4 ms·

> I'm curious what other people think the informational value of these hearings are. I want to hear from conservatives why they think most of (if not all) of b

> I'm curious what other people think the informational value of these hearings are. I want to hear from conservatives why they think most of (if not all) of big tech is "in the pockets of the Democrats". Why do all of these software engineers/IT field workers typically end up as left-leaning? Is it a matter of education/intelligence? Empathy? I feel like the split has to be at least 85% Democrat / 15% Republican in IT.

sGSDASG 6y ago
west coast vs east coast, aerospace vs video vs web dev. It's a YMMV thing. I've worked with a team of all republicans.
eej71 6y ago
In my personal experience my left leaning friends appear to feel very comfortable "letting it all hang out" on social media. It's very clear what their political opinions are. Those who aren't quite in sync with these view points play their cards closer to the chest. So I bet the %s you have aren't quite correct. I do think the prevailing educational system K-12 and the universities have a strong tilt to the left - generally ahead of the country. I also suspect most people simply inherit these default settings as their view points.
dx87 6y ago
It's a coastal thing, plus it's not a stretch to think that big tech is in the pockets of Democrats when Facebook told the Obama campaign "we're on your side", and google had executives crying on stage after Trump won.
- MuffinFlavored 6y ago
  > It's a coastal thing Why do New York and California vote so heavily blue?
  - sjg007 6y ago
    Because the struggle is real.
  - everdrive 6y ago
    Because of the major cities in each state. Parts of New York are very red. those parts just aren't urban.
michaelt 6y ago
I'm not a conservative, but I suspect the answer would be along the lines of: 1. "Actually you under-estimate the number of conservatives in tech, they just keep quiet about it because conservative opinions are being oppressed" 2. "For example, a great many twitter posts by Donald Trump have been flagged as false or inciting violence. This shows tech companies won't let you say the things half the population thinks!" 3. "Larry Ellison and Elon Musk love Trump's policies!" 4. "Tech workers often support conservative policies like freedom, opposing government waste and avoiding needless over-regulation. Many tech companies like Uber embody conservative ideals, as do Silicon Valley voters through Prop 13 and Prop 22" 5. "Tech workers often oppose liberal policies like rent control, mandatory hiring diversity, and inheritance taxes on multi-million-dollar homes" 6. "Claims the party is anti-intellectual and anti-science are fake news, how could so many republicans run successful campaigns if they weren't smart? Anyone who seems stupid is actually a genius making a 2000-IQ five-dimensional-chess move. Sadly a lot of tech workers have fallen for the lies of the fake news media."
disambiguation 6y ago
I know a lot of Trump supporters, here's my take: 1. The candidate pool is biased - in terms of demographics, under-30, college-educated, coastal-city individuals are dramatically skewed to the left. I think as IT workers get older, have families, and high paying jobs and education become more accessible to rural areas, we'll see a shift to the center. 2. Tech companies are in the spotlight of the "culture wars" - if your platform is an echo chamber for the narratives of the media, those narratives will eventually become descriptive of your company's identity. 3. H1-B visas and outsourcing is great economics for tech companies. This also reinforces the imperative for domestic workers and company culture to be highly inclusive. 4. More of a soft-factor, I think since most of tech's growth happened under Obama, there was an incentive for companies that were still finding their culture to align themselves with the administration and ruling powers at the time. 5. I think all of the above has pushed tech culture to a critical mass where those in the consensus will actively purge non-conformists. -- A side-note, but another strange feature of tech culture is how the industry started off as more libertarian/anarchist, and I don't think my answers above explain the catalyst of this cultural 180. Curious what others think the reason behind this might be?
damnencryption 6y ago
I don't know what being conservative is these days. Other than decreasing taxes and anti-abortion position, I can't think of anything else that conservatives support which wouldn't be unreasonable by their own system.

sGSDASG 6y ago

west coast vs east coast, aerospace vs video vs web dev. It's a YMMV thing. I've worked with a team of all republicans.

eej71 6y ago

In my personal experience my left leaning friends appear to feel very comfortable "letting it all hang out" on social media. It's very clear what their political opinions are. Those who aren't quite in sync with these view points play their cards closer to the chest. So I bet the %s you have aren't quite correct. I do think the prevailing educational system K-12 and the universities have a strong tilt to the left - generally ahead of the country. I also suspect most people simply inherit these default settings as their view points.

dx87 6y ago

It's a coastal thing, plus it's not a stretch to think that big tech is in the pockets of Democrats when Facebook told the Obama campaign "we're on your side", and google had executives crying on stage after Trump won.

MuffinFlavored 6y ago
> It's a coastal thing Why do New York and California vote so heavily blue?
- sjg007 6y ago
  Because the struggle is real.
- everdrive 6y ago
  Because of the major cities in each state. Parts of New York are very red. those parts just aren't urban.

michaelt 6y ago

I'm not a conservative, but I suspect the answer would be along the lines of: 1. "Actually you under-estimate the number of conservatives in tech, they just keep quiet about it because conservative opinions are being oppressed" 2. "For example, a great many twitter posts by Donald Trump have been flagged as false or inciting violence. This shows tech companies won't let you say the things half the population thinks!" 3. "Larry Ellison and Elon Musk love Trump's policies!" 4. "Tech workers often support conservative policies like freedom, opposing government waste and avoiding needless over-regulation. Many tech companies like Uber embody conservative ideals, as do Silicon Valley voters through Prop 13 and Prop 22" 5. "Tech workers often oppose liberal policies like rent control, mandatory hiring diversity, and inheritance taxes on multi-million-dollar homes" 6. "Claims the party is anti-intellectual and anti-science are fake news, how could so many republicans run successful campaigns if they weren't smart? Anyone who seems stupid is actually a genius making a 2000-IQ five-dimensional-chess move. Sadly a lot of tech workers have fallen for the lies of the fake news media."

disambiguation 6y ago

I know a lot of Trump supporters, here's my take: 1. The candidate pool is biased - in terms of demographics, under-30, college-educated, coastal-city individuals are dramatically skewed to the left. I think as IT workers get older, have families, and high paying jobs and education become more accessible to rural areas, we'll see a shift to the center. 2. Tech companies are in the spotlight of the "culture wars" - if your platform is an echo chamber for the narratives of the media, those narratives will eventually become descriptive of your company's identity. 3. H1-B visas and outsourcing is great economics for tech companies. This also reinforces the imperative for domestic workers and company culture to be highly inclusive. 4. More of a soft-factor, I think since most of tech's growth happened under Obama, there was an incentive for companies that were still finding their culture to align themselves with the administration and ruling powers at the time. 5. I think all of the above has pushed tech culture to a critical mass where those in the consensus will actively purge non-conformists. -- A side-note, but another strange feature of tech culture is how the industry started off as more libertarian/anarchist, and I don't think my answers above explain the catalyst of this cultural 180. Curious what others think the reason behind this might be?

damnencryption 6y ago

I don't know what being conservative is these days. Other than decreasing taxes and anti-abortion position, I can't think of anything else that conservatives support which wouldn't be unreasonable by their own system.