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Ask HN: Can you be openly politically right-leaning in tech in North America?

• celticninja 5y ago
  It depends if you are right leaning because you want lower taxes and smaller government, or if you are right leaning because you are a homophobic, racist.
  • mod 5y ago
    I don't think it does. The two camps are very anti-each-other, and they don't have a lot of nuance for what beliefs get you to your side. In fact, in 99% of my interactions, they don't know how I arrived on my side. I think it's more likely to be divulged by talk about the president or presidential candidates. I don't think this is true of highly rational people, but I do think it's true of most people that I encounter.
    • akerl_ 5y ago
      > I think it's more likely to be divulged by talk about the president or presidential candidates Sure, because if somebody says they’re pro-Trump (or really, pro most Republican candidates these days), they’re not saying “I lean towards conservative views”, they’re saying at a minimum “I’m OK supporting Trump because his xenophobia/sexism/etc are lesser concerns to me than his views that I like”. There are plenty of conservatives in tech. The problem is that the modern Republican Party is no longer guided by conservative principles.
  • Bostonian 5y ago
    The word "homophobic" is used to discredit any disapproval of homosexuality -- it must be a "phobia" and is not rational, and the issue is not open to discussion. To answer the OP, especially on social issues, you cannot be openly right-wing.
    • akerl_ 5y ago
      I think you may be inventing a distinction. Nobody is trying to make “disapproval of homosexuality” sound worse by making it a “phobia”. It already sounds bad on its own. Stop disapproving of other people’s identity.
      • lolthrowaway1 5y ago
        There are parts of homosexuality which are bad. There are parts of that community which sexualizes children and exposes them to sexual things at far too young of an age under the moniker of "sexual education". There are far too many gay men who believe that just because heterosexual romance (nee crushes) among children are romanticized in culture that homosexual contact should be normalized, romanced and espoused as well (because far too many gay men see sex as the be all and end all of homosexuality) in the name of equality.
    • stnmtn 5y ago
      What is an example of a legitimate and rational disapproval of homosexuality?
• gtirloni 5y ago
  Could you define the set of beliefs that comprise "right-leaning"? That should help here.
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  • edgefield 5y ago
    Unfortunately, right leaning in the US has come to include views that run counter to science, diversity/inclusivity, and human rights for all (right to vote, right to choose). Are these views welcome in tech companies? Not generally.
    • lostcolony 5y ago
      Those views aren't welcome in most companies, period. Hence the op's rather important question "what views". Just because the hateful and anti-science groups have found a home in the modern day GOP doesn't mean that a given conservative shares them, even when holding their nose to vote.
      • akerl_ 5y ago
        I think this is pretty much on the mark. The modern Republican Party has managed to carve itself a niche as a pretty hate-fueled / senseless place. The issue is that “holding your nose to vote” is taking a stance: somebody who votes for a candidate who is sexist because they like their fiscal policy is saying “I’m OK being led by this person because I value their fiscal policy more than their character”. And in the modern era, we’re seeing increasing signs that society at large has taken notice of that distinction.
        • lostcolony 5y ago
          Oh, I don't mean to excuse it, and you kind of are asking for it if you say who you voted for, but just espousing a conservative viewpoint, provided it's not a viewpoint that has been given home amongst the conservative party despite being repugnant, isn't going to get you flack. "I wish taxes were lower" isn't going to lose you a job
• aergljlkth 5y ago
  hahahahaah! do you even read this website? Dood, you're asking about right-leaning? You can't even be a centrist in tech. These people are *insane*.
• eddof13 5y ago
  I could say I don't support or believe in tech censorship, vaccine passports, virtue signaling, BLM, critical race theory, white guilt/privilege and that I don't believe that trans women are women. However, I suspect that it's true that an employer would not approve of that, and that right leaning beliefs or believers don't get a fair shake in this climate. So I think it's best to not be open about and say such things. 80% of your paycheck is to do the job, and the 20% is to not have any opinions or sexually harass anyone.
