Normal people are intolerant of conservatives because they attack other people. Conservatives attack gays, attack women for having abortions, attack Mexicans for coming to the United States, and attack black people for being upset that they are murdered by police. So, yes, us normal people do not tolerate conservatives. We stand against people who embrace a philosophy of attacking other people. If conservatives appeared on blogs and chat rooms to argue the merits of small government, or the merits of traditional conservative non-interventionist foreign policies, us normal people would not attack them. We would not shut them down. Conservatives are mad because we don't quietly allow them open forum to attack other people. They are correct. We don't. We will not. When they attack gay people, we'll shut them down. When they attack Black Lives Matter, we'll shut them down. Those of us who'd rather just go about our own business will, nonetheless, be offended and take action against people who pick on gays, minorities, immigrants, and women who have abortions. You are correct. We'll try to silence you. Get used to it.
84
Facebook never had it never will
4
There were the Republicans of the Nixon, Reagan and Bush Era's, who made it impossible for bipartisan negotiation, especially the last Bush, but they were still respectable, rational people. Enter the Tea Party sect, leading to the utterly inane figurehead in office now who actually prefers and represents the interests of countries like Russia and North Korea vs. those of our own U.S. allies back through WW1. Now, a sect of FB workers band together because they support his current fascist ideology and they want a pat on the back for their efforts to unite and be heard?
22
Kudos to them for speaking up, as actively repressed minorities in California. People who do not live & work in Silicon Valley tech have NO IDEA how bad it really is:
Silicon Valley/San Francisco is the most intolerant place in the US right now. I have lived & worked in the downward spiral of SVBA Alt-Left bigotry/intolerance for two decades - the last two years have gotten unbearable in SV/SF which is why my immigrant wife and I are leaving. She is tired of being berated and denigrated as a woman for failing to embrace self-contradictory liberal ideology. Anyone who works here KNOWS that you will get sidelined or “fired” at Facebook, Google, and similar SV companies if they find out you empathize at all with non-Alt-Left agendas: convervative, libertarian, or even are simply a gun owner. Example: Facebook had big drama a few years ago over conference room names that implied gender or white-privilege, which created a hostile work place, and that’s when the insanity was just getting ramped up. People get pushed out today for simply having photos in a gun club, online.
My dark-brown, minority-female immigrant-wife and I are frequently cut off and called “racist” in discussions by white, non-immigrant liberals. I was attacked and punished by SJWs for creating an “unsafe work space” because of a fact-based tweet helping explaining cultural differences negotiating international contracts.
The anti-conservative comments here validate the toxic echo chamber in SVBA.
60
"Mr. Amerige proposed that Facebook employees debate their political ideas in the new group — one of tens of thousands of internal groups that cover a range of topics — adding that this debate would better equip the company to host a variety of viewpoints on its platform."
100 employees joined the group ... how many employees are there at fb?
It's great that the minority voices get a place to discuss their views, the rest of the world doesn't care. Have your meetings, discuss and propose changes, but don't think for a moment that you can bully or force your views on the world.
Do the hard work, argue your case to management and keep trying every time they tell you that won't be done.
What if 50 people raised a stink about child molestation being underrepresented on fb? Is 50 too few? Is that a taboo subject? How about 75 people wanting to have Satan worship and organizing human sacrifices... or maybe 150 people wanting the politics of genocide represented more widely?
The thing is Mr. Amerige, you are advocating for the same aggression you state comes form the other side. The difference is that your small group wants to master the majority of employees and commandeer the fb platform for your own unscrupulous agenda.
Atlas Shrugs again saying "Don't these people know it's just a book, not a political manifesto"
15
There are lots of different views on immigration, and wanting closed borders is a perfectly normal viewpoint. It's one I think is very wrong for a number of reasons, but there are rational reasons to support it. However, if you are worried about immigration and diversity, and link those two things together ... then maybe, just maybe, your problem is that your company doesn't tolerate openly expressed racism.
And if you are Randian, then you should know that Rand was an immigrant from Eastern Europe who was absolutely not a proponent of closed borders. Border control and tracking immigrants is bigger government than she wanted. An anti-immigrant Randian is both an oxymoron and, most likely, racist.
15
Generally speaking, those at FB wanting political diversity are already among the dominant political and cultural milieu. Me thinks they doth protest too much.
9
Like the country, Facebook eating itself alive. Of course, we need a country.
8
Another reason not to discuss politics at work.
27
FB is not a government organization. It is a private company, and the culture that emerges from it is just that, not something the government is imposing on you. So corporate culture is not a culture, usually conservative and authoritarian? Get a life.
11
I am still surprised that seemingly smart people don't understand the difference between the freedom to express ideas and the freedom from being criticized for expressing ideas. Whether you are attacking an idea as an "obe" or "ist" versus the person expressing it seems like a matter of semantics to me. Ideas are held by people and those ideas become policy through the actions of those people. For someone to who disagrees with those ideas, the person holding the ideas is the appropriate target of criticism. Civil Rights Activists and Freedom Riders did not beg for only their ideas to be attacked. Instead, they courted jail, beatings and killings to express their ideas. I suggest Amerige do the same. Take one on the chin if you hold your ideas sincerely and believe them to be of sufficient merit for the whole society to hear.
13
Let us agree that it is possible for both these things to be true: 1) 1) Trump is an inarticulate, boorish egoist who says stupid things like, "they better be careful" - as if he could overturn the 1st amendment.
2) The kingpins of social media are liberals whose political predilections manifest themselves in a variety of ways, including downgrading search results of conservative sites, and defining "hate speech" in a way that insulates Sarah Jeong from any opprobrium, but which condemns a baker who doesn't want to bake a cake for a gay couple as a bigot.
28
If the right-wing culture of Alex Jones and InfoWars is something that "conservatives" at Facebook are fighting to preserve, well, it shows there is a lot wrong with those people, wanting to traffic in conspiracy-based propaganda, and maybe begins to explain why Facebook was so open to helping the Russians fix the election for Trump.
