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Like Peter Thiel, Tech Workers Feel Alienated by Silicon Valley ‘Echo Chamber’

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Re: Like Peter Thiel, Tech Workers Feel Alienated by Silicon Valley ‘Echo Chamber’

#121

Post by wellboy »

sho wrote: post #104
chillwaves wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When 60% of the country actively hate the guy, it doesn't make for good business. On a moral level, Trump is literally one of the worst human beings on the planet. Every awful trait you can associate with a person, Trump has it. The dude is a walking billboard for the 7 deadly sins.

> On a moral level, Trump is literally one of the worst human beings on the planet Oh come on. I am far from a Trump supporter but this is ludicrous. How many people has he killed? Trump is a horny old silver-spoon doofus with a knack for telling people what they want to hear. I can't stand him but Stalin he ain't.

He mean public figure in the western world.

Re: Like Peter Thiel, Tech Workers Feel Alienated by Silicon Valley ‘Echo Chamber’

#122

Post by mnm1 »

Great. He should get the fuck out then if he doesn't feel welcome. While some people might tolerate the kind of scum like Thiel, I think it's good that SV doesn't tolerate. There's plenty of other places Thiel and people who feel like him can move to. The area will be better off with people like him gone, IMO. Most open minded liberal people with half a brain aren't going to move to bumblefuck, usa for the same reason Thiel and others like him shouldn't move to liberal cities. There's a place for everyone in our divided society and are the very least, people like Thiel can afford to move, unlike so many others that would like to but can't.

Re: Like Peter Thiel, Tech Workers Feel Alienated by Silicon Valley ‘Echo Chamber’

#123

Post by dang »

chillwaves wrote: post #60
nodesocket wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nashville as you know is actually pretty liberal, but the biggest difference is that people here live their lives, are friendly to others, and that southern charm is a real thing. People in San Francisco are always so outraged and angry (mainly since Trump took office) and the media constantly feeds them things to be outraged about that they are perpetually angry. People in Nashville for the most part don't let polit…

The media "feeds" us stuff to be outraged about? You mean factually reporting the news? There is real and severe damage that is happening to our country and our standing in the world. The regressive politics will have consequences. Even if you are a fan of Trump's policies, the White House is chaos, we essentially do not have a president. Imagine a real crisis hitting, and what this White House would do. It's incredi…

Please don't go into political battle mode on HN. If you do that, so will others, and then we'll have a big war, the people who don't want this will leave, and the site will go down the drain. If we're to keep HN as a place for relatively (emphasis on relatively) thoughtful discussion, we're all responsible not to let this happen.

The political issues are important, of course. Arguably more important than other topics. That's one reason why the above is the case.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html

Re: Like Peter Thiel, Tech Workers Feel Alienated by Silicon Valley ‘Echo Chamber’

#124

Post by heurist »

saget wrote: post #62
Barrin92 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but the ideology of the south is just as homogeneous as SF this is an interesting asymmetry I've noticed too. There are countless of places where salt of the earth Americana is the de facto monoculture. If I'd go there and try to create a liberal-hippie space for myself they'd probably flip me the finger and tell me that's not the local way of life, and somehow everybody seems to agree that this is perfectly fine. Y…

They key difference between Nashville and SV is Nashville doesn't claim to be anything but what's it is. SV culture claims to be inclusive and value diversity of thought. However, plenty of people experience exactly the opposite of this and that makes people feel lied to. Eventually the true SV culture will become more understood but until then I can understand people's frustrations

My perspective as someone not living in California: I imagine that if there is increasing pushback against conservative values it is because the liberal ideology has been suppressed across most of the country and more pressure is being released in the few places where it is still politically preferable. If democrats sweep in the next few years (I am not so sure that will happen) then I also imagine the atmosphere in SV will cool down a bit. However, the mix of capital and somewhat radical liberal politics increase the odds of strange outcomes.

The real problem is increasing polarization of the Congress since Gingrich. We are going to keep flipping back and forth between Republican domination and Democrat domination rather than slight right majority and slight left majority with great debates and comprises until some key issues with the electoral process and congressional procedure are fixed.

I think the end result is an overhaul and optimization of government by sensible, human-oriented technologists but that is a few decades and several bitcoin bubbles away.

