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Ask HN: Is it unwise to post conservative opinions as a tech worker?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it unwise to post conservative opinions as a tech worker?

#41

Post by anonreeeeplor »

I honestly feel the culture has gotten far better. Five years ago, the culture in software was unbelievably shrill, immature, politically naive, self centered.

It was like being immersed in a dunk tank of elementary school children but most of them had college degrees yet no common sense or world wisdom.

If you organized an event which was “insufficiently diverse” they would gang up on you on twitter and lynch you publicly.

I truly feel the shrillness has eased off. I think as people got older, and the political landscape changed I see a lot less of it.

I feel a lot more comfortable having based opinions publicly, the army of children seem to be much quieter now.

Before - the fear was palpable. I didn’t feel comfortable following conservatives because morons on twitter would literally comb through your likes and follows and “out you” for not being liberal.

It was so unbelievably childish and pervasive that you could literally feel it.

I think it’s nowhere near as bad as it used to be. I remember just how bad it was, especially in 2016. I think it became a parody of itself during the trump administration and my hope is a lot of people grew out of it.

Re: Ask HN: Is it unwise to post conservative opinions as a tech worker?

#42

Post by sasattack »

filecounter wrote: post #40
jdmtheNth wrote: post #27

Conservative opinions are unwelcome in most places now. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/evidence-c... https://archive.is/I7xFz https://www.realcleareducation.com/speech/ https://archive.is/b5UII

Wow. I didn't realize it has gotten that bad out there. Well, after reading those at least now I don't feel so alone in my self censorship. Thankyou

God I wish conservatives actually self censored. This thread is hilarious . It's still illegal to hold office as a Communist in most States but yeah totally it's getting hard to be a conservative in this conservative right wing nation

Re: Ask HN: Is it unwise to post conservative opinions as a tech worker?

#43

Post by sasattack »

Conservative: I have been censored for my conservative views

Me: Holy shit! You were censored for wanting lower taxes?

Con: LOL no...no not those views

Me: So....deregulation?

Con: Haha no not those views either

Me: Which views, exactly?

Con: Oh, you know the ones

Re: Ask HN: Is it unwise to post conservative opinions as a tech worker?

#44

Post by wereallterrrist »

sasattack wrote: post #43

Conservative: I have been censored for my conservative views Me: Holy shit! You were censored for wanting lower taxes? Con: LOL no...no not those views Me: So....deregulation? Con: Haha no not those views either Me: Which views, exactly? Con: Oh, you know the ones

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: Is it unwise to post conservative opinions as a tech worker?

#45

Post by sasattack »

wereallterrrist wrote: post #44
sasattack wrote: post #43

Conservative: I have been censored for my conservative views Me: Holy shit! You were censored for wanting lower taxes? Con: LOL no...no not those views Me: So....deregulation? Con: Haha no not those views either Me: Which views, exactly? Con: Oh, you know the ones

[flagged]

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: Is it unwise to post conservative opinions as a tech worker?

#46

Post by throwawayacc6 »

anonreeeeplor wrote: post #41

I honestly feel the culture has gotten far better. Five years ago, the culture in software was unbelievably shrill, immature, politically naive, self centered. It was like being immersed in a dunk tank of elementary school children but most of them had college degrees yet no common sense or world wisdom. If you organized an event which was “insufficiently diverse” they would gang up on you on twitter and lynch you pu…

Are you me? Do we work at the same company?! The palpable fear and walking on eggshells as you described perfectly mirrors my own experience. It was so "unbelievably childish and pervasive". Sometimes I felt like the only sane person, alone on an island.

Again mirroring your experience, it’s nowhere near as bad as it used to be. My opinion is this decline is tied to "once it can be named, it can be damned." Once people started calling out "wokeness" and laughing, general online leftism lost some of its power. Things as simple as retorting with "CURRENT THING, pronouns in profile" with a laughing emoji have proven powerful on Twitter. You can also see the visceral reaction from being called out. The only ones hurt by using the word "woke" are those who are "woke" themselves. It's an easily identifiable defense mechanism.

Re: Ask HN: Is it unwise to post conservative opinions as a tech worker?

#47

Post by filecounter »

rchaud wrote: post #24

What has the higher probability right now, getting laid off due to macro conditions in the tech sector.....or getting laid off due to your political opinions? > I used to identify with the left but now I lean conservative Elon Musk claims this too, but posts all kinds of nonsense. He can get away with it, you can't. Assuming that you are a sane user of the internet however, you should be alright.

Can I get away with 'liking' his nonsense tweets though?

Re: Ask HN: Is it unwise to post conservative opinions as a tech worker?

#48

Post by rbanffy »

rbanffy wrote: post #17
tomcam wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’ll need to cite the careless opinion. I read his email and it seemed very well intentioned and carefully thought out.

It seems I need to re-read it.

After re-reading it[1], I stand by my previous statements. D'Amore's own political biases show through almost everywhere. One example is that the gender differences in psychology overplay the characteristics more often observed in women and contrasts them with fitness for leadership. The differences in the Machiavellianism scale alone would suggest that an organization should prioritize the promotion of women to positions of leadership over men, based on observation of an increased tendency of men to act egotistically rather than morally[2].

[1] https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/3914586/Googles-Ideol...

[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780121744502/studies-in-...

Re: Ask HN: Is it unwise to post conservative opinions as a tech worker?

#49

Post by rbanffy »

nashashmi wrote: post #23
rbanffy wrote: post #6

I think we should. Politics is everywhere - it is how we organize our command chains and direct our collective action towards a set of goals. While corporations are rarely democracies, there is still politics in the sense that all the commands are the result of negotiations between the parts, in which each one informs the other about what's required and what are the possible outcomes. There is, however, a tendency to…

The writer for the google manifesto did not embark on a conservative topic but it became a conservatives pov after his publishing. I frankly think he was misunderstood by everyone, both right and left sides. I think he was being more intellectual than emotional. And that is the problem here: politics is more about emotions than intellect. And participating in it means you have to be emotionally intelligent. So don’t…

He classifies himself as "a classical liberal and strongly value individualism and reason", which would land him on the political right. He also claims Google is ideologically left-leaning and that this bias harms the company and needs adjustment.

> And participating in it means you have to be emotionally intelligent.

Not necessarily, but a certain amount of tact is always required to live in society.

> So don’t be involved until you’re emotionally intuned with your colleagues.

One expedient I use myself (as someone who is blind to a number of social cues most people can immediately identify) is to make people aware of that. People are often understanding if you give them the chance.

Re: Ask HN: Is it unwise to post conservative opinions as a tech worker?

#50

Post by tomcam »

rbanffy wrote: post #48
rbanffy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems I need to re-read it.

After re-reading it[1], I stand by my previous statements. D'Amore's own political biases show through almost everywhere. One example is that the gender differences in psychology overplay the characteristics more often observed in women and contrasts them with fitness for leadership. The differences in the Machiavellianism scale alone would suggest that an organization should prioritize the promotion of women to posi…

Thanks. I'll need to study up myself.
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