5 ms·

Maybe it's a SV thing? I saw some of the documents from a recent lawsuit against Google and was pretty astounded by the sorts of things that people were willing

Maybe it's a SV thing? I saw some of the documents from a recent lawsuit against Google and was pretty astounded by the sorts of things that people were willing to not only say but actually put into writing where anyone on their intranet could see (things along the lines of "I won't let anyone on my team if they have political belief X or voted for Y")

saas_sam 7y ago
It's 100% a SV thing. It is assumed that everyone working for a SV company is on the left and hates anything on the right. Voice dissent at your own peril.
- fipar 7y ago
  I suppose it is also assumed that everyone working for a SV company is on the left, except when it comes to wealth distribution? :) (this reply is not against you, I hope it does not come out that way)
- solitus 7y ago
  "We're on the left, but we looooove tax havens."
kick 7y ago
That seems to make sense if you consider how political beliefs and preferred candidates correlate with given personality traits. Why is it stigmatized? https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/study-predicts-political-beliefs-with-83-percent-accuracy-17536124/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/study-predicts...
- elliekelly 7y ago
  Generally diversity is better for a team because it brings in a variety of viewpoints. Someone with different political views might be able to offer some perspective that the rest of the group would have missed.
  - kick 7y ago
    At the same time, they likely won't mesh well with the team's culture.
    - dijit 7y ago
      But what does that mean really? That we can't talk politics over alcohol? I still don't see that being an issue unless you can't be civil about conflicting beliefs. If you can't be civil when confronted with conflicting beliefs then you have larger problems I think.
      - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
        I'm with you, but I think you're expecting too much once you add alcohol to the mix.
  - eldavido 7y ago
    Diversity is not an unquestioned good. It means more fights, less common ground, more misunderstanding. There are plenty of examples of relatively insular cultures (e.g. Sweden, Paypal) producing great stuff. I don't hate diversity, I just don't buy this unquestioned "diversity is good" idea. It has pros and cons.
Kalium 7y ago
There's very much a social norm in some social circles found in Silicon Valley that total political agreement is expected. Opinions are voiced in the expectation of loud and vociferous agreement. Like any such environment where conformity is the norm, it works until someone fails to conform.
tathougies 7y ago
It's not just an SV thing. Working in tech in Portland, it's also pretty much expected.
pfranz 7y ago
I do think it's more of a tech thing. I believe it stems from valuing "culture fit" more than other industries do. I appreciate the idea of culture fit, but feel uneasy about it because it's also discriminatory and leads to problems like this. I wonder if it's party because of the generalness and youngness of the industry. I imagine fields like oil rigging, therapy services for children, auto repair, or military service have more self-selecting cultures than building generic CRUD apps or web design for random clients.

saas_sam 7y ago

It's 100% a SV thing. It is assumed that everyone working for a SV company is on the left and hates anything on the right. Voice dissent at your own peril.

fipar 7y ago
I suppose it is also assumed that everyone working for a SV company is on the left, except when it comes to wealth distribution? :) (this reply is not against you, I hope it does not come out that way)
solitus 7y ago
"We're on the left, but we looooove tax havens."

kick 7y ago

That seems to make sense if you consider how political beliefs and preferred candidates correlate with given personality traits. Why is it stigmatized? https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/study-predicts-political-beliefs-with-83-percent-accuracy-17536124/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/study-predicts...

elliekelly 7y ago
Generally diversity is better for a team because it brings in a variety of viewpoints. Someone with different political views might be able to offer some perspective that the rest of the group would have missed.
- kick 7y ago
  At the same time, they likely won't mesh well with the team's culture.
  - dijit 7y ago
    But what does that mean really? That we can't talk politics over alcohol? I still don't see that being an issue unless you can't be civil about conflicting beliefs. If you can't be civil when confronted with conflicting beliefs then you have larger problems I think.
    - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
      I'm with you, but I think you're expecting too much once you add alcohol to the mix.
- eldavido 7y ago
  Diversity is not an unquestioned good. It means more fights, less common ground, more misunderstanding. There are plenty of examples of relatively insular cultures (e.g. Sweden, Paypal) producing great stuff. I don't hate diversity, I just don't buy this unquestioned "diversity is good" idea. It has pros and cons.

Kalium 7y ago

There's very much a social norm in some social circles found in Silicon Valley that total political agreement is expected. Opinions are voiced in the expectation of loud and vociferous agreement. Like any such environment where conformity is the norm, it works until someone fails to conform.

tathougies 7y ago

It's not just an SV thing. Working in tech in Portland, it's also pretty much expected.

pfranz 7y ago

I do think it's more of a tech thing. I believe it stems from valuing "culture fit" more than other industries do. I appreciate the idea of culture fit, but feel uneasy about it because it's also discriminatory and leads to problems like this. I wonder if it's party because of the generalness and youngness of the industry. I imagine fields like oil rigging, therapy services for children, auto repair, or military service have more self-selecting cultures than building generic CRUD apps or web design for random clients.