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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’

#291

Post by greglindahl »

tomsthumb wrote: post #192
_skel wrote: post #169

I don't get it. I grew up in Silicon Valley and I work in tech, and so do many other people I know. They run the gamut from far-left socialists to libertarians to own a bunch of guns. They have all kinds of ethnic backgrounds and religious views. Some of my most libertarian/pro-gun friends have not been shy about their political views and it hasn't hurt their tech careers at all. They are far more welcome here than l…

On the other hand, I have seen a coworker strongly imply that someone is a white nationalist for suggesting that it’s possible to be a non-racist republican.

Thanks for the anecdote. Was a reminder of "let's be respectful, now!" good enough to solve the problem?

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

#292

Post by newnewpdro »

HumanDrivenDev wrote: post #255
nabla9 wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is "I voted for Trump" (and I don't regret it) not controversial? I understand that there are many people who voted for Trump, but that does not mean that the opinion is something that should be considered being in line with the norms of the free society and far past conservative viewpoint. (Not in the sense that you have no right to your opinion, in the sense that person having that opinion loses the respect of…

How can something half the US voters did be controversial? The norms you mention are obviously not where you think they are. I think you may be out of touch.

Half the US? Citation needed.

Last I checked it was only slightly more than half the eligible voting population that actually voted in the presidential election.

Popularity is quite orthogonal to controversy regardless. Our current president is controversial, and it can be argued that controversy is the very thing responsible for the votes he received.

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

#293

Post by nabla9 »

downandout wrote: post #258
nabla9 wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is "I voted for Trump" (and I don't regret it) not controversial? I understand that there are many people who voted for Trump, but that does not mean that the opinion is something that should be considered being in line with the norms of the free society and far past conservative viewpoint. (Not in the sense that you have no right to your opinion, in the sense that person having that opinion loses the respect of…

Again, this is a perfect example of the absurd overreaction that Valley liberals have to the idea that someone might have some conservative views. You sound like you voted for Hillary...do you endorse every single thing she has ever done and said? Did that "I'm with her" shirt you probably bought apply to the Clinton Foundation scandal and the use of an unsecured private email server for classified emails? Probably n…

> Clinton Foundation scandal and the use of an unsecured private email server for classified emails? Probably not.

This is false equivalence. People like Clinton might appear corrupt for republicans and Dick Cheney might be horrible for democrats, but Trump is in completely different plane.

>workplace social scene (if not their job altogether) based on one data point that by itself means next to nothing is wrong.

What you think is the threshold where political opinion can become personal? When your family is deported?

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

#294

Post by asdf1234 »

adamnemecek wrote: post #183
wavegeek wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Old saying If you're young and you don't have left wing views, you have no heart. If you're old and you still have left wing views, you have no brain.

... but the terms left and right have lost all meaning so this saying is kinda meaningless too.

That "saying" was never good. It's just an extremely simplistic way for right wingers to pat themselves on the back.

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

#295

Post by dabbledash »

sho wrote: post #207
friedman23 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me tell you, if you shed tears because Trump won the election you are mentally unstable.

> if you shed tears because Trump won the election you are mentally unstable Upvoting you to counter your ridiculous downvotes. What the hell people. If you shed tears because Trump won then you are actually part of the problem. You are on "Team Blue" and crying because "Team Red" won. This simplistic tribalistic nonsense is not how you run a society. update for the downvoters: unless you view Team Red as intrinsical…

I don’t think this follows. Trump has very little in common with traditional “team red” politicians, and much more in common with European ethno-nationalist populism. I had no problem with Mitt Romney or John McCain, but consider the fact that so many Americans would vote for Trump to be profoundly disappointing.

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

#296

Post by JumpCrisscross »

friedman23 wrote: post #175
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> SF just happens to be a highly visible example with some unique problems Coming in from New York, San Francisco’s lack of attention to its homeless population is self inflicted. It’s also a problem that nobody in the city seems very much to care about.

> It’s also a problem that nobody in the city seems very much to care about Because all the rich people living in the North West part of the city are completely insulated from it.

> Because all the rich people living in the North West part of the city are completely insulated from it

I was recently invited to an afternoon of board games at the residence of a wealth San Franciscan. I was invited to step over a homeless man at the entrance. I refused. My behaviour was surprising/comical to my host. This isn’t a problem of geographic isolation. Empathetic circles have contracted, and that is bad.

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

#297

Post by anigbrowl »

adventured wrote: post #200
walshemj wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but there are no far left parties in the USA to vote for.

The Green Party is a far left US party. To go much further left, you have to enter Venezuela style Socialism. The GP openly advocates for changing essentially everything about the US political and economic system and shifting every area much further to the left ideologically (by much further, I mean it far surpasses what even "liberals" in Congress advocate for).

The Green Party is a far left US party.

With hardly any senior elected officials even at the municipal level. Like many fringe parties, it is just about big enough to qualify for public election financing but not to be competitive in any races that matter.

http://www.gp.org/officeholders

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

#298

Post by Fins »

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 {…

To be fair, it was not the salt of the Earth Middle America rioting in Berkeley because they dared to invite Coulter or Milo to speak.

And you know, Roy Moore lost elections. How many Republicans did SFBA send to Washington lately?

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

#299

Post by Daishiman »

Pxtl wrote: post #276
enraged_camel wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One can be a non-racist conservative, in the sense of wanting a smaller government and less regulation. However, today’s Republican Party is undeniably racist, and supporting them also makes one racist in my opinion. This is especially true since today’s Republican Party is not actually conservative. One cannot want smaller government while simultaneously supporting a drastic increase in immigration and border securi…

You don't have to be racist to support the modern Republicans, but you do have to decide that racism really isn't a deal-breaker for you.

If racism isn't a deal-breaker for you...

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

#300

Post by dcow »

mlloyd wrote: post #271
wpietri wrote: post #78

> they feel people there are resistant to different social values and political ideologies This is just bizarre to to me. I moved here from the Midwest, which I found stifling. There's a far greater variety of social values and political ideologies (not to mention backgrounds and interests) here than pretty much any place I've lived. The main hostility I see is to intolerance, but that's hardly surprising given SF's…

The argument here is that intolerance wants to have a voice. They feel persecuted because people don't view their intolerant viewpoints as points to be debated but rather ideals to be shunned. This all stems from the sexist Ex-Google guy who is butthurt that he can't write a sexist manifesto at work and have his co-workers debate him on the science, but rather be fired and ostracizedfor expousing discriminatory views…

The argument here is that people like you label anything you don't agree with as "intolerant" and justify social lynching of the ideas based on your likely angry or frustrated emotional assessment. This didn't start with James, although that's one of the more popular incidents. Disagreeing with operational policies that are based on politically charged ideas that we need to correct for the inequalities in outcomes rather than provide an unbiased and meritocratic foundation of opportunity is not intolerance. It's politics.
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