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> There are almost two hundred thousand employees at Google. There are two hundred thousand employees, and approximately 90% of them donate to a single politic

> There are almost two hundred thousand employees at Google. There are two hundred thousand employees, and approximately 90% of them donate to a single political party. Google isn't a politically diverse place to work, it is an environment where you are expected to have certain political views.

hightrix 3y ago
There is even a widely publicized example of someone having a different opinion, that opinion getting out, and them getting fired. Disclaimer: I'm not commenting on the content of the opinion. Responders, please don't attempt to steer the discussion in that direction.
- amanaplanacanal 3y ago
  There are certainly opinions that will get you fired almost anywhere, because they cause a hostile work environment. Do you think that should not be the case?
seanmcdirmid 3y ago
Not even 90% of those 200k live in the USA, so I seriously doubt 90% of them donate to one party in one country. Even for USA employees, assuming that 90% of them are US citizens who are allowed to donate money to a political party at all is very dubious. In fact, many are from countries with very different political ideals than either ideology in the world USA.
- sahila 3y ago
  Your comment does make me think that really the only acceptable voice to voice in a company like Google is to be a democrat. But I bet a bunch are actually Republican and want lower taxes for the wealthy (of which Googlers benefit some) but won’t say it aloud.
  - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
    Hardly any of my coworkers (I work at Google) are American-born, many are not citizens, they have way different political cultures than the classical American ones. We rarely discuss politics at work, not because no one is interested, but because political ideas are so diverse, it would be super awkward to talk about Biden or Trump, it might make more sense to talk about Xi or Modi, but that is way out of my comfort zone. Maybe if I knew more about Indian or Chinese or Middle Eastern politics I could...chat about something? Yes, no one likes Trump, but if that is only 50% true in the USA, it is 99% true in the rest of the world outside of maybe Russia. Many techies are also "liberal libertarian": they want the government to stay out of a lot of things. They want..low taxes, but also want the government to stay out of their bedroom, not dictate their life saving medical decisions, they want to wear whatever they want regardless of biological gender, they just don't fit in with the current Republican party which has thrown off libertarian values in favor of going deeper into the culture wars.
    - skissane 3y ago
      > Yes, no one likes Trump, but if that is only 50% true in the USA, it is 99% true in the rest of the world outside of maybe Russia. Pew did a survey on this in Spring 2019, [0] found that confidence in Trump was only 20% in Russia, compared to 28% in Brazil and Canada, 32% in the UK, 35% in Australia, 36% in Japan, 42% in South Africa, 46% in South Korea, 51% in Poland, 58% in Nigeria, 65% in Kenya, 71% in Israel, 77% in the Philippines. Now, of course, a lot has happened since then, and no doubt if you ran the same survey today, you'd get different results. But there's a lot more pro-Trump sentiment in the world than you think, and it isn't always the countries you'd expect. [0] https://www.pewresearch.org/global/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/01/PG_2020.01.08_US-Image_0-02.png https://www.pewresearch.org/global/wp-content/uploads/sites/...
      - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        That survey is old. He used to be more popular for sure, but then he had a bad track record internationally as president. I remember before leaving China in 2016 many Chinese at work (so all techies, but not American) telling me they liked Trump. Today you wouldn’t hear that.
nitwit005 3y ago
Good old made up numbers. Even ignoring that it's a multinational, a very small portion of Americans donate to a political party. I doubt there is any company of decent size anywhere in the US with a rate like that.

hightrix 3y ago

There is even a widely publicized example of someone having a different opinion, that opinion getting out, and them getting fired. Disclaimer: I'm not commenting on the content of the opinion. Responders, please don't attempt to steer the discussion in that direction.

amanaplanacanal 3y ago
There are certainly opinions that will get you fired almost anywhere, because they cause a hostile work environment. Do you think that should not be the case?

seanmcdirmid 3y ago

Not even 90% of those 200k live in the USA, so I seriously doubt 90% of them donate to one party in one country. Even for USA employees, assuming that 90% of them are US citizens who are allowed to donate money to a political party at all is very dubious. In fact, many are from countries with very different political ideals than either ideology in the world USA.

sahila 3y ago
Your comment does make me think that really the only acceptable voice to voice in a company like Google is to be a democrat. But I bet a bunch are actually Republican and want lower taxes for the wealthy (of which Googlers benefit some) but won’t say it aloud.
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  Hardly any of my coworkers (I work at Google) are American-born, many are not citizens, they have way different political cultures than the classical American ones. We rarely discuss politics at work, not because no one is interested, but because political ideas are so diverse, it would be super awkward to talk about Biden or Trump, it might make more sense to talk about Xi or Modi, but that is way out of my comfort zone. Maybe if I knew more about Indian or Chinese or Middle Eastern politics I could...chat about something? Yes, no one likes Trump, but if that is only 50% true in the USA, it is 99% true in the rest of the world outside of maybe Russia. Many techies are also "liberal libertarian": they want the government to stay out of a lot of things. They want..low taxes, but also want the government to stay out of their bedroom, not dictate their life saving medical decisions, they want to wear whatever they want regardless of biological gender, they just don't fit in with the current Republican party which has thrown off libertarian values in favor of going deeper into the culture wars.
  - skissane 3y ago
    > Yes, no one likes Trump, but if that is only 50% true in the USA, it is 99% true in the rest of the world outside of maybe Russia. Pew did a survey on this in Spring 2019, [0] found that confidence in Trump was only 20% in Russia, compared to 28% in Brazil and Canada, 32% in the UK, 35% in Australia, 36% in Japan, 42% in South Africa, 46% in South Korea, 51% in Poland, 58% in Nigeria, 65% in Kenya, 71% in Israel, 77% in the Philippines. Now, of course, a lot has happened since then, and no doubt if you ran the same survey today, you'd get different results. But there's a lot more pro-Trump sentiment in the world than you think, and it isn't always the countries you'd expect. [0] https://www.pewresearch.org/global/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/01/PG_2020.01.08_US-Image_0-02.png https://www.pewresearch.org/global/wp-content/uploads/sites/...
    - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
      That survey is old. He used to be more popular for sure, but then he had a bad track record internationally as president. I remember before leaving China in 2016 many Chinese at work (so all techies, but not American) telling me they liked Trump. Today you wouldn’t hear that.

nitwit005 3y ago

Good old made up numbers. Even ignoring that it's a multinational, a very small portion of Americans donate to a political party. I doubt there is any company of decent size anywhere in the US with a rate like that.