13
Don’t quite understand these 100 FB employees’ objection to removing Alex Jones from their platform. Name me anyone on the left who outright lies and who promulgates egregious falsehoods, harmful to the United States as a whole. He is no different than the guy yelling “fire!” In a crowded theater.
19
Mark Zuckerberg apparently wasn't being honest in his Congressional testimony when asked if Palmer Luckey was let go if only partly because of his political leanings. It seems Mr. Amerige has shed some light where Zuckerberg prefers darkness.
12
Being blissfully unaware of the political bigotry at Facebook or the other platforms (If that is the right terminology) is the lot of an old Luddite. The speed at which these formats spread and the growth of the numbers of users in the first twenty years of the 2nd millennium will be amply recorded in history. People and politicians in particular are always wary of influences they can't control. The telephone, radio and rock-n-roll were all suspect.
What will happen when enough people and politicians start yammering about the evils of social media? Get yourself ready for the FWCC Mr. Zuckerberg. It will be like sorting out a bag of cats when outside forces attempt to breach the walls of Silicon Valley with regulatory catapults.
E-mail, printing, scanning and streaming are about as far as this Luddite is going. I will watch the assault from afar. Oh, and I still have in ground cable and a landline phone. Hardback dictionaries anybody?
1
to me, he's saying debate the idea, don't attack the person. but what a person chooses to say is most often part of their thought ideology. So make it a contribution to civil society, not a tear-down of hard-fought progress made to date.
and do it on your own time, not your employer's, please.
7
Many commenters here seem to suggest Facebook's intolerant (and no, I won't use quotes), view of other viewpoints is somehow related to Trump or Trumpism. I think this kind of reasoning misses the point. It is the left's intolerance of political viewpoints that led to the rise of Trump. Normal, average citizens, don't like to be told how to think or how to act...this is purely an invention of the left. To see some Facebook employees resist is priceless.
36
Maybe it's different at Facebook, though Zuckerberg's actions lead me to suspect it isn't, but in most every case, conservatives whining about liberal bias is tantamount to their complaining that there isn't sufficient pro-conservative bias to satisfy them. That's certainly the case in Trump vs. Google. I also suspect that the "liberal bias" complaint is most often leveled for strategic purposes. (Due to Trump's capriciousness and willingness to let others, particularly FOX "News," do his thinking for him, that probably isn't the case with Trump vs. Google.)
8
I'm confused as to what is the difference between liberal intolerance and expressing strong disagreement with a conservative view.
It seems to me that when I express liberal ideas in a conservative setting I'm ridiculed and told to have a seat just as quickly and discourteously.
I also don't see why any view has to be expressed in a way that is offensive to anyone at the workplace. In decades prior, intellectual debate was put on two-hour afternoon shows, and comedians were capable of making an audience laugh hysterically without using inappropriate language. Are people not capable of doing the same amount of due diligence to express themselves appropriately?
6
Here's the deal, folks. When a "service" is free, then YOU are the product.
Facebook makes money by getting eyeballs to look at the ads they post. The more eyeballs that look at the stuff they show, the better for them. They are not censoring anything. Posts just have to adhere to their terms of service, which Alex Jones did not.
It's funny how conservatives keep calling liberals "snowflakes" but I've never seen a whinier bunch than conservatives. Poor persecuted majority.
19
100 people out of thousands. Grow Up!
7
Conservatives/neo-Nazis/right-wingers, whatever you want to call them, have one thing in common: HATE, INTOLERANCE, and THE THREAT OF VIOLENCE, when they can't get their "viewpoint" across. They have over 400 years of history to prove it: from slavery, lynchings, segregation, racism, the U.S. Justice system, and the police!! Now, thanks to Trump's philosophy of 'Immoral Equivalence', they want their brand of Hate to be taken as merely another "viewpoint" being left out of the conversation. To believe this is to believe Hitler was misunderstood; and is a symptom of America's coming demise.
15
Call us when Fox "News" starts tolerating liberals.
19
Sliver? I believe it to be a little larger than that nyt. Who is the real bigot, the people who claim to be enlightened or the ones they point the accusatory finger at all the time?
6
I read the memo and sighed. Without particulars about "mobs" and "firings" how can I make any kind of judgement on this? The memo doesn't even mention or make an issue of Alex Jones, whose yanking off the platform I support wholeheartedly because I do not want to see conspiracy nonsense dressed up as truth on the platform. You want to say you hate black people? Fine. You're allowed to hate who or whatever you want, although you'll only have other haters as friends. You want to say Hillary Clinton is running a pedophilia ring out of the basement of a pizza parlor where, hilariously, there isn't even a basement? No.
The only issue I have with the memo is the bit about "Islam's human rights abuses." Islam is a religion. I don't think there's a religion out there, including Christianity, that has not engaged in human rights abuses through the centuries. Christians oppress women and homosexuals still. But, not all Christians or Muslims engage in human rights abuses.
We have many Muslims in this country who practice Islam without abusing anybody. Peaceably, without violence. Some have given their lives for this country, ask Kzir Khan, a gold star parent.
So, I'd be very careful with your blanket judgements and generalizations, Mr. Amerige. My sense is that you'd just like to get a "mob" of your own going because you're paranoid. That's the usual Ayn Rand devotee's personality--everybody is out to suck me dry and take my stuff away from me. Sad.
14
I think there may be a legal way to attack this problem.
Someone needs to make the case that the social media companies, in virtue of censoring certain voices, are acting like publishers. I believe this falls under the Communications Decency Act. If the court agreed, then the social media companies would either stop all censorship, or else open themselves up to lawsuits in the same way other publishers are liable when someone writes something libelous.
1
Attributing Palmer Luckey's departure from FB wholly to his right wing political views ignores something quite substantial: Facebook's losing a $500 million dollar case alleging that Oculus stole another company's IP. Is it not possible that FB's frustration with that legal finding and what it implied about the work and character of a person in whom it invested so deeply, factored into his departure? While I'm no fan of FB, the narrative shaped in this article seems overly simplistic.