Re: Like Peter Thiel, Tech Workers Feel Alienated by Silicon Valley ‘Echo Chamber’

#125

Post by api »

FeepingCreature wrote: post #106
api wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SV liberalism is kind of hypocritical and surface. Here we have an apparently super-liberal place whose main industry is mass surveillance and that does everything in its power via local zoning policy to price out the poor and minorities. The local echo chamber is all about 'diversity' yet the local tech industry is among the least diverse industries in the world. A lot of the echo chambering is in the "methinks you…

> among the least diverse industries in the world. If you count asians as white... Also gonna want a cite on that. afaik sv hiring is about equal with labor market.

I was thinking more of gender diversity than racial diversity, though the racial diversity of SV is not great. There are loads of female mathematicians, doctors, civil engineers, writers, journalists, etc. so obviously language and math is not beyond women. Programming is just language and math.

Re: Like Peter Thiel, Tech Workers Feel Alienated by Silicon Valley ‘Echo Chamber’

#126

Post by ryanwaggoner »

BenSahar wrote: post #90
Barrin92 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but the ideology of the south is just as homogeneous as SF this is an interesting asymmetry I've noticed too. There are countless of places where salt of the earth Americana is the de facto monoculture. If I'd go there and try to create a liberal-hippie space for myself they'd probably flip me the finger and tell me that's not the local way of life, and somehow everybody seems to agree that this is perfectly fine. Y…

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that people just don't care enough about those places. No one cares about Huntsville, AL and most high-profile people would not reside there, so no one hears about any of this bubble behavior from the other side. The most important cities (culturally and economically) are, at least, left-leaning. So, you'll only hear about conservatives being rejected by the "liberals" in {…

Agreed. It’s bizarre to see this argument from people in places that have historically (and even currently) been epicenters of open hostility, harassment, and violence against “the other”, that the real injustice in our society is that too many people in liberal enclaves have disdain for conservative values.

Re: Like Peter Thiel, Tech Workers Feel Alienated by Silicon Valley ‘Echo Chamber’

#127

Post by malvosenior »

mnm1 wrote: post #122

Great. He should get the fuck out then if he doesn't feel welcome. While some people might tolerate the kind of scum like Thiel, I think it's good that SV doesn't tolerate. There's plenty of other places Thiel and people who feel like him can move to. The area will be better off with people like him gone, IMO. Most open minded liberal people with half a brain aren't going to move to bumblefuck, usa for the same reaso…

> Most open minded liberal people with half a brain aren't going to move to bumblefuck, usa

How can you label yourself open minded, then brand anywhere other than SV "bumblefuck, usa"? Surely you see the hypocrisy?

Re: Like Peter Thiel, Tech Workers Feel Alienated by Silicon Valley ‘Echo Chamber’

#128

Post by superioritycplx »

sho wrote: post #46

What is crazy about the the situation in SF is that even 5 or so years ago if you asked me what the "echo chamber" there was echoing I would have said libertarianism and some kind of techno-utopianism. The takeover by the proscriptive far-left has been astonishingly rapid, and it is absolutely real. I also know people who have left, and many more who absolutely keep their political and even philosophical views to the…

The democrats' last presidential campaign cost over $2 billion. The money definitely wasn't all spent on printing flyers.

Re: Like Peter Thiel, Tech Workers Feel Alienated by Silicon Valley ‘Echo Chamber’

#129

Post by [deleted] »

Covzire wrote: post #103
tomcam wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why was supporting Trump absurd?

Have you ever noticed that that phrase "I may not agree with you, but I'll defend your right to say it to the death!" (heard it a lot after the 2003 Iraq Invasion) is almost universally applied from Right to Left and almost never the other way around? That to me is a great indicator for which side is much more authoritarian.

[deleted]

Re: Like Peter Thiel, Tech Workers Feel Alienated by Silicon Valley ‘Echo Chamber’

#130

Post by heurist »

freyir wrote: post #82
andrewjl wrote: post #41

I find the recent uptick in progressivism in SV refreshing, and sorely needed. Then again, I've lived my entire life in liberal enclaves and do not personally identify with conservative / "family values" viewpoints.

San Francisco’s “progressivism” is undermined by how terribly the city operates. Dirty streets, aging infrastructure, crime, homelessness, laissez faire law enforcement, conservative housing policies, and extreme wealth inequality everywhere. If the progressives can’t get their own house in order, good luck selling their vision to the rest of the country.

The entire country has awful city planning, SF just happens to be a highly visible example with some unique problems.

Conservatives have plenty of issues as well - look at Kansas or Alabama. Don't see those being discussed at a national level, though the politics that drove them into the ground as now steering the federal government.

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