  • vineyardmike 5y ago
    > the 20% is to not ... sexually harass anyone. So dont act like a right wing politician
  • evv555 5y ago
    The "Milgram Experiments" were successful because of people "just doing their jobs". If the situation has regressed to the point of being a bystander then I'm not sure what's best here.
    • eddof13 5y ago
      Ideally a law where a person can't be fired because they have offensive political beliefs or opinions, I like tenure in universities
      • lolthrowaway1 5y ago
        Well obviously nobody is fired for that. But we obviously don't want to socialize with the right-wing bigot so you missed the lunch meeting where we discussed the future roadmap. I'm not stopping by your desk to ask your opinion about feature X or ask for help with a blocker issue. Peer reviews bottom out because they are so subjective and manager reviews reflect your very real lack of contribution to the team without the context of the fact that you've been shut out. It's damn near impossible to fix this in a legislative manner and I'd be a hypocrite if I advocated for such a solution.
    • 5y ago
• smoldesu 5y ago
  Are you a good person? That's a weird, loaded, and hard to answer question. It's subjective, and equally in your favor as it is out of it. Politics should have no bearing on your success in the tech world, and if it does then I think you're participating in politics wrong. You can't be openly political anywhere without expecting repercussions, especially now. This concept of "can you be conservative in this" and "can you be liberal in that" is all about setting these self-fulfilling prophecies that only serve to redouble your own political beliefs. Be smart, and stop trying to make other people accountable for the way you behave.
• blahblahblogger 5y ago
  No.
  • vzcx 5y ago
    Always hide your power level.
    • hhjinks 5y ago
      First question I ask when interviewing candidates is which La Blue Girl OVA is their favorite.
• pseudo0 5y ago
  It depends, but some areas of tech are more welcoming than others. If you're more libertarian right-leaning, fintech is probably a decent bet. If non-libertarian right-wing, you could always get a clearance and work for one of the many defence contractors in NoVA or MD. You'd likely be miserable in SF or Seattle though. In some circles it isn't enough just to shut up regarding certain topics - "silence is violence" and you're expected to enthusiastically applaud the zeitgeist of the week.
  • genkimind 5y ago
    Moving the opposite direction, just discovered west coast social justice issues. Jesus christ.
    • pseudo0 5y ago
      I initially misinterpreted the question a bit, and edited it for clarity. I was listing sub-fields where it still is possible to get away with being openly right-wing. Presumably people more to the libertarian end of the spectrum would want to avoid the military industrial complex though.
• mmalla 5y ago
  The uncomfortable truth is that this in large part predicated on the culture set by the founders of the company. Only founders have the leeway to dictate what is culturally apropos. Although, I believe that there are strong regional forcing functions that heavily encourage founders to lean one way (in silicon valley, this is usually left). In particular these forcing functions are ability to recruit, form business partnerships and generate positive peer/user sentiment. If you are part of the political out group this can severely hamper your ability to do many of the things necessary for success which is why you don't see any companies riding against the wave (it's hard enough as it is).
• genkimind 5y ago
  I lean right (fiscally) and sometimes my comments are perceived as unwelcome in group chats. Such topics include afghanistan, covid statistics, are seemingly discouraged. Comments talking about how terrible, racist, and sexist the company is are totally cool. In fact creating a woman's right's channel where the whole purpose is to bash our own employer is also cool. @hereing #general with stories about sexism and how it is rampant in society and white males are no problem. But not afghanistan. Not ok. I imagine most people must hate the obnoxious BS but nobody wants to shout back in 2021.
  • cosmotic 5y ago
    What does that mean lean right fiscally? Traditionally, I believe that means less government spending, but at least in the US, government spending doesn't seem to change significantly under conservative control. In fact, the spending just shifts from people-in-need to people-that-already-have (social programs vs corporate handouts). Not talking about Afghanistan at work seems reasonable. I'm not sure what COVID statistics would mean much; the science behind COVID is pretty settled and there's a solid, highly-regarded (including internationally, at least until Trump) government agency that oversees that in the US (CDC); I don't see where discussing those numbers would even be valuable unless the company were flaunting COVID and the workers wanted action. I suppose when you say COVID stats, you might be referring to total nonsense stats, in which case I would agree those should be excluded from company chat.