2
Sadly, I think free speech is dead in America. Everyone has right to their own point of view whether you agree with it or not.
9
Why is acceptance and tolerance for others and a decision to stop providing a platform for a Sandy Hook denier who espouses violence seen as left leaning views? Does no one else object to Alex Jones' ugly, hate-filled vitriol?
14
I don’t understand how Captain Bone Spurs and his minions are upset with social media companies. No one has exploited them more to spread lies than Captain Bone Spurs. Captain Bone Spurs for 2020, unless you VOTE in November and in 2020.
5
I am socially liberal but fiscally conservative. My social liberal values and beliefs are stronger than my fiscal views. I thus am comfortable voting for either party depending on the candidate. I think the conservative view points should be given the same access. As a non white person, I am not comfortable with "conservative" posts that are bigoted and racist, as a libertarian I support their right to speak out. But I will certainly challenge those views in a rational way. It is better having those views out in the open rather than lead to violence against racial minorities, gays etc. I think we should learn to tolerate different view points. I subscribe to NYT, WaPo and WSJ and like to read diverse view points and diverse comments. Our world would be poorer if we only listened to the voices that are comfort our own beliefs.
9
May the day dawn in which FB, Twitter and GOOGL be characterized as a utility . . . where freedom of speech is celebrated . . . And, search engines provide reasonable fairness in results provided.
6
If anything, Facebook tolerates insane, racist, fascist, ignorant, obvious liars, spreading Trump/Russia generated propaganda, over my liberal opinions. I should know, my account has been blocked over ninety days in the past four months, because the pathetic "alt-right" can't stand being called exactly what they are by someone like me. - Captain Randall Stewart, USAF Senior Air Weapons Control Officer, 1979-86
11
Frightening that any thinking person would actually rely on FB drivel for their political info and analysis. That being said it is entertaining to hear whining from the party of the 1% when they are occasionally stymied in their attempt to spread malicious propaganda to the rest of us.
3
100 employees out of 25,000 think that FB is biased and trump wonders why 96% of the people and articles are negative towards him when he Googles himself, Ac-cums Razor would suggest that only 4% of the people approve of him and his actions.
2
Boo hoo hoo for those poor conservative victims! There are other places to work if you don't like it...
7
Sounds like a lot of whining by spoiled brats. They can always start their own form of FB. For Trump, this is just another shiny object to distract from his collusion problems.
13
Perhaps conservatives can start their own social network. ‘Fakebook’ can accept all manner of memes depicting Trump thin waisted, instead of thin skinned.
14
I’m sure that before too long, Democrats will claim that Congressional oversight hearings suppress speech.
7
Why do you keep referring to him as Mr. Trump? It's President Trump
6
@Deana Marr I also pointed out to someone how the media without fail refers to him as "President Trump". Not like during President Obama's 8 years in office, furing which he was routinely referred to as "Barak Obama" or just "Obama". The media hardly used the term "The President" for him as they routinely do for this one.
2
It takes a lot of nerve to advance a white-supremacist, chauvinist, straight, Christian theocratic, authoritarian, nativist culture, and then label others as intolerant.
10
Ideas we can promote and ideas we can supress...
And I thought the "culture" of Facebook was to get rich on the backs of consumers! How much more Trumpublican can you get?
3
Where can I get one of those MAGA hats?
2
There is no substitute for critical reading skills. No one can protect you, but it's not their job to, anyway. It's your job to learn how to read with your best critical faculties.
1
These conservative employees should ask for "safe spaces" to voice their opinions and they definitely should not be called "snowflakes".
2
Waaaahhh...the liberal company I work for is liberal
5
Brian Amerige, senior Facebook engineer: “We are a political monoculture that’s intolerant of different views. We claim to welcome all perspectives, but are quick to attack — often in mobs — anyone who presents a view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology.”
This is familiar. It smells like a deceitful whine from illiberal people.
"Political monoculture" is a straw man. Being "intolerant of different views" is entirely appropriate if those "different" views are inimical to the wellbeing of society -- which includes almost everything that sets Republicans apart. Similarly, "We claim to welcome all perspectives" is a straw man; as always, pace Mike Goodwin (of Goodwin's Law), the Nazis are instructive: they had a perspective included under "all" that is not welcome. It is structurally the same with much that defines Conservatives. "Quick to attack — often in mobs": this is both projection and a lie, and obviously so. There is a brazenness to Conservatives that should be given no quarter. "A view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology": by left-leaning ideology can only be meant what is good for society: general wellbeing. Views that are implicitly destructive, especially if they are malevolent -- which increasingly is what defines Conservatives -- should always face firm opposition.
Conservatives in 2018: whining mean-spirited people bent on ruining the lives of many.
10
When liberal shadow organizations overtake Facebook with fake ads/information supplied by Russian trolls then conservatives can complain about not being represented.
3
I see two separate issues here: the first, the belief of Facebook employees that articulating their personal, conservative views in the workplace and on the FB platform will harm their career or lead to them being ostracized at work; the second, the belief of those employees and some conservative commenters that Facebook is over-censoring conservative political posts.
The first issue, if true, was legitimate to raise and deserves to be addressed by Facebook as a company. Everyone else might benefit by considering if a similar problem might exist in our own workplaces and how it might be addressed.
The second issue, which concerns all FB users, raises the question of whether we think the site should just ban politically related posts altogether, or, whether we, as users, should consider very carefully exactly what memes, images, "news" stories etc. we are posting and exactly what message they convey. There is a difference between stating one's personal conservative or liberal political beliefs in one's own words and posting a link to someone else's work, especially if one hasn't carefully research its validity.
4
If you're a Democrat working in Oklahoma, and you find that everyone around you is a conservative quick to disagree, sometimes harshly, when you voice your liberal political opinions, do you have a complaint? Does your company have a political diversity problem because it hasn't hired enough liberal-minded employees?
