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Conservatives’ culture wars come to Silicon Valley

16 points by lnguyen 9y ago

brian-armstrong 9y ago
So it seems conservatives are upset at SV for taking down articles full of misinformation and for silencing white nationalists. I know companies don't have to adhere to the 1st amendment, but neither of these things would be covered by free speech anyway. I'm terrified that so many on the right now have an adverse relationship with truth. It immediately politicizes every conduit of information. I'm not sure how we as a country get through this. Will there come a point where eventually they come to their senses? Will it get worse before it gets better?
- SamReidHughes 9y ago
  Pardon? White nationalism totally is covered by free speech, as is misinformation.
- bkohlmann 9y ago
  I'm currently spearheading a survey looking at whether Silicon Valley is hostile to right-leaning folks. We've had over 350 respondents from all ideological backgrounds who work in tech in SV. Here are two of the qualitative responses we received - which in my view shows a very different side to the perspective you've expressed: -A self-identified liberal mentioned they experienced “repeated calls, from managers and non-managers alike, for people to be fired for the political views they expressed” and “several managers admitting or encouraging the use of the company's performance review process to punish employees for their expressed views, on the pretext that exposing their coworkers to those views represented a job performance issue.” -A young man commented, “I checked ‘conservative’ on the alignment form even though I'd have described myself as liberal five years ago. My views haven't changed. The change has come from the left, which has started what I can only describe as a reign of terror. Scientific is hate. Silence is a microaggression. Dissent is violence.” These are anecdotes, yes, but our forthcoming quantitative data shows conservatives and religious folks are upset not because the fringe viewpoints of white nationalists are banned, but rather because they fear voicing views most of America considers within the Overton window.
  - mc32 9y ago
    I would have to second the sentiment in those statements. I've been at a couple of big tech cos. It's clear there is a preferred political orientation. People feel free to make fun of people of a certain political leaning (not talking extremists here) but don't dare make fun of the accepted political leaning. So what you get in discourse is one-sided politics and conversation. Florida and Texas, to pick a couple of states, are to be made fun of, CA and MA are the darlings to be emulated (I like distinct things from both side of the spectrum, mind you). I've also worked at a smaller org and it's the same. From the way people express their views, you'd think conservatives have become extinct, but I suspect that they have simply camouflaged themselves to avoid being on the "wrong side" of a conversation. For example, make a lightly supported case against gun rights vs make a lightly supported case for voter ID. See which one raises eyebrows more.
  - brian-armstrong 9y ago
    Is this an online survey? Do you have any good reason to trust your results and that this isn't just ballot stuffing? The article linked talks about Stephen Bannon being upset. If you don't consider that guy fringe, who do you? David Duke?
    - bkohlmann 9y ago
      It’s an online survey - much like the one First Round Capital did a few months ago. We’ve also augmented our quantitative survey with over 10 interviews with volunteers from all backgrounds and tech firms. There are similar responses. Some have even cited their companies as positive examples of allowing all viewpoints - which we fully intend to report. As for Bannon, I happen to disagree with much of his ideology, but it’s hardly “fringe” when 62 million people voted for a candidate that used his playbook. You’re free to have your own interpretation.
      - brian-armstrong 9y ago
        I guess it depends on whether you consider stoking white nationalists as being fringe to conservatives or not
Barrin92 9y ago
One has to admit that there's something amusing about 'conservatives' (in quotes because I don't want to throw everybody into a group with Bannon et al) demanding diversity for its own sake when it's about representing their views in areas like the Silicon valley. We've kind of made a 180 degree turn where people who liked to go on about absolute truths and so forth now demand inclusion simply because they are excluded, even if that exclusion occurs for completely benign or healthy reasons. There is not a great liberal conspiracy that makes Bannon's views unpopular, it's just that his culture war is as unpopular in a successful melting pot as young earth creationism is in a room full of physicists. His views are not violently suppressed, nobody wants to silence him for spreading a truth only he has access to, it's just that people are simply tired of it.
gumby 9y ago
Oh yawn. If you can’t claim victimization how will you get someone’s attention?

16 points by lnguyen 9y ago

So it seems conservatives are upset at SV for taking down articles full of misinformation and for silencing white nationalists. I know companies don't have to adhere to the 1st amendment, but neither of these things would be covered by free speech anyway. I'm terrified that so many on the right now have an adverse relationship with truth. It immediately politicizes every conduit of information. I'm not sure how we as a country get through this. Will there come a point where eventually they come to their senses? Will it get worse before it gets better?

SamReidHughes 9y ago
Pardon? White nationalism totally is covered by free speech, as is misinformation.
bkohlmann 9y ago
I'm currently spearheading a survey looking at whether Silicon Valley is hostile to right-leaning folks. We've had over 350 respondents from all ideological backgrounds who work in tech in SV. Here are two of the qualitative responses we received - which in my view shows a very different side to the perspective you've expressed: -A self-identified liberal mentioned they experienced “repeated calls, from managers and non-managers alike, for people to be fired for the political views they expressed” and “several managers admitting or encouraging the use of the company's performance review process to punish employees for their expressed views, on the pretext that exposing their coworkers to those views represented a job performance issue.” -A young man commented, “I checked ‘conservative’ on the alignment form even though I'd have described myself as liberal five years ago. My views haven't changed. The change has come from the left, which has started what I can only describe as a reign of terror. Scientific is hate. Silence is a microaggression. Dissent is violence.” These are anecdotes, yes, but our forthcoming quantitative data shows conservatives and religious folks are upset not because the fringe viewpoints of white nationalists are banned, but rather because they fear voicing views most of America considers within the Overton window.
- mc32 9y ago
  I would have to second the sentiment in those statements. I've been at a couple of big tech cos. It's clear there is a preferred political orientation. People feel free to make fun of people of a certain political leaning (not talking extremists here) but don't dare make fun of the accepted political leaning. So what you get in discourse is one-sided politics and conversation. Florida and Texas, to pick a couple of states, are to be made fun of, CA and MA are the darlings to be emulated (I like distinct things from both side of the spectrum, mind you). I've also worked at a smaller org and it's the same. From the way people express their views, you'd think conservatives have become extinct, but I suspect that they have simply camouflaged themselves to avoid being on the "wrong side" of a conversation. For example, make a lightly supported case against gun rights vs make a lightly supported case for voter ID. See which one raises eyebrows more.
- brian-armstrong 9y ago
  Is this an online survey? Do you have any good reason to trust your results and that this isn't just ballot stuffing? The article linked talks about Stephen Bannon being upset. If you don't consider that guy fringe, who do you? David Duke?
  - bkohlmann 9y ago
    It’s an online survey - much like the one First Round Capital did a few months ago. We’ve also augmented our quantitative survey with over 10 interviews with volunteers from all backgrounds and tech firms. There are similar responses. Some have even cited their companies as positive examples of allowing all viewpoints - which we fully intend to report. As for Bannon, I happen to disagree with much of his ideology, but it’s hardly “fringe” when 62 million people voted for a candidate that used his playbook. You’re free to have your own interpretation.
    - brian-armstrong 9y ago
      I guess it depends on whether you consider stoking white nationalists as being fringe to conservatives or not

Barrin92 9y ago

One has to admit that there's something amusing about 'conservatives' (in quotes because I don't want to throw everybody into a group with Bannon et al) demanding diversity for its own sake when it's about representing their views in areas like the Silicon valley. We've kind of made a 180 degree turn where people who liked to go on about absolute truths and so forth now demand inclusion simply because they are excluded, even if that exclusion occurs for completely benign or healthy reasons. There is not a great liberal conspiracy that makes Bannon's views unpopular, it's just that his culture war is as unpopular in a successful melting pot as young earth creationism is in a room full of physicists. His views are not violently suppressed, nobody wants to silence him for spreading a truth only he has access to, it's just that people are simply tired of it.

gumby 9y ago

Oh yawn. If you can’t claim victimization how will you get someone’s attention?