    • Grieving 5y ago
      > What does that mean lean right fiscally? Traditionally, I believe that means less government spending, but at least in the US, government spending doesn't seem to change significantly under conservative control. That's just American politics: you never get what you asked for. I remember Dan Carlin saying something like "No matter who you vote for, you always get John McCain."
  • raven108 5y ago
    You are absolutely spot on. Big tech snuffs out anything contrary to globalism and wokeism. Few days back I mentioned the shift in govt focus to “domestic terrorism” vs the “jihadi terrorism”, the comment was taken out on HN. While at the same time big tech acts as activist and cheerleader for “domestic terrorists” in India. Supporting a Jan 6 style riot to overturn thr Modi govt disguised as now 18 month long “farmer protest” funded by western globalists. Bottom line it does not matter what the issue is, the big tech including HN does not tolerate dissenting voices at all - particularly if they are articulate. Let us see how long this comment lasts- 2 mins max.
• recursivedoubts 5y ago
  That's bait.
• MadX_Digital 5y ago
  Some of my best friends are right-leaning. Tech is full of closet conservatives. For some reason, having right-wing beliefs is not cool even thought half the tech employes I've met are more right-leaning then they'd like to admit.
• deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
• h2odragon 5y ago
  You can't even have friends who are "too right wing".
• lolthrowaway1 5y ago
  You can, kinda. I'm a very small government person. Far more libertarian than republican but the general republican obstructionism in government suits my ends so I like them better than democrats these days. I'm "out" within my own smallish company. I'm in a very secure position there though and even if I wasn't, I'm not in a position where employment is a necessity for me at this point. > lower taxes and smaller government, or if you are right leaning because you are a homophobic, racist See, the problem here is that things I ascribe to being in the former category others will chose to ascribe my motivations to the latter. For example, the canonical example of the baker who refused to bake a cake for the gay wedding? I believe that private businesses should be left to their own devices with minimal government regulation, at least inversely proportional to their size/market share. The baker who bakes cakes where you can just walk across/down the street to another one? If they chose to refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding I'm not going there for a few reasons, besides me not wanting to patronize them they don't want me because I'm gay. I wouldn't patronize a bakery that wouldn't serve women (I'm a guy) or black people either (I'm white) because that doesn't align with my values, but, I don't think the government needs to (or should) inject it's morality into the free market. Most people would call me racist/homophobic because of it. As a gay man I'm shut out of most gay spaces because of having this opinion. Similarly, and frankly worse, in tech. Tech people are a fun combination of so convinced that they are smarter than everyone else and so convinced that Their Way is The Correct Way and that anyone who disagrees is some form of -ist. In fairness, most tech people I meet are wicked smart but they are also myopic and don't always see the full spectrum. I had an opportunity to join one of the FAANG companies last year at a seriously significant salary hike. I turned it down in large part because I knew I'd either have to constantly lie about my politics or refuse to answer and I've known others who have become labeled evil and complicit by virtue of refusing to answer the question. From asking some trusted friends on the inside about it, the group I was (possibly) joining wasn't nearly as bad as some others and I probably would have been fine never discussing politics, but, these things can change on a dime and I don't really want to hide. I spend all of my life up to college hiding in one closet, I'm not going back into another closet almost 30 years later. It's a funny dynamic too, even though it's not open there are conservatives in tech in companies where you wouldn't expect, If we don't know who the others are we do a funny tiptoe around each other to identify (there's no secret handshake or code words unfortunately). We have to suss each other out very carefully. I remember when I was in a conversation with someone in my company and someone from a 3rd party vendor (I knew them both well, but, neither of them had ever spoken) and let slip something which I normally wouldn't say around others. My co-worker gave me laser eyes like "be more careful!" and I quickly responded to explain that Bob was cool. So are conservatives in tech persecuted in the USA? IMO, absolutely. Can you be openly right-leaning? For now, you can be, in the right circumstances, at the expense of either your career entirely or at the expense of limiting your career options drastically. Where is it heading? Reeducation camps for wrong think. If none of the above convinces you perhaps merely even the fact that this is a question which needs to be asked will give you some pause.
