone "Hey! foobarchu is gay/tranny/whatever" (without your consent) and that affected your personal life, relationships with other people, etc. Wouldn't you think that is illegal? Or at least it should be in my opinion.
I'm not sure how you can throw shade on Thiel -- would it be any better if media companies could freely ignore the law as long as the affected individuals lack the funds to take them to court? It's a broken system but I feel no sympathy towards Gawker or animosity towards Thiel.