Google routinely funds the campaigns of far right US politicians and pays lip service to social justice issues. The latter has historically been sufficient to appease the employees.
I pretty much agree. I big part of the reason why I personally like Google is because they, or at least a majority of their employees is actively progressive. Even if that’s just PR it’s still a nice counterweight to the mountains of companies who are just completely neutral or conservative culturally. At the same time, they and facebook facilitate the spread if right wing extremist ideology to some extent.
I was never a Google fan for my own reasons (non-political, nor ever wanted a job there). I was pleased when some people I know started rejecting their products, but took a while to realize it was for political reasons alone. Which isn’t good reason in my book, as a software developer.
I told them, if Google was left wing, they wouldn’t be union busting. They’re a for-profit enterprise that at best has temporarily mutually aligned self interests. Google would assist in the Holocaust just as IBM did. The only way I could be convinced they’re left wing is if they did the left wing things that matter most: distribute money and power by embracing organized labor. Until then, all the gay rights flags in the world cost Google nothing. And just to be clear, I support leftist causes, just tire of corporate lip service. I don’t see what so many of my right wing friends see in Google being a “SJW” enterprise.
It's not weird if you consider that Google's primary motive is to make their platform attractive to advertisers and first-party rightsholders, and thus maximize revenue, rather than to spread social justice activism. It's always been the case that left-wing, LGBT and other non-traditionally mainstream content is considered a greater risk for advertisers than right-wing content.
Imagine saying this with a straight face when “Google and most SV companies” became literally the largest donors of neoliberal lobbying in the US during the last 10 years (also, Europe).
Your worldview skews very right if you say that. While I respect you and your opinion, the framing of Google being ‘far-left’ is absolutely out of touch with reality. Sure, Google management tries to have a position in the US culture war but in the end they still work heavily with law enforcement and military and work strongly to suppress worker’s rights.
Google is a major media company now in that decisions they make about content influence political and social thought. That power leads to it becoming a target of politics and political activists.
Google doesn’t care about political views. Just what makes them the most money. Too much victimizing amongst some people. If Google was actually on the left or liberal why would they time me again do shady anti consumer/customer stuff with their ads and why did they collude with anti poaching? most people are apolitical or in the middle. Those people are who Google is appeasing. So Google is harsher with people to the extreme. Regardless of which side you’re on.
I'll throw out there that I am a Republican and I don't hate google, I don't hate it with a mindless passion and seeing red at the very mention of its name type of thing.
Honestly the more I am on HN the more I see that hating a company is pretty dumb, I work in a big org that big org has thousands of people making thousands of decisions, nobody has good information and half the people making decisions are incompetent or selfish, or both.
But Google, there are some things I like about it, they have some cool tech and based on what I've seen and heard the Google founders really were interested in making the world a better place to some extent. From a professional perspective I don't like them more lately because it seems like they've turned into Ballmer era M$ than a company interested in good tech and what not.
Now I don't agree with a lot of the vocal minority at Google that wants to turn everything into some sort of political issue and seems to have a blinding hatred of the very word Trump, but I also recognize that's probably a small vocal minority at the company, most of the people at Google are probably just regular people like me, who I might disagree with on politics but are still people, and most of them don't think that everyone who voted for Trump is a closet Neo Nazi that has Swastika hanging in their bedroom, and likewise I assume most of the people at Google aren't some sort of crazed SJW that believes that white people should be enslaved and men should all be denied the right to vote as some sort of mass justice.
My point which I admit wandered is that I think this typecasing of everyone who is X all hate Y or all worship Z is a problem that exceeds anything Trump, the SJWs, the Left the Oompa Loompas or anyone else in politics is doing. I am Republican I have strong opinions but I also recognize there are complicated issues to deal with and anyone who thinks they have the universal answer is either stupid, evil or both.
I admit I could be wrong though it could be that the entire world really is full mostly of people that want everyone who disagrees with them dead in a ditch and believes that they and their opinions are the one true solution to all problems, and are all justice looking to establish their own little totalitarian utopia, but maybe just maybe the majority of people in the world are mostly decent, reasonable, and are looking to do what they can to make the world a slightly better place.
One one hand, they expound the ideas of social justice and present themselves as a group that wants to make the world a better place, while undermining what they say they want to do by their actions.
Google is a great example of the ultra-liberal left, where they are just as racist and scummy as the ultra-conservative, but they wrap it in a veil of "we want to help you and make things better for you." it's a form of gas-lighting.
The lean into orwellian concepts under the guise of making the world a better place, when in reality it only makes it better for the people profiting from their technology. Google Loves LGBTQ, except when they're using YouTube to make a livelihood. In that case, Google fucks them.
It's employment of "do as I say, not as I do" or "the upper-class liberal that calls the cops on the black dude walking down their street but has a Black Lives Matter sign in their yard." This ain't just Google, they're just the example I'm talking about right now.
Wow, quite the Google PR piece. Certainly something aspirational.
Though it's unfortunate to see the outdated myth of Google being an apolitical meritocracy still being spread. These days Googlers certainly have their share of politics.
Google is a trillion dollar company and donates to lots of political causes all over the spectrum. We're talking about the internal politics which are clearly left-wing.
Capitalism and activism are a bad fit. The SJWs who shape Google's policies towards the so called alt-right/far-right will eventually turn against the company.
The likes of Tommy Robinson and Alex Jones will eventually have the last laugh.
I think it's beyond Left and Right. Google, like most companies and individuals, is self interested. When something benefits Google, they'll pursue it, regardless of where it falls on the ideological spectrum.
Unions? That's bad for business owners, so Google is against. Diversity? That increases the number of workers you can have, so Google is in favor of it. Immigration? Google's in favor, for the same reason. More taxes on tech companies? Google's against, etc.
This is great stuff and chance to see Google’s famous TGIFs. Also rare chance to hear Larry Page’s changed voice. It’s beyond shocking however that leaders of search engine business so openly preaching their political views. Given this is at the highest level, one cannot have confidence that things would remain bias free. I would have expected these leaders to make sure they keep their political views to themselves just to be fair to conservative employees who are ironically minority at Google.
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