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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’

#451

Post by andybak »

dang wrote: post #69
oriolid wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flagged and killed? I just got here through front page. I know you like being a victim, but you are not.

This comment breaks the site guideline which asks: "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize." At the time the parent was posted, it was flagged off the front page. Worse, of course, is the personal attack. We ban accounts that do that, so please don't do it again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Thanks. I was slightly taken aback by that response. Especially because I'm probably not the straw man that the comment was directed at.

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

#452

Post by manfredo »

WaxProlix wrote: post #423
manfredo wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, not at all. Being tolerant of political views means accepting political views from a broad spectrum. This is being co-opted by some to reframe tolerance as being actively intolerant towards disliked views. The latter is intolerance attempting to disguise itself as tolerance. There is no tolerance paradox. For example, people's ability to advocate for the repeal of the 1st Amendment is protected by the 1st Amendme…

Do you draw the line anywhere? Like, planning murder is illegal right? Openly advocating the destruction of life and property are illegal - why would calling them a political belief change that? Certainly some actions aren't viable political beliefs, no?

Sure, if somebody is conspiring to commit a crime that isn't protected by the principles of political tolerance (or the law for that matter).

However, the fact that people even think to place tolerance of conservative views on the same level as planning homicide is ridiculous. Advocating that country raise the minimum salary for H1Bs, wearing a Trump hat (when your co-workers are wearing Hilary gear), advocating for stronger border enforcement, etc. are nowhere near the levels of abject illegality as plotting a murder. The notion that these are even comparable is testament to how much of an echo chamber tech in Silicon Valley has become.

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

#453

Post by dictum »

mlloyd wrote: post #364
ericd wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe those two things aren't everyone's top concerns, especially if they're struggling with the lower levels of Maslow's hierarchy, as many people in less prosperous parts of the country seem to be. But even if you're well fed and feel secure in your future economic prospects, not caring very much about racism and sexism doesn't make you racist or sexist. It seems to me that most Republicans just don't care about…

Or people need to understand that when you associate with bigots you'll be labeled as such and whatever granular point you're trying to make gets lost behind that larger point.

Both of you are speaking of granular points that ultimately lose to immediate, local concerns. One side says some variant of bigots, the other some variant of coastal elites.

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

#454

Post by rsp1984 »

birken wrote: post #342
manfredo wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work in the Bay Area and I have personally worked with (as in, on the same team with and working directly in cooperation. CEOs, founders, etc. are not included in this count), exactly one person who discussed their conservative views. This is in comparison to hundreds of liberals. Sure, you may be able to identify at least one person on variety of ends of the political spectrum, but I don't think anyone can sanely…

Just to counter this anecdata, the startup I used to work at was founded by 4 conservatives, 2 of whom met working in the George W Bush White House. We used to discuss and debate all sorts of politic topics, and in fact I was quite often in the minority (a position that didn't bother me... it was a good way to learn different perspective on some key issues). They were then and I'm sure still now are quite openly cons…

Can you share the name of the company? Jeb mentions something like "dub tag" but that's apparently not it.

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

#455

Post by kelukelugames »

puppetmaster40 wrote: post #388

I agree with people that say that SV is an echo chamber. I'm software eng., and found it very hard for a year before election to work there. Happy to explain if someone cares to know. It is a bit hard when people on left were told: 'you are smart to vote left' - they just talk down to me. I'll give you one example, on TV, they had a right wing person getting egged - I'm sure most here saw the news/video. And I had fr…

You don't think conservatives treat liberals poorly? Go on r/atheism and see all the complaints about living in a red state.

