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posted by on Thursday April 09 2015, @09:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the shhh-don't-tell-anybody dept.

National Journal's Rebecca Nelson reports about the Republicans lurking in the shadows of the Bay Area:

Deep in Silicon Valley, where the free market reigns and the exchange of ideas is celebrated, a subset of tech workers are hiding their true selves.

They're the tech company employees, startup founders, and CEOs who vote for and donate to Republican candidates, bucking the Bay Area's liberal supremacy. Fearing the repercussions of associating with a much-maligned minority, they keep their political views fiercely hidden.

The consequences for being outed for conservative views can be dire. In a highly public controversy last year, newly-hired Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich stepped down after critics attacked his 2008 donation to support Proposition 8, the anti-same-sex marriage law in California. Eich, who declined to comment for this story, faced an internal uprising from within the Mozilla community, as well as boycotts from other tech companies, and quit after just two weeks on the job.

 
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by q.kontinuum on Thursday April 09 2015, @11:25AM

    by q.kontinuum (532) on Thursday April 09 2015, @11:25AM (#168274) Journal

    either there are problems with your views or there are problems with the workplace. It was not the expressing /per se/ that is the problem.

    I disagree. It is well possible to work productively with colleagues having fundamentally different world-views than me. What matters is the work performance. If we start discussing our world-views, even if we are mature about it, it is a distraction, and especially if we take our views serious, it will be very hard to blend them out in future encounters. The distraction is not caused by the different world views /per se/, but by bringing these differences into focus. We are all humans, and we are - however mature we consider ourselves - prone to distractions. Personally, I think I can handle most world views with tolerance, but there might be exceptions.

    Of course you could argue that working with colleagues with different world views should be considered a problem, but that would complicate the job-search immensely because one has to discuss all possible work-unrelated topics prior to accepting a job offer. Considering two groups, one acting that way, another focusing on work-related topics only, I'm convinced the latter would win in a competition.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by FatPhil on Thursday April 09 2015, @12:34PM

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday April 09 2015, @12:34PM (#168292) Homepage
    It is well possible to work productively with colleagues having fundamentally different music tastes than me. What matters, as you say, is work performance. If we start discussing our music tastes, even if we are mature about it, it /is/ a distraction, especially if we take music seriously.

    I do. I'm, in imprecise terms, a metaller, and I sneer at the inanity of modern dance music. So if music comes up in the work place, and a workmate owns up to liking such music and going out clubbing, and thinking that metal is stupid noisy shit, which is mostly true, then will it be hard to blend that out in future encounters?

    Why should politics be any different from music?
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by q.kontinuum on Thursday April 09 2015, @12:57PM

      by q.kontinuum (532) on Thursday April 09 2015, @12:57PM (#168298) Journal

      I guess this could be generalized to all topics outside work scope and beyond small-talk. I would usually consider it OK to probe a bit in any topic, and if we are in agreement we can meet for a coffee and a social circlejerk, or even some exchange of information and new aspects. Maybe, if the differences are manageable, there can even be a valuable and fruitful discussion, but any not work-related heated argument imo has to be kept out of work.

      --
      Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
    • (Score: 2) by khedoros on Friday April 10 2015, @12:41AM

      by khedoros (2921) on Friday April 10 2015, @12:41AM (#168562)

      Why should politics be any different from music?

      I think that generally, most people have stronger feelings about politics than they do about music. Political parties pander to specific worldviews, and most people latch onto the message that resonates the most with them emotionally. Political decisions can effect massive changes in the world around us. Music is music. Metal is one of my favorite families of music, but what does that say about how I view the world? I think that it says a lot less than if I was making rabidly pro-Socialism or staunchly Tea Party Republican comments at work. To me, my choice of music is like my choice of clothing colors. My wearing a green shirt doesn't imply that I think the blue shirt you're wearing is wrong. Metal doesn't imply that bluegrass is wrong. It's a much stronger statement to identify as a registered Democrat or a capital-A Atheist than as a fan of electronic dance music.

    • (Score: 2) by arslan on Friday April 10 2015, @02:49AM

      by arslan (3462) on Friday April 10 2015, @02:49AM (#168609)

      Because politics and religion, in general, has a higher degree of attachment to people than music. My encounter with people whose affinity with music is so strong that their opinion on it can potentially create conflict at the workplace is much much smaller than say politics and religion. Anecdotal of course.

      Not everything falls under the same bucket. Some non-work stuff are suitable for pantry talk, some are not.

      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday April 13 2015, @07:07PM

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday April 13 2015, @07:07PM (#169919) Homepage
        > politics and religion, in general, has a higher degree of attachment to people than music

        Bumper stickers, tattoos - which do you consider more permanent?
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves