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

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

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

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.

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

#32

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…

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.

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

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It takes a very selective reading of the facts to claim conservatives are any more anti science than liberals, in the US. Whatever hot button issue there is, there will be people who deny whatever the scientific consensus is if it doesn't suit their beliefs. The question is, who would you rather have running things? The guy that thought humans were riding dinosaurs 5000 years ago, or the guy who thinks paying 40 mill…

Any of your four opinions is enough to get you fired if espoused publicly at any FAANG today.

> The guy that thought humans were riding dinosaurs 5000 years ago, or the guy who thinks paying 40 million people not to work is going to boost the economy?

I'll say that the number of people who truly believe that first opinion is vanishingly small and I'm not awfully worried about it impacting their current policy making.

Your opinion on abortion is spot-on.

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

#34
post #13

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" a…

Moving the opposite direction, just discovered west coast social justice issues. Jesus christ.

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.

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

#35
post #15
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Ideally a law where a person can't be fired because they have offensive political beliefs or opinions, I like tenure in universities

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.

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

#36
post #6

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 thing…

> 20% is to not have any opinions

Unfortunately, in much of FAANG today, this isn't enough. If you're not openly a progressive you're assumed to be slightly to the right of stalin.

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

#37
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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 m…

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

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

#40
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.
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