4 ms·

There was a series of articles a few years ago about closet GOP supporters in the tech industry fearing being "outed" for the damage it would cause to their car

There was a series of articles a few years ago about closet GOP supporters in the tech industry fearing being "outed" for the damage it would cause to their careers. In your experience do you feel that this concern is justified? (I think there was at least one startup CEO who declared that if he found out that anyone at his company had voted for Trump, that he would fire him/her)

leereeves 9y ago
There was an article about that a few days ago that got a lot of attention here on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15595586 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15595586
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
nodesocket 9y ago
Absolutely. I've been lucky enough to be self-employed for a bit, but if you walk into any bay area startup nearly everybody will be a vitriol against Trump and conservatives very publicly. It is not even subtle. I'm the kind of person who actually enjoys a debate, and my lack of PC offends some. If I were an employee, probably would be problematic.
- rb666 9y ago
  Reason is that the political debate is no longer right vs left in the US. Trump and his posse have proven to be compulsive liars. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/23/opinion/trumps-lies.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/23/opinion/trump... This means there is little left to debate.
  - hkmurakami 9y ago
    ? The "appropriate" size and role of the federal government is still a very worthwhile and earnest point of debate, and that is a classic left/right issue.
    - keganunderwood 9y ago
      Sorry but nobody is for small government. Nobody is for a balanced budget. It is a farce. We all have two piles: a. Things we want the government to do b. Things we don't If you're for a balanced budget, you'll oppose current tax cut plans and demand government cut spending. The problem is of course where do we cut spending? Find me a dollar of "waste" and I'll show you someone who benefits from it. Can we please stop pretending?
      - sdfkljs 9y ago
        > Find me a dollar of "waste" and I'll show you someone who benefits from it. So if people always benefit from every dollar spent...why should we ever stop government spending...oh wait, hasn't this been tried before?
      - timrichard 9y ago
        > Find me a dollar of "waste" and I'll show you someone who benefits from it. I expect others who've also worked on Government projects would find that as preposterous as I do.
      - SamReidHughes 9y ago
        Trump has actually proven his bone fides for small government in the sense of reducing regulatory burden.
  - sdfkljs 9y ago
    > compulsive liars Politics is all about lying and people do it on all sides all the time. It feels compulsive because the MSM keeps covering Trump so much, and never offering comparisons to show that its not out of the ordinary on the other side.
- the_mitsuhiko 9y ago
  I find it interesting that people feel the need to defend Trump because he’s in “their team”. Can’t help but feel this is an effect of the two party system. He’s objectively a problematic person as a leader but since there is no other conservative around now conservatives feel the need to clinch to him more than is healthy.
  - sdfkljs 9y ago
    > He’s objectively a problematic person as a leader This is the problem right here. You are speaking from your bubble. I don't see how people can use "objectively" for such broad declarations such as "problematic person". The MSM is ridiculously left biased. They don't even see that they are either. Record highs in the stock market, +3% GDP growth, low unemployment. I'm curious, how else do we measure a President?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
mosselman 9y ago
Without sources for any of your claims (GOP supporters fearing an outing, CEO that would fire Trump voters) your comment comes over as a way to incite a heated discussion here, AKA trolling.
- StavrosK 9y ago
  I didn't read it that way, it's a valid question even without the references, and it's a problem that warrants discussion.
- hkmurakami 9y ago
  For the former, a sibling commenter has provided a HN discussion regarding a CNN article with a 10+ minute interview with people who are being interviewed with a voice changer for fear of being outed. Regarding the latter, here's Grubhub's CEO calling for Trump voters to resign: The CEO of Grubhub, an online food delivery service, sent a company wide email Wednesday suggesting employees who agree with President-elect Donald Trump’s behaviors and his campaign rhetoric should resign.[1]. I remember reading articles from reputable media outlets for both issues, but I personally do not know peers who feel this way (which makes sense because well, if the news were true, many of them are in hiding). Hence the genuine inquiry towards an actual person -- a HNer -- who would have first hand experience with such attitudes. It's honestly a very rare chance to be able to ask someone this; I frankly only know one GOP voter within the several hundred tech people I am acquainted with. I sincerely must ask in return whether you are trolling me, since you seem to be unaware of the fact that these issues have been widely reported on in the past. [1] regrettably the link is fox news: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/11/10/boss-tells-pro-trump-employees-to-resign.html http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/11/10/boss-tells-pro-trump-em...
  - archagon 9y ago
    Not supporting Trump — supporting his behaviors and campaign rhetoric. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to tell people who support attacks on Gold Star families or Hispanic judges to reconsider their place of work. That goes way beyond a difference of opinion.
  - 9y ago
WalterBright 9y ago
We still have a secret ballot in this country, and this is why.