If you post things online that are offensive to minorities, are you entitled to protection from the backlash in the marketplace of ideas? In the name of political diversity, should your company hire more people who will post racially offensive remarks?
Of course not. When others lodged complaints about such posts, they were told the group had not broken any company rules. Such intolerance! They have their little club, and the company seems fine with it. So what's the beef? That they should be a protected class?
4
Trump will decide the fate of the Masters of the Universe. He has the full support of reasonable American people.
The e-War hopefully won't be bloody, but there will be casualties. Everyone must decide which side of History they support.
Be aware that your personal data is available, ALL of it! And YOU gave it freely.
2
Good for them for standing up to oppression and suppression! Now that is courageous.
5
Liberalism is "intolerant"???
The very nature of being Liberal is to open oneself to other ideas and thoughts; to posit that it is intolerant is akin to saying the moon is the sun.
I'd be more impressed if those involved would stand up and confront Facebook on it's selling of customer's data for profit.
7
Appreciate this article. Facebook should not be Big Brother.
4
Facebook is the stationary we write and send notes on to each other in the digital age. Their control of your content, would be like a news print manufacturer regulating the NYTimes content.
6
But we are told by the NYT and other media that our Presidential elections hinge on foreign propaganda being put out as 'news' on Facebook, and that people are buying it wholesale and it is wrecking our democracy...I know. far fetched, but that is what they are selling.
3
Get a grip. 'Differing views' are not limited to rants. The idea that ideas that differ from extortionist 'progressive' (under the sort of mechanistic, reductionist, people's-personalities-are-just-their-identities-as-defined-by-self-serving-self-appointed-sadistically-condescending-elite-demagogues totalitarian view of life that 'progressives' hold to, should progressives even be allowed to dare to call themselves liberal? Should they be fined? Who gets to make the judgments? Where does the money go? How long are we going to be this stupid, for the sake of corruption and the dehumanization of people - OK, this is turning into a rant. But it's on point) We are all turning into people-who-rant (some more articulate, or using more in the way of talking points, but equally unwise) under the destructive influence of the claim that anyone who questions the dominant ideology (and that is what feminism - really matriarchy, with it's sadistic addiction to sneaky depraved malice against feminine girls and smart, moral boys - been for a long time) is simply indulging in 'bad' morally inferior, selfish ideas. Human rights, civil liberties, civil rights, human dignity, democracy, accountable government, and elements of our heritage of building freedom absolutely need freedom of speech. There would have been no civil rights movement without it - or without the honesty and courage that are so lacking today. I vote for liberals - I just can't stand the malice. Why try to alienate my vote?
1
Hate speech is half the message from conservatives, so why are they surprised that it is suppressed, as it should be!
3
Looks like the same type of Liberal Intolerance at Facebook is also prevalent here as well.
7
@natrix88
Spoken like a true fox "news" watcher and a faux "patriot".
6
Isn't it rather obvious that hostility to anti-immigrant rhetoric, to people who commit actual acts of sexual abuse, to other plainly ugly political demagoguery or behavior is being cynically co-opted and used to intimidate people who probably oppose those things every bit as much (and maybe even with greater sincerity and less self-serving venality) but who dare to question ideological claims that are framed as asserting the rights of victims of discrimination but actually primarily serve a very modern narrative about sex that is actually pretty callous to many people and that makes social power grabs that desperately need open and honest public debate. Why call someone who supports anti-poverty spending, subsidies for quality day care and requirements that insurers cover contraceptives, thinks the original Black Panthers were acting reasonably, believes in legal clinics for poor people accused of a crime, (my mother, who claims to be a feminist, despises Gideon's Trumpet - how many 'leftists' actually are social Darwinist pro-plutocrats?) wants greater monitoring of police behavior, etc., etc., who also points out that there in fact no modern Jim Crow conspiracy to stop a gay couple from commissioning a wedding cake and why should the guy lose his business for holding to unpopular religious beliefs - a racist, a homophobe, a sexist, and on and on , and drive them out of their career? Why does the 'left' have to be so vicious - and exclusive - in imposing it's agenda?
@TPM
The rest of your diatribe not withstanding, the final portion of your post: "..Why does the 'left' have to be so vicious - and exclusive - in imposing it's agenda?.."
To me, this shows that you have little concept of what those you call on the "left" have said, or are saying; instead you seem to confuse our desire to have open communication and a goal of compromise in most things with the restrictive goals of fox "news" or your president, who would "regulate" Google, because gosh, they posted something "mean" about him.
4
As an independent I've been very surprised at the intolerance of the left since they've lost the federal election and continue to lose power in states.
Blocking speakers from places like Berkeley (the bastion of liberalism) seems very....un-liberal to me.
The fact that you dont like someone's opinion does not give you the right to block or limit it. This goes in the face of the ideals of our nation.
I would strongly suggest the liberals in this country stop crying about Russian collusion and look to the corruption of the DNC so the next candidate for president will be chosen by the people not the old guard.
11
@AriBibb. Too bad the current leader didn't come from the " old guard", you mention. Iy would have been light years better than what they now have.
1
If Mr. Amerige believes his company is "entrusted by a great part of the world to be impartial and transparent carriers of people’s...commentary,” Facebook has never made that promise to its members.
Perhaps Mr. Amerige would feel more comfortable working at Breitbart.com, a site with relatively few members. Maybe, there's a reason.
6
Want better coverage? Have better culture.
4
I find it amusing that these whining Ayn Rand acolytes have such thin skins. How very un-Roarkian of them. I doubt that even Rand herself would have much patience for their childish complaints.
7
Important article. When people don't feel like they can reveal their politics without being ostracized, they do find other ways to send that message ... It does seem clear that there are many people who find themselves in that situation. Probably better to allow the debate than let then head back to the ballot box angry (again).
2
I retired from the U.S. Department of Defense, a huge organization. Nowhere and at no time did any employee's political opinion or ideology or comment or action, even, get Put Out There for other employees to remark on.
