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The Google status quo circa 2016 was the worst of all worlds. Political discussion was tolerated up to a point, but the point was ill-defined, and (naturally) e

The Google status quo circa 2016 was the worst of all worlds. Political discussion was tolerated up to a point, but the point was ill-defined, and (naturally) enforcement tended to be based on how many people disagreed with your opinions. Generally, more liberal employees could get away with much broader and more aggressive proclamations than more conservative employees (not sure if that's still true), but that wasn't consistent, and consequences seemed largely random.

jdm2212 7y ago
It wasn't totally random. They were mostly ok with assholes as long as they were good engineers -- my manager and skip-level manager were two of the ten or so loudest far-left types at the company. But both were very good engineers, and my manager actually got promoted even while devoting a substantial amount of time to antagonizing random people on mailing lists and G+. I remember one guy though who was far-left, very obnoxious, and useless. And he got fired/pushed out a little while after I left.
- DuskStar 7y ago
  Can you think of any obnoxious right wing people who survived any length of time? Not even far-right, just further right than the nationwide center. Without that, it sounds like either left-wing activists are far more common at Google, that right-wing activists are afraid to act in similar ways, or that Google enforces such policies in an ideologically slanted manner. (My bet would be on all three)
  - geodel 7y ago
    > left-wing activists are far more common at Google, Yes, and I think this is common knowledge. Good place to look is Code of Conducts for all kind of technical groups. Their language is pulled straight from identity politics of left.
    - 0815test 7y ago
      Not sure why this comment is controversial? Let's be clear here, you can agree with the broader goals of a CoC while still thinking that the language being used in many such "codes" is highly problematic, unprofessional and prone to equivocation and abuse.

jdm2212 7y ago

It wasn't totally random. They were mostly ok with assholes as long as they were good engineers -- my manager and skip-level manager were two of the ten or so loudest far-left types at the company. But both were very good engineers, and my manager actually got promoted even while devoting a substantial amount of time to antagonizing random people on mailing lists and G+. I remember one guy though who was far-left, very obnoxious, and useless. And he got fired/pushed out a little while after I left.

DuskStar 7y ago
Can you think of any obnoxious right wing people who survived any length of time? Not even far-right, just further right than the nationwide center. Without that, it sounds like either left-wing activists are far more common at Google, that right-wing activists are afraid to act in similar ways, or that Google enforces such policies in an ideologically slanted manner. (My bet would be on all three)
- geodel 7y ago
  > left-wing activists are far more common at Google, Yes, and I think this is common knowledge. Good place to look is Code of Conducts for all kind of technical groups. Their language is pulled straight from identity politics of left.
  - 0815test 7y ago
    Not sure why this comment is controversial? Let's be clear here, you can agree with the broader goals of a CoC while still thinking that the language being used in many such "codes" is highly problematic, unprofessional and prone to equivocation and abuse.