• 50firstthreads 5y ago
  It's another one of these threads, nice. Rabble Rabble
• Grieving 5y ago
  Not really, as evidenced by the comments here. If you're a libertarian or fiscal conservative--a liberal capitalist--you can squeak by as long as you make obeisance on social issues. If you're a member of a protected class you may get a little more leeway. I'm basically a Democrat from 20 years ago and have to keep my head down at all times.
• gregjor 5y ago
  Are you joking? 29% of Americans identify as Republicans, 44% as "right-leaning." I assume most of them live "openly." Fox News, openly politically right-leaning, remains the most-watched network in the US. Members of my own family and circle of friends lean right, openly and proudly, just like I lean progressive, openly. https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/politics-policy/us-elections-voters/voters-voting/voter-demographics/ https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/politics-policy/us-electio... Looking at the rest of North America, it looks like lots of Canadians openly act on right-leaning political beliefs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Canadian_federal_election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Canadian_federal_election The other large democracy in North America -- Mexico -- has a large and visible right-leaning constituency. Maybe in the echo chambers of the Bay Area or New York or LA expressing right-leaning political views gets a dismissive reaction, but that certainly isn't the case across North America.
• true_religion 5y ago
  Right leaning sure! I’m right leaning… I mean at least I think I am since I’m a Republican [3]. For the most part, what makes people “lean right” is religious precepts [1] which are covered under Federal labor law protections so no one can actually discriminate against you if you voice them. The other thing that traditionally made people lean right is economic concepts (think Ron Paul), and at worst people think you’re boring for bringing that stuff up. Thing is none of that stuff is really in vogue so we who lean right in that way basically don’t talk about it, and are totally overlooked by the media. What you can’t be is… 1. A supporter of Trump and/or the insurgents 2. A ethonationalist of any kind 3. Someone who can’t help but speak out against a protected group (e.g. women, transgendered, people of foreign birth) Now politics wise we who merely “lean right” would say that all of those three groups aren’t on our right… they’re on a totally different spectrum same as the one occupied by ecoterrorists, and authoritarian communists. Now I come from Northern Virginia, the actual birthplace of that flag southerners love waving so frantically and I know many people who count themselves as conservative (religiously, economically, socially) who trashed their flags when they learned the story behind their creation[2]. So right vs left? It’s not really that simple. [1] My screen name is from the sadly much diminished jeans company, but in their heyday that denim really deserved its cult following. [2] William Porcher Miles designed the flag of the army of northern Virginia, which is now basically known as the confederate flag. You would be hard pressed to find a dude more supportive of slavery than this guy. He started his political career just to advocate for keeping people in chains, and said it was a “Divine institution” and the white in the flag was representative of … you guessed it white skin. Can’t get more white nationalist than that. [3] Left and right are concepts of political parties in the US, not actual beliefs. I’m kinda hoping the Democrats will create space to capture all the people in the Republican Party who do not love the direction it’s gone down in the past 10 years.
  • stnmtn 5y ago
    Something that I've thought about is that, yes you can be against the crazy in the GOP, but ultimately if you vote for them you are emboldening people like MTG and others who have spawned from the Trump Pool. I find it hard to imagine that any vote for the GOP doesn't end up shifting the overton window more towards their side. Full disclosure, I say this as a Bernie supporter so I guess from your point of view I would be the mirror image
• 5555624 5y ago
  The problem is what is "right-leaning"? Once upon a time, that would be someone roughly in the center, who leans to the right right. A moderate who is anti-abortion, pro gun rights, low taxes. These days, its' all or nothing -- you're either left or right. Democrats wold have you believe that all Republicans are pro-Trump, gun nuts, and believe Trump won the election. Republicans would have you believe that all democrats are socialists and we need to raise taxes. It's just easier to keep politics out of the office as much as possible.