We had rules about what we could wear for Halloween (tasteful, fun) and Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza decorations on our doors (contest, including Ugly-Sweater contest). Sure there was the chaplain on occasion; I didn't have to bow my head and I wasn't ridiculed or made to feel 'wrong' -- and said nothing to anyone who did choose to bow their head in prayer.
I do not understand why management of a company large or small would allow such things as are outlined in Amerige's letter -- taking down posters (why were they up in first place?), out-and-out pillorying of a board member re: his views (why was he allowed to speak politically as a FB employee/board member?) "We write each other ad-hoc feedback in the PSC tool for having “offensive” ideas." Why are any of these actions allowed, tolerated?
Finally, civility and respect for One's fellow worker ought to be the order of the day no matter where you work or who you work for or what your job is.
190
@j
I wondered about that myself, but Facebook is a 'Social Media' platform. It's part of their mission to figure out what gets posted on social media and what does not. I suspect their work environment IS social media. I know that sounds weird, but what else could it be? All they do all day long is post stuff on "internal message boards." I guess this mess started on some company diversity policy message board.
I agree, this does not go on in non-tech corporations. For normal people, tech is just a useful tool.
2
It's disappointing to see so many of the predictable comments. Many well-known pundits on the right have pointed out that conservatives need to make the distinction between traditional liberals and those who are "leftists" or progressives. This is certainly true in this case.
Traditional liberals believed in the 1st Amendment rights of all Americans, regardless of ideology or viewpoint. Those who are leftist or progressive don't believe that anyone with a dissenting opinion to their own should be heard or have the right to speak. This is evident in so many of the comments under this article.
I have been researching and writing a book about the control of the Internet and the one-sided messaging that has resulted. I have tens of thousands of example that could not result from mere happenstance. Google has an algorithm that stifles conservative thoughts and news. I can demonstrate it at any time on any day. Facebook takes every opportunity to shut down conservative viewpoints.
While most conservatives don't follow Alex Jones, his views are part of the spectrum of thought that is expressed in our culture every day. I have watched him a few times, to see what all the controversy is about, and didn't witness someone spewing out false or inflammatory information. Most of his stories were based on factual events. Why must he be shut down?
It would appear that the mantra of the new left is that as long as the freedoms of conservatives are taken away, it is all okay. Really?
8
@Paul
Sorry, Paul, but two of his topics included Hillary Clinton running a pedophilia ring out of the basement of a Washington DC pizza parlor; and that the shooting at the Sandy Hook school was fake.
If you've watched him lately, I'm sure he's toned things down because, well, he's getting his butt sued off on the Sandy Hook conspiracy thing. The parents of those murdered children have been threatened online for years because there are actual nitwits who believe him. And, if you recall, another nut job showed up at the pizza parlor with a gun because he wanted to 'find out what was going on.'
I've seen his schtick in the past, and it has been extremely false and inflammatory. Sometimes, you just have to stand up and say 'enough.'
8
Back in the day we didn't discuss politics with all and sundry. We discussed it with friends or family. Maybe if people would not post, in a public forum, every though that goes through their head and possibly mind their own business our political discourse would be more rational.
4
Living in the Trump America, any sensible talk can be presented as an "intolerant" "left-leaning ideology". The modern conservatives have the WH and the Congress to themselves and they still complain of left-leaning bias.
11
We are at a pivotal point in history.
Cultural advances since the Renaissance have pushed society toward greater humanitarianism, tolerance, and opportunity for all classes of people.
Conservatives want to turn back the clock so that only a few (they) are privileged, and everyone else to fend for themselves.
Apparently, we must refight this great battle. Will we fight back the forces of hatred, intolerance, and bigotry? Will we surrender the advances that have allowed countless millions, if not billions thrive and flourish?
Modern liberalism holds that we are all in this together, and that we each have a responsibility to the whole of us. Conservatism is nothing more than an attempt for a few to gain control of the many, be it corporate, political, or religious control.
What each of us does will affect countless generations to come. God help us if we fail.
9
I am a Facebook user for several years. I am also a conservative.
On occasions too numerous to count, Facebook has disallowed my comments if they were regarding my Christian and conservative beliefs. I feel sure if my comments were anti-Christian or left leaning there would have been no problem of Facebook posting them.
If leftists want to post...more power to them. But we also should be allowed to post our beliefs.
The problem with silicon valley is that they think the entire US believes as they do....not true. One of my relatives was working in Silicon valley during 2016 elections. Their employer was doing a survey on who voted foe Donald Trump. Then those people were fired.
I have a large family and there are many that won't join Facebook because they are so Liberal leaning. How I wish there was either a site that allow us to express our conservative viewpoint or better yet that would allow both points of view.
11
@Share-it
No. I will not take this post at face value. It's absurd that your 'Christian Beliefs' were not posted. Maybe your conservative beliefs because your extremes, like the Alex Jones types, spout downright evil that is corrosive to the good of society, but not your Christian beliefs.
Why do I refute your statement? Because there's all sorts of Christian content on Facebook. The Catholics, the Mormons, whoever. Everybody has a Facebook page now. You cannot tell me your "Christian" views were censored if they were real, Christian views.
So, go ahead, post them all right here.......
7
@Share-it
Gosh, you're the ONLY PERSON who's comments were not permitted?
That's not the case; you state your post were not allowed, yet you provide zero proof of what you were trying to post. Propaganda that supports trump? RedState blather?
4
@Share-it Sorry, but on occasions too numerous to count I've heard stories of censorship from right wing trolls that I'm not buying. Yours is just one more lie.
Employer doing a survey for how people voted and firing those who voted for Trump??? What a great idea!!! I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was illegal for employers to do this. Not to worry...I don't believe that it ever happened. More lies from a troll...which are just one more reason to:
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
5
FWIW: I do not participate in Facebook or any other social media.
Like most commercial content, social media is predominantly "opinion" based. It is not journalism that any self-respecting journalist would attach their name to.
That more people who claim to be liberal are outraged at some other opinion pieces is not surprising anymore than the way conservative opinion producers assail any liberal opinions that they run across albeit on different platforms.
