Ask HN: Are SV tech firms biased against certain viewpoints – and is that bad?

Over the past three weeks, I've spearheaded a survey to better understand claims of viewpoint bias in Silicon Valley tech firms. We've gotten over 350 quantitative responses, over 100 detailed comments, and done more than a dozen one on one interviews. We've heard corroboration from a number of folks who feel silenced, while also hearing from others who feel encouraged to express whatever views they want. So, HN, I'd love to better understand your experiences working at tech firms in the Valley. Do you feel like there are certain things you can't talk about without fear of disproportionate punishment? Or is your workplace welcoming to all viewpoints? Here are some of the comments we've gotten: -A self-identified libertarian wrote, “I have lost multiple talented colleagues who resigned rather than continue in the face of an increasingly extreme, narrow minded, and regressive environment here at Google…When I started in 2004 I felt completely safe to bring my whole self to work, to express my (reasonable) thoughts and ideas to my coworkers, and to be generally unguarded and honest. Those days are loooong gone now.” -A self-identified moderate commented how they were pleased with how interested executives were in being open to all viewpoints. -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.”