leereeves 9y ago

There was an article about that a few days ago that got a lot of attention here on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15595586 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15595586

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

nodesocket 9y ago

Absolutely. I've been lucky enough to be self-employed for a bit, but if you walk into any bay area startup nearly everybody will be a vitriol against Trump and conservatives very publicly. It is not even subtle. I'm the kind of person who actually enjoys a debate, and my lack of PC offends some. If I were an employee, probably would be problematic.

rb666 9y ago
Reason is that the political debate is no longer right vs left in the US. Trump and his posse have proven to be compulsive liars. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/23/opinion/trumps-lies.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/23/opinion/trump... This means there is little left to debate.
- hkmurakami 9y ago
  ? The "appropriate" size and role of the federal government is still a very worthwhile and earnest point of debate, and that is a classic left/right issue.
  - keganunderwood 9y ago
    Sorry but nobody is for small government. Nobody is for a balanced budget. It is a farce. We all have two piles: a. Things we want the government to do b. Things we don't If you're for a balanced budget, you'll oppose current tax cut plans and demand government cut spending. The problem is of course where do we cut spending? Find me a dollar of "waste" and I'll show you someone who benefits from it. Can we please stop pretending?
    - sdfkljs 9y ago
      > Find me a dollar of "waste" and I'll show you someone who benefits from it. So if people always benefit from every dollar spent...why should we ever stop government spending...oh wait, hasn't this been tried before?
    - timrichard 9y ago
      > Find me a dollar of "waste" and I'll show you someone who benefits from it. I expect others who've also worked on Government projects would find that as preposterous as I do.
    - SamReidHughes 9y ago
      Trump has actually proven his bone fides for small government in the sense of reducing regulatory burden.
- sdfkljs 9y ago
  > compulsive liars Politics is all about lying and people do it on all sides all the time. It feels compulsive because the MSM keeps covering Trump so much, and never offering comparisons to show that its not out of the ordinary on the other side.
the_mitsuhiko 9y ago
I find it interesting that people feel the need to defend Trump because he’s in “their team”. Can’t help but feel this is an effect of the two party system. He’s objectively a problematic person as a leader but since there is no other conservative around now conservatives feel the need to clinch to him more than is healthy.
- sdfkljs 9y ago
  > He’s objectively a problematic person as a leader This is the problem right here. You are speaking from your bubble. I don't see how people can use "objectively" for such broad declarations such as "problematic person". The MSM is ridiculously left biased. They don't even see that they are either. Record highs in the stock market, +3% GDP growth, low unemployment. I'm curious, how else do we measure a President?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

mosselman 9y ago

Without sources for any of your claims (GOP supporters fearing an outing, CEO that would fire Trump voters) your comment comes over as a way to incite a heated discussion here, AKA trolling.

StavrosK 9y ago
I didn't read it that way, it's a valid question even without the references, and it's a problem that warrants discussion.
hkmurakami 9y ago
For the former, a sibling commenter has provided a HN discussion regarding a CNN article with a 10+ minute interview with people who are being interviewed with a voice changer for fear of being outed. Regarding the latter, here's Grubhub's CEO calling for Trump voters to resign: The CEO of Grubhub, an online food delivery service, sent a company wide email Wednesday suggesting employees who agree with President-elect Donald Trump’s behaviors and his campaign rhetoric should resign.[1]. I remember reading articles from reputable media outlets for both issues, but I personally do not know peers who feel this way (which makes sense because well, if the news were true, many of them are in hiding). Hence the genuine inquiry towards an actual person -- a HNer -- who would have first hand experience with such attitudes. It's honestly a very rare chance to be able to ask someone this; I frankly only know one GOP voter within the several hundred tech people I am acquainted with. I sincerely must ask in return whether you are trolling me, since you seem to be unaware of the fact that these issues have been widely reported on in the past. [1] regrettably the link is fox news: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/11/10/boss-tells-pro-trump-employees-to-resign.html http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/11/10/boss-tells-pro-trump-em...
- archagon 9y ago
  Not supporting Trump — supporting his behaviors and campaign rhetoric. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to tell people who support attacks on Gold Star families or Hispanic judges to reconsider their place of work. That goes way beyond a difference of opinion.
- 9y ago

WalterBright 9y ago

We still have a secret ballot in this country, and this is why.