This is anything but new. From the first days of our Democratic-Republic there have been opinions, gossip and outright lies spread in whatever media was available at the time. Even duels were sparked and fought over these opinions.
Somebody always has his thin-skin harmed in these exchanges. Since all of it is simply opinion I really don't care about the fights, claims and counter-claims.
I only fear that somebody may decide to escalate the disagreement to armed conflict.
1
It is the shame of the Left that they continue to allow Communist influence in the form of groupthink, or Political Correctness, which emerged in the 1970s, most likely under the influence of Maoism. The point of Liberalism should be to encourage thought and debate and certainly free speech. By using the wrong language and syntax, the efforts to get others to be more sensitive fail and backfire. The non-democratic nature of political organizations and movements exacerbates the problems. So do the demands of splinter groups, and a basically childish self-centered approach to life.
On the other hand, those with less education have to stop resenting those with more, and be more open to learning from those people, expanding their points of view.
Liberals are supposedly focused on common good, and conservatives on selfish good.
6
This story is about a dispute within the Facebook workforce. For outsiders like me, it would have been helpful in assessing this dispute if the article had included specific factual allegations by Mr. Amerige and his supporters as to what in their mind constituted "politically correct" attacks against their views. Same goes for their opponents. Just what statements by conservative Facebook employees amounted to attacks on or disrespect for racial or religious minorities? Reliance upon broad generalities won't do.
6
I’m frustrated with the continual framing of the window of acceptable opinions (based on evidence) as being “left-leaning.”
We’re living in the political upside down.
7
Great article and spot on! I know how it is to be ostracized in the workplace for my views. Kudos to Mr. Amerige for his courage and wisdom to speak out against a leftist ideology-controlled social platform that is supposedly universal.
7
The problem here, Conservative FB employees, is that your views have been resoundingly, actively rejected by a majority. Numerous times. I suppose you could take the stance of 'nevertheless, we persist', but at some point, one would hope that self critical, analytical thought would kick in and you'd start to recognize that you are fighting a Quixotic fight.
10
Its hard to see how an everyday employee's political views can even come up to BE shunned in a corporation unless you are bringing them up in weird and inappropriate ways. I will give that artwork on the wall could be a narrow case where this could come up but that is still more a sense of ''seemliness' and what qualifies as art rather than 'political views'.
2
The comments here branding conservative ideas as “bigoted” and “odious” say where we are politically. Tolerance in society is at an all-time low-point, and I think much of this is from the brainwashing of emerging media: Vox, Verge, Bustle, The Root, etc. And I say this as a liberal.
More of this, far left, and you’ll get 4 more years of Trump.
14
First, why are they interested in discussing personal political viewpoints in a workplace anyway? Second, part of the attempt to quash idiots like Alex Jones is not because he’s conservative, but because he’s a liar and a flamethrower. Third, why is it you never really see a leftist Alex Jones type or a Glenn Beck type show up in public forums, promoting baseless hyperbole? Fourth, if they don’t like it, LEAVE! Go start your own ConservaFaceBook or ConservaTwitter.
15
@B Or "conservative" Google. How ridiculous!
I read the posts here and it seems that no one is addressing the central issue of people being controlled in a work environment by an intense overview of what they think or how they live their lives away from their desks. I do not care what facebook says or twitter does......I think with my mind and try to treat people with respect and give them plenty of room to process information that they need in order to process a decent life. I think that we miss the point. Liberals can read this article and post that Trump made his bed and he needs to lie in it. They can also read the article and go, yeh, this is what I believe and I love it. But this does not do a thing for the employees of facebook or Google.
Just a reminder “We Have a Problem With Political Diversity,” is the title of the subject of the message board that was in the first paragraph of the article that is being opined on. People may want to go back and read it again before they bring out their political chops.
3
@RBB Disagree , has nothing to do with being controlled in a work environment , it stands to reason one keeps one's opinion to oneself at work ; Amerige is free to express his opinion elsewhere , at home , with his friends and other like minded . And speaking of political chops , you were free to express yours here . As for Trump and his bed , it must be as crowded as his inauguration with the biggest crowd ever period.
5
If the whole purpose of an ideology is to keep underrepresented groups unrepresented, Facebook is doing the admirable thing by not giving that ideology a foothold.
4
The old "liberals need to tolerate intolerance" saw returns to haunt the workplace. FB is a private sector employer. It is not obliged to make a safe space for these employees, and could fire them for using company time and platforms for spouting racist, anti-immigrant hate speech that likely constitutes harassment of employees who fall into those groups, and greatly offends others. A violation of the company's harassment policy would trump (pardon the pun) any non-applicable constitutional right to free speech in the workplace. These "conservative" employees are not a persecuted minority, but rather bullies (who voluntarily joined the company likely knowing its harassment policy), who are upset about not being allowed to bully. They should feel free to quit FB and start their own "diverse" company.
13
This is not about about right leaning political views , but what is known as hate speech and lies . Which people like Alex Jones disseminate , they should not be allowed on social platforms . There are plenty of conservative forums where they can practice their right to free speech . Amerige and et ali , who espouse allowing such speech is wrong , it is not about perspective but lies that hurt others such as the parents of Sandy Hook . Ironically , Ayn Rand , his avatar was a Russian emigre .
4
All social media is about profiting by undermining our shared democratic values and replacing them with tribal warfare. It's doesn't have much to do with the liberal-conservative politics.
The problem with these Facebook conservatives is not the pursuit of inclusive dialog on this platform. It's their definition of "conservative thought." They assert that liars and grifters who wrap their rhetoric in the flag or the Old Testament somehow represent conservative values. That's nonsense. Conservative are being driven from the GOP, not from Facebook.
Mr. Zuckerberg has every right as the owner of the Facebook platform to exclude liars, con men and grifters from his property, especially those pretending to be something they are not. Past failure to do so, in fact, has already begun to erode Facebook's customer base.
Zuckerberg's reaction to begin at long last accepting some responsibility for the truthfulness and civility of posts on his platform should be applauded.