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

#456

Post by rayiner »

friedman23 wrote: post #158
gameswithgo wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea what SF is like, so in these discussions I never can tell if there really is an influx of insane, insufferable far left crazies, or if people who insist on remaining racist and keeping gays in the closet are mad that nobody is having that anymore. The latter is what I see in my own circle of humans but I live in Texas. I can say though that I've moved further to the left as I've gotten older, from a li…

> I have no idea what SF is like, so in these discussions I never can tell if there really is an influx of insane, insufferable far left crazies I'm not a Trump supporter by any means but I remember clearly the morning after the election and seeing people walking through the street in SF on their way to work in tears. If that doesn't point to a presence of insane, insufferable far left (or at least leftist) crazies I…

I saw lots of people with tears here in D.C. after Trump got elected. Many were to the right of me, including my George W. Bush-voting Republican wife.

It's not leftism so much as people who are committed to political orthodoxy versus people who don't care about it. Trump eschewed political orthodoxy, and still got elected, and that was very scary for a lot of people. (In contrast, I lean left, but come from a country where bombs go off after one side loses an election, so I found it very hard to get worked up about Trump.)

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

#457

Post by rsp1984 »

andybak wrote: post #412
freyir wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm 37 and, God, people treat me like I'm a dinosaur. I've been programming C for 25 years Exit out of vim, fire up Visual Studio Code, and start writing some Javascript. At this point, the 20-somethings will hoist your chair atop their shoulders and carry you around the office chanting your name.

> Visual Studio Code Surely Atom would be a better "typical hipster editor"?

It's whichever sucks more 100s of MBs of memory for putting a text file on screen.

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

#458

Post by viburnum »

nodesocket wrote: post #15

I recently moved (fled) from downtown San Francisco to Nashville TN and couldn't be happier. I lived in SF for over 5 years, and there is absolutely a mass exodus of people and engineers leaving the bay area because of extreme ideology, hypocrisy, constant outrage, and the echo chamber that engulfs everything. Downtown San Francisco is a great place to visit for a few days but no place to start and raise a family.

It's true, SF is terrible and everyone is leaving. That's what it's so cheap to live there.

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

#459

Post by Anobody »

unapprovedviews wrote: post #223
_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…

> libertarian/pro-gun friends have not been shy about their political views and it hasn't hurt their tech careers at all It's interesting that you specifically choose "libertarian". While maybe technically further to the right than Republican it truly seems supporting specifically Republican candidates is wholly furiously unacceptable in the bay area -- especially at tech companies. Try wearing a pin, t-shirt, hat, e…

This is my first time posting here just to say that I would literally do this as a dare while messed up on ketamine or a large quantity of vodka so I sound a little "off"

EDIT: Jokes aside, I simply do not talk about political affiliations with anyone, whatsoever. I have no problem having a little back and forth regarding an issue here or an issue there as well as discussing heavier subjects such as foreign policy. To be honest, I do find myself policing my language to not give away who I may or may not have voted for in the past every now and then.

I should probably note I live outside of the US and talking politics can really mess with everyday relationships. I made a decision to vote only on issues while trying to abstain from the whole "this is my sports team" mentality which sort of takes hold of people where I live.

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

#460

Post by hueving »

mlloyd wrote: post #260
downandout wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment is a perfect example of the Valley's intense hatred of any remotely conservative viewpoint that the article is referring to. People have all kinds of reasons for voting for a particular candidate. It doesn't mean they endorse all of their actions or views. In this last election, I suspect that many Trump votes were made simply because they didn't like Hillary, and there were only two choices.

When you vote for a sexist and racist, don't be surprised when you're thought to be a sexist and racist. It's 2018, polite society has moved on from polite silence in the face of such backwards and discriminatory viewpoints. In a lot of circles anyway.

>When you vote for a sexist and racist, don't be surprised when you're thought to be a sexist and racist.

When you vote for someone who appears to be corrupt, don't be surprised when you're thought to be corrupt.

When you vote for someone who appears to be rich, don't be surprised when you're thought to be rich.

When you vote for someone who appears to take a lot of money from Saudi Arabia, don't be surprised when you're thought to take a lot of money from Saudi Arabia.

Are you starting to see how childish that logic is?

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