# Are tech companies really biased against conservatives? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 26, 2019, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095 "2019-06-26T14:02:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/81 "2019-07-09T20:14:30Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > And this bit is confusing: > > As it was already cited too, more than a few Republicans would be banned\* or affected a lot if the same algorithms that do ban ISIS followers would do the same to the radical race haters among the Republicans; and so, while they do have limits, they are still allowed to continue to spew their hate or at least to allow them to retweet their hatred. > > - Trump should already had been banned many times before, but it is thanks to politics that he gets a break. I don’t understand what you’re saying, so far as this thread is concerned. As far as whether my statement is confusing, you would need to reference my original megapost for the further description of how the mechanisms work. I don’t want to have to rewrite it. I’m happy to clarify if that doesn’t make it more clear, but you would have to be more clear about what is confusing you. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/82 "2019-07-09T20:33:40Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Okay, well that’s very specifically Hindus who are naturalized, rather than what we’re looking for which is H-1B workers, period. But sure let’s buy it. 100% of H-1B tech workers are Democrats. > > Can you go further than that? This isn’t the Holocaust. No, what you did there was a straw man. I did not say 100%, ‘just’ a super majority. > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > You don’t disprove it by demonstrating that Anne Frank’s diary was edited after the fact. It doesn’t really matter whether you find one niggling bit where you’re dissatisfied, you have to actually demonstrate a when a how and a why. And I did. > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > And note that even accepting that 100% of H-1B are Democrats - whether that’s true itself or not - that’s still not motive. You don’t have a why, let alone a when nor a how. The point that you miss is still the same, you need to stop using such wide brushes. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/83 "2019-07-09T20:45:18Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I don’t think there’s much more to it than that tech companies are generally comprised of young urban people, who by their very demographic nature tend to trend liberal. I’ll note that technology workers don’t necessarily trend liberal- I’ve met as many arch-conservative tech types as I have super-liberal ones in my 20 years in the industry. But most of that is in corporate IT- young urban people don’t comprise the majority of the corporate IT workforce like they do at tech-specific companies. There’s also a certain degree of self-selection going on I suspect- young people of a certain bent are attracted to that industry because of the culture, including a certain liberalism. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/84 "2019-07-09T20:52:03Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > No, what you did there was a straw man. I did not say 100%, ‘just’ a super majority. No, I’m not saying that you said it, **I’m saying it**. It doesn’t matter whether it’s 0%, 100%, or somewhere in-between. But we can sit here all day trying to come to a concensus on which data to use or spare the time by asking, “Does this actually matter in any real way?” So let’s assume the worst case. 100% of H-1B visa workers and white workers and everyone else who works at a tech company is a Democrat. Does that matter at all? > [@](#): > > And I did. Which post? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/85 "2019-07-09T22:59:29Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > No, I’m not saying that you said it, **I’m saying it**. It doesn’t matter whether it’s 0%, 100%, or somewhere in-between. But we can sit here all day trying to come to a concensus on which data to use or spare the time by asking, “Does this actually matter in any real way?” So let’s assume the worst case. 100% of H-1B visa workers and white workers and everyone else who works at a tech company is a Democrat. Does that matter at all? It matters that I’m **not** such an absolutist that does nuanced arguments, it is a very sad attitude to have if one does not take nuance into account, like when one sees an argument declaring that overall Asians are not involved in American politics? > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Which post? The post that you did acknowledge that I did and the one that showed that indeed there is data to show that elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/86 "2019-07-10T01:57:05Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > It matters that I’m **not** such an absolutist that does nuanced arguments, it is a very sad attitude to have if one does not take nuance into account, like when one sees an argument declaring that overall Asians are not involved in American politics? I said that, overall, H-1B visa workers are not and have little reason to be. H-1B worker, Asian American, and Hindu American are not synonymous terms. You have successfully provided a cite that devout Hindu Americans lean left which, while that is an interesting factoid, it’s irrelevant