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New Study Indicates Silicon Valley’s Elite Are Not as Liberal as They Think

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Re: New Study Indicates Silicon Valley’s Elite Are Not as Liberal as They Think

#31

Post by uncle_d »

CoolGuySteve wrote: post #28

Seems like a weird juxtaposition to me that the word “liberal” is being used to imply the support of more government regulations when by definition those restrictions are restricting someone’s freedoms (sometimes for the best IMO). It reminds me of the old Norm MacDonald joke where because of abortions and the death penalty, there’s no way for him to vote for a party where nobody is killed.

That's how it seems to be used in the USA - someone left-leaning that may well support more government intervention in the name of fairness.

Classical liberalism in contrast focuses on the liberty of the individual through limiting government.

Re: New Study Indicates Silicon Valley’s Elite Are Not as Liberal as They Think

#32

Post by beaner »

ojbyrne wrote: post #2

I don’t think anybody questions the fact that the “elite” (i.e the wealthy) are conservative. The 1% generally are. But the rest of the population of Silicon Valley generally aren’t.

Maybe they should. Is this actually true or just an assumption? It seems like for every Koch there is a Soros.

Re: New Study Indicates Silicon Valley’s Elite Are Not as Liberal as They Think

#33

Post by icebraining »

CPLX wrote: post #29

If course not. It shouldn’t be a secret that the most fundamental political division of modern times is between labor and caapital, and that Silicon Valley culture is squarely on the side of capital.

Is that why they "overwhelmingly favored increased taxes on the rich and further redistribution of wealth to poor communities" ?

Re: New Study Indicates Silicon Valley’s Elite Are Not as Liberal as They Think

#34

Post by sheepmullet »

throwaway2048 wrote: post #25
isoskeles wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was said in a different direction. People who hold political opinion X must be from this background because they don’t understand the issue like I do. I’m from a working class background and arrived at a different conclusion in my own experience. But I get lumped in with people raised upper middle class just because I couldn’t possibly have such opinions. Granted, this is why I try not to be defensive about it: wh…

I don't think there is much dispute that developers tend to come from upper middle class families, which is exactly what the parent said. He didn't say they must come from there.

> I don't think there is much dispute that developers tend to come from upper middle class families, which is exactly what the parent said.

I’d love to see some data.

Of course if you work at the kind of companies that only hire people with a top CS degree then you might be led to believe that.

In my experience though it’s not the case. The majority of people in my office grew up lower middle class.

Re: New Study Indicates Silicon Valley’s Elite Are Not as Liberal as They Think

#35

Post by sheepmullet »

FranzFerdiNaN wrote: post #22
oh-kumudo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I see no problem with that. Why would being liberal mean to support extreme leftist regulatory policy here? Why would we consider, letting those government officials, who may not have the expertise understanding the subject at hand, in this case technology, dictate how business should run and put harness on it, as part of the package of being liberal?

Corporations have proven these past hundreds of years that they are completely unwilling to act in a way that is remotely moral or beneficial for the greater good. And yet people continue to go “no we should let them poison the earth for their profit! We should allow them to underpay people and let society pick up the difference! We should allow them to pay politicians to make rules that benefit them! Because rules a…

> completely unwilling to act in a way that is remotely moral or beneficial for the greater good.

So have many governments.

Even well intentioned regulations have unintended side effects.

Re: New Study Indicates Silicon Valley’s Elite Are Not as Liberal as They Think

#36

Post by strken »

CPLX wrote: post #29

If course not. It shouldn’t be a secret that the most fundamental political division of modern times is between labor and caapital, and that Silicon Valley culture is squarely on the side of capital.

The framing of the conflict as being labor vs capital rests on the assumption that the economy is at Pareto optimality. The tech industry's narrative is the opposite: it assumes that there are still inefficiencies which can be removed, to the eventual mutual benefit of both capital AND labor.

I think what's happening is somewhere between the two extremes: the pie is still getting larger, but labor's slice of the pie is diminishing at such a rate that it's barely growing at all.

Re: New Study Indicates Silicon Valley’s Elite Are Not as Liberal as They Think

#37

Post by fzeroracer »

isoskeles wrote: post #12
fzeroracer wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I haven't worked in SV yet, my experience across the tech sector has been somewhat similar. Developers tend to be socially liberal in a few areas but strongly conservative when it comes to issues of regulation, taxation and so forth. A lot of that is I believe because they tend to come from upper-middle class families or relatively more stable upbringings. It can make discussing some of the various social issue…

I don’t know how to write this without being too defensive, but the place where you think other peoples’ opinions come from seems incorrect and is borderline insulting, mainly bringing them down to prop yourself up. Maybe it’s not your intent.

If you find something as benign as me bringing up my anecdotal experiences so far 'borderline insulting', then you remind me a lot of my coworkers I've had to deal with in the past.

Bringing up my past and my opinions was enough to get them riled up because they simply could not understand where I came from or the things I had to deal with due to poverty. I don't know how else you think I should explain this other than the fact that we had two very different circumstances growing up.

Re: New Study Indicates Silicon Valley’s Elite Are Not as Liberal as They Think

#38

Post by verbify »

isoskeles wrote: post #19
jhowell wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's insulting about saying someone from a middle class background (presumably in the United States) is "not as familiar with the depths of extreme poverty or working class families as I am." To me, this sounds like a shared opinion based on personal experience.

It was said in a different direction. People who hold political opinion X must be from this background because they don’t understand the issue like I do. I’m from a working class background and arrived at a different conclusion in my own experience. But I get lumped in with people raised upper middle class just because I couldn’t possibly have such opinions. Granted, this is why I try not to be defensive about it: wh…

OP wasn't talking about a working class background - they were talking about extreme poverty. There are obvious differences.

Can you confirm whether you grew up in an environment of extreme poverty?

Re: New Study Indicates Silicon Valley’s Elite Are Not as Liberal as They Think

#39

Post by oh-kumudo »

FranzFerdiNaN wrote: post #22
oh-kumudo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I see no problem with that. Why would being liberal mean to support extreme leftist regulatory policy here? Why would we consider, letting those government officials, who may not have the expertise understanding the subject at hand, in this case technology, dictate how business should run and put harness on it, as part of the package of being liberal?

Corporations have proven these past hundreds of years that they are completely unwilling to act in a way that is remotely moral or beneficial for the greater good. And yet people continue to go “no we should let them poison the earth for their profit! We should allow them to underpay people and let society pick up the difference! We should allow them to pay politicians to make rules that benefit them! Because rules a…

> remotely moral or beneficial for the greater good

You really couldn't find a worse time to defend the government caring about morality or greater good under current administration.

Re: New Study Indicates Silicon Valley’s Elite Are Not as Liberal as They Think

#40

Post by fzeroracer »

isoskeles wrote: post #19
jhowell wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's insulting about saying someone from a middle class background (presumably in the United States) is "not as familiar with the depths of extreme poverty or working class families as I am." To me, this sounds like a shared opinion based on personal experience.

It was said in a different direction. People who hold political opinion X must be from this background because they don’t understand the issue like I do. I’m from a working class background and arrived at a different conclusion in my own experience. But I get lumped in with people raised upper middle class just because I couldn’t possibly have such opinions. Granted, this is why I try not to be defensive about it: wh…

Can you define 'working class family'? Because for me, my definition of working class was living in deep poverty as the result of my family working an incredibly hard yet unrewarding career path that physically and mentally destroyed them.

As I bring up often, my parents were fishermen. They could hardly afford a home and hardly afford to put food on the table or the immense medical bills we were saddled with.

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