to the topic. The developers at Facebook are not devout Hindu Americans. Only a small percentage of all H-1B workers are Hindu and only a small percentage of those will ever try to become an American, and only a percentage of those will be accepted. None of which can even reasonably be taken to imply that they’ll be devoutly political years prior to trying to become a citizen. But, as said in my original post, most H-1B workers are disinterested in American politics, have little reason to care, have a professional duty to not let their personal politics interfere, and would be hard put to let it interfere even if they wanted to. Now if you’re purely curious about whether it is factual that H-1B workers are politically disinterested in American politics then, by all means ask for a cite and I’ll try to provide one beyond my personal experience having known several dozen people in that category but, as said, if your argument is that data about Hindu Americans proves my statement wrong then you’re missing the fact that there’s a difference between someone who is planning to go back to India and China and someone who is a citizen of the United States of America. I have no idea why you would think that one group implies anything about the other. > [@](#): > > The post that you did acknowledge that I did and the one that showed that indeed there is data to show that elsewhere. I asked if you had an argument that it matters somehow what the politics are of the developers. I see no such argument in that post. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/87 "2019-07-10T03:03:04Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I asked if you had an argument that it matters somehow what the politics are of the developers. I see no such argument in that post. Please see post #76 to see how clueless you are now. I was only saying that you did indeed refer to all Hindus and Chinese in your sweeping generalizations of your post #23, indeed, not just H-1B visa recipients. That you want to just talk **now** just about H-1B visa is not the reason why I pointed at your post that exuded ignorance. Now as I also pointed early, finding that most Asians are not amused with what Trump and henchmen are doing does not automatically translates into bias against conservatives in the companies that they work for, regardless if they are American now or H-1B visa recipients. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/88 "2019-07-10T03:10:08Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Please see post #76 to see how clueless you are now. I was only saying that you did indeed refer to all Hindus and Chinese in your sweeping generalizations of your post #23, that you want to just talk about H-1B visa is not the reason why I pointed at your post that exuded ignorance. It is fair to say that I did not make it explicit that I was talking, in that post, about H-1B visa holders. I presume that, when I wrote it, I believed that it was clear from context of post 21 that, that is who I was referring to. I do apologize if you were confused when you read it but I was intending my statement to only refer to H-1B visa holders not to any population of people outside of that batch. If I now clarify that the post was talking solely about H-1B visa holders, do you still have any complaint with my statement(s)? > [@](#): > > Now as I also pointed early, finding that most Asians are not amused with what Trump and henchmen are doing does not automatically translates into bias against conservatives in the companies that they work for, regardless if they are American now or H-1B visa recipients. This is true. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/89 "2019-07-10T03:18:42Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > It is fair to say that I did not make it explicit that I was talking, in that post, about H-1B visa holders. I presume that, when I wrote it, I believed that it was clear from context of post 21 that, that is who I was referring to. > > I do apologize if you were confused when you read it but I was intending my statement to only refer to H-1B visa holders not to any population of people outside of that batch. > > If I now clarify that the post was talking solely about H-1B visa holders, do you still have any complaint with my statement(s)? Almost none then, that was it, no hard feelings. > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > This is true. Cool then. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/90 "2019-07-10T04:31:50Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I’ll note that technology workers don’t necessarily trend liberal- I’ve met as many arch-conservative tech types as I have super-liberal ones in my 20 years in the industry. > > But most of that is in corporate IT- young urban people don’t comprise the majority of the corporate IT workforce like they do at tech-specific companies. > > There’s also a certain degree of self-selection going on I suspect- young people of a certain bent are attracted to that industry because of the culture, including a certain liberalism. Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter: [“…we have a lot of conservative-leaning folks in the company as well, and to be honest, they don’t feel safe to express their opinions at the company.”](https://www.vox.com/2018/9/14/17857486/twitter-jack-dorsey-nyu-jay-rosen-bias-neutrality-presence-politics-recode-media-podcast) The Damore case suggest why people with right-of-left (let alone conservative) views would be afraid to speak up; this, in turn, will necessarily lead to biases on the way a company acts. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/91 "2019-07-10T04:47:33Z")
Interesting reading here: [When asked if they could “truly bring their whole selves to work,” most right-leaning Silicon Valley employees emphatically said they were “hesitant” to be themselves at the office. A whopping 89 percent of very right-leaning workers and 74 percent of conservative employees agreed with the statement, “I am hesitant of being myself at work.” More than two-thirds (69 percent) of libertarians also agreed, as did half of moderates (50 percent). “Some of my colleagues will openly mock conservatives, assuming that everyone within earshot is liberal. Multiple times I’ve had to sit through cruel mockery of my home state while others nodded and laughed along," one conservative explained. Another recalled, “After the election, the head of a department made multiple insinuations we should fire employees who voted for Trump." Not even all Silicon Valley liberals found this atmosphere welcoming. More than a third of “liberal” employees (36 percent) said they hesitate to be themselves, and 30 percent of “very liberal” workers agreed. “The Senior VP of HR, in a company-wide meeting, described the fact that labor laws prohibit racial discrimination against white employees as ‘idiocy,'" one liberal employee recalled. Another said, “I witnessed repeated calls from managers and non-managers alike for people to be fired for the political views they expressed.”]([Survey: Widespread Fear Amongst Conservatives at Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple... – PJ Media](https://pjmedia.com/trending/survey-widespread-fear-amongst-conservatives-at-google-facebook-amazon-apple/)) Again, that type of culture will invariably lead to political biases on how a company is run at the front end. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/92 "2019-07-10T04:54:04Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I don’t know if that’s true - you would need to supply a cite - but it’s not particularly relevant if we’re talking about two different groups. Tech workers are generally not naturalized. What naturalized foreigners do is irrelevant. You don’t know the tech business, do you. TONS of H1-B IT workers come over here, end up staying and becoming American citizens. How they vote is every bit as relevant as their native born peers. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/93 "2019-07-10T04:57:43Z")
I dunno, in my experience, ‘hesitation to be myself’ on the part of Conservatives at work is because they’re racists, homophobes and have offensive ideas that they wouldn’t have any problem spewing out at random any other part of the day - because you know, Free Speech, but at work, they get in trouble for saying those things. I ended a friendship with a guy at my last job because he openly and loudly wished that someone would assassinate President Obama in front of about 40 people (outside of work). I’m sure he’d just claim that he had every right to say it and anyone offended can fuck off. But at work, he would get fired for that. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/94 "2019-07-10T05:08:49Z")
You would think that conservatives would be more open to considering the notion that perhaps conservatives are just psychologically ill-suited to working in the tech industry. After all, conservatives seem very willing to entertain the idea that when women and minorities are underrepresented in tech or find the industry uncongenial, it’s just because they’re psychologically ill-suited to it. But when conservatives themselves find the tech industry uncongenial, it must be because the mean old liberals are unfairly discriminating against and harassing them. Uh-huh. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/95 "2019-07-10T05:14:28Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I dunno, in my experience, ‘hesitation to be myself’ on the part of Conservatives at work is because they’re racists, homophobes and have offensive ideas that they wouldn’t have any problem spewing out at random any other part of the day - because you know, Free Speech, but at work, they get in trouble for saying those things. > > I ended a friendship with a guy at my last job because he openly and loudly wished that someone would assassinate President Obama in front of about 40 people (outside of work). I’m sure he’d just claim that he had every right to say it and anyone offended can fuck off. But at work, he would get fired for that. The argument "I]there’s no bias against conservatives because [insert negative stereotype of conservative here]\* is not very compelling, it actually seems self defeating. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/96 "2019-07-10T05:21:22Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > You don’t know the tech business, do you. TONS of H1-B IT workers come over here, end up staying and becoming American citizens. How they vote is every bit as relevant as their native born peers. [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21722240&postcount=51](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21722240&postcount=51) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/97 "2019-07-10T05:29:19Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter: > > [“…we have a lot of conservative-leaning folks in the company as well, and to be honest, they don’t feel safe to express their opinions at the company.”](https://www.vox.com/2018/9/14/17857486/twitter-jack-dorsey-nyu-jay-rosen-bias-neutrality-presence-politics-recode-media-podcast) > > The Damore case suggest why people with right-of-left (let alone conservative) views would be afraid to speak up; this, in turn, will necessarily lead to biases on the way a company acts. > [@Ale](#): > > Interesting reading here: > > [When asked if they could “truly bring their whole selves to work,” most right-leaning Silicon Valley employees emphatically said they were “hesitant” to be themselves at the office. A whopping 89 percent of very right-leaning workers and 74 percent of conservative employees agreed with the statement, “I am hesitant of being myself at work.” More than two-thirds (69 percent) of libertarians also agreed, as did half of moderates (50 percent). > > “Some of my colleagues will openly mock conservatives, assuming that everyone within earshot is liberal. Multiple times I’ve had to sit through cruel mockery of my home state while others nodded and laughed along," one conservative explained. Another recalled, “After the election, the head of a department made multiple insinuations we should fire employees who voted for Trump." > > Not even all Silicon Valley liberals found this atmosphere welcoming. More than a third of “liberal” employees (36 percent) said they hesitate to be themselves, and 30 percent of “very liberal” workers agreed. > > “The Senior VP of HR, in a company-wide meeting, described the fact that labor laws prohibit racial discrimination against white employees as ‘idiocy,'" one liberal employee recalled. Another said, “I witnessed repeated calls from managers and non-managers alike for people to be fired for the political views they expressed.”]([https://pjmedia.com/trending/survey-widespread-fear-amongst-conservatives-at-google-facebook-amazon-apple/](https://pjmedia.com/trending/survey-widespread-fear-amongst-conservatives-at-google-facebook-amazon-apple/)) > > Again, that type of culture will invariably lead to political biases on how a company is run at the front end. To be fair, politics isn’t really a proper part of work, no matter where you work (excluding a political PAC, etc.) If people are bringing their politics into the office, at any office, they should get shot down for it, tech worker, police officer, or garbage man be as it may. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/98 "2019-07-10T05:29:52Z")
> [@Boycott](#): > > […]a lot of foreign nationals work there it is likely they are personally against policies that target people like them. The battle over the H1B Visa for example. It should also be noted that foreign nationals are generally not going to align well with Conservatism in the US because US Conservatism is something of a strange beast by international standards. A mix of religiosity, hawkishness, pro-gun, anti-abortion and being _socially_ conservative but actually quite radical in other ways. (And I’m leaving out the worst stuff because I don’t want to start a fight and hijack the thread). On the Dope and elsewhere, “Conservatives” and “Liberals” are often assumed to be the yin and yang of the political debate; the obvious two sides that a person may take. It’s worth noting how weird the GOP looks to most people outside the US. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/99 "2019-07-10T05:44:00Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > The argument "I]there’s no bias against conservatives because [insert negative stereotype of conservative here]\* is not very compelling, it actually seems self defeating. :dubious: Yet James Damore’s fundamentally similar argument _“bias against women is comparatively unimportant because [insert negative stereotype of women here]”_ was enthusiastically embraced as a reasonable and defensible position by many conservatives. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095/100 "2019-07-10T05:51:00Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Interesting reading here: Pajamas Media… oh you mean the ones that treated their past contributors like dirt, and the ones that remain are guys like Steven Crowder? > **[Steven Crowder](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Steven_Crowder#Lies)** > > Steven Blake "Cold Feet" Crowder (1987–) is a professional asshole and self-described comedian who supports conservative and libertarian views. Crowder is prominent in the conservative establishment: he previously worked for Fox News,\[2\] wrote for... > [@Ale](#): > > Again, that type of culture will invariably lead to political biases on how a company is run at the front end. Not impressed when the article cited was once again framed with the James Damore firing. The survey showed also that moderates pointed out that their ideological views sometimes (51%) felt that their ideological views were at odds with the companies. While being definitely at odds (Yes) or not at odds was the same, 21%. That IMHO matches with what it has been observed, a lot of what has been happening is an acceleration or hardening of the right wing and its media, and into territory that does also includes a dislike of diversity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tech-companies-really-biased-against-conservatives/836095.md?page=6)