These "conservative" Facebook employees need to do a little reading on the history of conservatism in America and stop equating it to Trump's grievance machine populism. What's spewing from GOP leadership today is NOT conservative thought. It's mostly nativism and racism. Facebook should not be bullied into giving these modern day brown shirts one byte of space on its servers.
Conservative voices have one of the largest platforms in history via Fox News and the entire AM band of the radio. Facebook has allowed them plenty of room to spew their nonsense on Facebook. It's not Facebook's responsibility to yield its platform the xenophobes and perpetual grievance peddlers of Trump's GOP.
6
Why are these people casting themselves as victims?
If they hold unpopular views, they can choose to try persuasion and rhetoric to change minds, or they can keep their personal beliefs out of their job duties and speak their mind to those that want to listen.
Or, being so Randian and all, why don’t these captains of industry start their own company which has a corporate culture they desire?
Instead they want daddy (Trump) to save them from the big bad liberals... you know the “communists” who start and operate multi billion dollar corporations.
Pathetic.
4
Is it actual conservative thought or the racist misogynistic Trumpism that is being culled. They are not the same. Trump has an entire network dedicated to being his mouthpiece, as a result, we are being lied to every day. My suggestion is for them to leave google, and start their own search engine , and continue lying to the American people. This is a private company who is responsible to none save for shareholders. Maybe there would be more positive Trump news, if he weren't such a despicable individual. Just saying.
4
There's the problem with facebook slanting its "news" feeds to promote the liberal agenda, finding violations of its policies only among Republicans and things like that. But there's also the problem with employees afraid to let their political affiliations and group memberships be known even when they are completely separate from work. You shouldn't have to worry about donating to a Republican politician or a pro-traditional family organization or a group that opposes amnesty/open borders, costing you your job. You should be able to have your personal beliefs and not having them affect your employment situation.
4
"The new group has upset other Facebook employees, who said its online posts were offensive to minorities." Gee, why am I not in least surprised? Every day we see examples of intolerance from the right towards minorities. Yesterday it was gross under reporting the deaths in Puerto Rico after republicans high-fived each other for a job well done, they thought. Today it's the " monkey" word used by the republican candidate fro governor in Florida. It's difficult to feel any compassion for people whose goal is tear the country apart, just like Trump threatens if he loses any power in November midterms.
6
I really hope Zuckerberg and all the other tech billionaires wake up and start supporting democrat politicians the way the Kochs and Mercers support the right... It's time to fight fire with fire.
5
As someone who falls pretty squarely in the left section of the ideological spectrum, but is from a moderate conservative family (no Trumpers in my family) and who is generally surrounded by very left leaning people in peer circles, I shudder to think how some of my friends would engage with my family members if they ever crossed paths. My family are mostly good people who mostly want the the same things, albeit through different means and approached with a different philosophy. I don’t care who was intolerant first, you can make an argument going back years for either side - the point is the left has a very real problem with intolerance now, and that ultimately strengthens Trump who thrives on division. I don’t blame these employees even if I disagree with them about politics - I have seen far too many well meaning people on the right denigrated because of leftists acting morally superior. I don’t care even if you are on the right side of history - you don’t strengthen your cause when you disregard so many people. Trump is awful, yes. But not all of his supporters are - further still, most actual conservatives don’t even like half of what Trump is doing, some of which actually could happen under a left wing populist government.
6
What manipulative nonsense. I do not go to work to spend the day worrying about liberalism or conservatism. I work hard and gratefully and happily to meet the needs of my employer, because I am fortunate to work for a fair and fine employer.
1
“Those companies ‘better be careful because you can’t do that to people,’ Mr. Trump said.“
Though I’m sure your failure to include FOX News was an oversight, Mr. Trump, what you can’t do in the U.S.A. is tell people what they can or can’t say, or print, or post online.
221
@BobMeinetz
In case you hadn't noticed. Facebook doesn't or claims they don't say print or post anything. They say they are a neutral platform. They lie.
14
It's interesting, then, how so much conservative content winds up on Facebook...
I'd say the problem with conservatives is that they seem to think if they don't entirely get their way, they've gotten nothing. My toddlers are prone to act the same way.
7
@BobMeinetz I agree it's generally not good for Trump or the government to get into regulating private businesses like this, but to look at the liberal bias of the big tech companies, the media, academia, hollywood, the federal bureaucracy, etc... and think that throwing Fox News out there is some kind of counter-argument, then you're crazy.
5
If this concerned employee is so determined to prove Facebook is actually wrongfully suppressing conservative ideas, maybe he can explain to us the merit of Alex Jones's content, and what we're losing by banning him?
I won't hold my breath.
6
The problem that I see here is that to liberals, we have an issue of foreign influence and the spread of hateful lies. This week I saw an old friend spreading a false news piece slandering John McCain and accusing him of causing the death of other military members. To him, the fact that this type of thing is not reported in major media is a sign of bias. To me, it's obviously a false story concocted to slander someone who spoke up about Trump.
Enough people latch on to this garbage and then get upset that "news" sources such as RT news and Alex Jones aren't treated at equal to companies such as NBC, NY Times, CNN or other organizations that actually report on news. I don't know how we can return to a normal world where the average American is smart enough to understand the difference between a properly sourced news item and propaganda, but I hope we could at least get back to the point where our leaders can.
6
So these conservatives at FB feel oppressed, that conservative viewpoints aren't welcome and are stifled by Evil Liberal Media.
I feel for them. It must be hard to work in an industry where conservative viewpoints are stifled.
I mean, honestly, where can a conservative get a job these days in the media?
Fox news?
Sinclair network?
CBN(Christian Broadcasting network)?
Trinity (another Evangelical Christian network)?
Breitbart?
Drudge Report?
Daily Caller?
Infowars?
Laura Ingraham's show?
Rush Limbaugh?
Michael Savage?
Hugh Hewitt?
Any AM radio Talk station?
Etc., Etc.,Etc........
Cry me a river.
7
@Mark None of the conservative media you listed are social media. Not a single one. The subject here is, if you didn't notice, the censorship on public platforms provided by social media. No one here is criticizing NYTimes as "intolerant" of conservative views - that's not the point. This is about the new industry, not about dinosaur main stream media.
4
Oh, please -- if this anti-liberal theme were true and a big Facebook problem, the Russians would never have infiltrated, and there would be no "alt-right" and no let's-hate-women groups on Facebook.
There would be no trolls on women's rights posts.
There would be no mocking of the poor, the disabled, the disadvantaged.
Nope, not buying this one. Just another making those persecuting into a victim ...
9
Reddit is equally intolerant and unfair. A lawyer posted a very thorough, well-documented, analysis of how Brett McMurphy (Who reported on the OSU/Courtney Smith/Urban Meyer controversy) changed his facebook posts (which were the main platform for his findings) about 9 times without attribution. See https://www.reddit.com/r/OhioStateFootball/comments/94t19c/crosspost_fro... Reddit moderators didn't like that someone would cast some doubt on the narrative that Courtney Smith was 100% right and that Urban Meyer was 100% wrong. So, the Reddit moderators moved the post from the general college football section to the Ohio State Football section over the objections of the lawyer/poster. (See commenter robert Lax-bro for discussion of the move and the moderators)
Unfortunately, many on the Left don't want to know the truth and, in situations where someone is accused of wrongdoing, simply want to start a lynch mob to crucify the accused. Facebook, Google and Reddit willingly encourage the blocking of different viewpoints and facts that would undermine their Leftist goals. If the big tech companies won't tolerate effective and accurate dissent from their monocultures, then new companies need to be formed.
JD
10
I am more concerned by the anxiety, insecurity and other deep mental issues that social media and especially Facebook causes across our society, especially with teens.
Today’s headlines in the UK tell us that a quarter of 14 year old girls self-harm. How are platforms like Facebook and Instagram major responsible factors in that?
2
Let me guess...the members of the FB'ers for Political Diversity are all white and most likely predominately male. You know, members of the very group who have the most difficulty with actual diversity.
3
And yet, in what universe is it okay to disregard large segments of the population? Yes I am familiar with our country’s (not okay) history - but it’s pretty simple in that two wrongs don’t make a right. You don’t advance causes for all by suppressing one group so blatantly. That just causes backlash in the other direction.
5
Intolerant in quotes...ha ha ha.
2
Perfect. A self-described acolyte of Ayn Rand is upset that he and his tiny band of fellow right-wingers employed at Google are disrespected by the majority of employes.
Liberals are intolerant! Liberals don't take us seriously! The atmosphere is repressive! We're too scared to speak! Oh, woe, oh, woe.
A while back, a white, male engineer at Google wrote a self-pitying, toxic screed, explaining that women made lousy tech employes, and blacks and Hispanics were just as bad. Multi-culturalism, he whined, was ruining his Tech Heaven. Naturally, he couldn't understand why Google responded to his shriek by dumping him, and now he's suing the company for discriminating against white males.
Welcome to the universe of conservative snowflakes, where the only virtue is victimhood.
5
Don't believe it? Try wearing a MAGA hat to work at FB. The problem here is not that employees have biases. It is that FB, through the algorithms governing its news feeds, shape the thinking of the millions you get their news there. Since it only publishes content from others, it feels immune from criticism and accountability. It's like newspapers republishing NYT and WaPo stories. They aren't biased, their sources are. Hands clean. But, no. With the reach of FB, if you publish it, you said it.
3
This is a breath of fresh air. The new Democratic-Socialists, especially in California, make sweeping, hostile statements about moderate- or conservative-leaning people who disagree with them on issues, labeling them as "bigots like Trump" while complaining about a "lack of diversity" and "intolerance" in the workplace. The realization among many of that hypocrisy and authoritarian impulse is gaining traction. Facebook's "leftist it or leave it" culture -- the bread and butter of today's Democratic Party -- is intolerant, and even the younger people working there and elsewhere in our society are seeing it and are tiring of it. When you go too far to the left, you're going to encounter resistance from the center who favor fairness for all over censorship and being ostracized for their opinions.
7
Both liberals and conservatives in America have taken the blue pill. Both should be more humble:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pill_and_blue_pill
2
NYtimes please stick to factual, investigative reporting. I noticed that when writing about tech companies this paper relies on the opinions of 1-2 employees who wrote something on an internal confidential work app. This is poor journalism. One employees' opinion in a company of 30,0000 on an internal work board does not warrant an article. This would be equivalent to writing articles about the NYtimes diversity issues based on what one employee wrote or said in a confidential meeting. The "fact" that 100 people may have joined an internal group on political diversity is not meaningful either. We don't even know what that means or if they are even conservative. NYtimes, please collect way more data that is meaningful or stop writing these articles or please flag them as opinion pieces and not news.
2
It's not that "differing views" do not get represented, they do. It is not possible to go uninformed about differing views in the US unless you are ignorant about what is available, simply don't care enough to use your senses or you are just plain lazy. It's also true that "differing views" often (usually?) lack cogency, and few need to have such views indiscriminately splattered about in public media.
45
@Don
"..and few need to have such views indiscriminately splattered about in public media."
Thank you, Mr. Goebbels, your determination of what others need to see or not see is duly noted.
2
Until the left and right can agree on common and universal foundations of human decency (not to be confused with religious morality), these problems will persist. In my own humble experience, I've found conservative-leaning people to be less supportive of the need to be decent to others not like them.
7
I just read the letter. Gee, if feel sooo sorry for this guy. He’s right! We should all learn from our President how to behave toward our fellows.
What I learned many years ago is that I go to work...to work! Not to pout because my colleagues who don’t care about or want to hear about my opinions on anything but work. Since when is it OK to hang political signage in a place of business?
The one thing right this guy did was take his issue to HR - Now get back to work, and stop stealing time from your employer by writing long personal letters on Company time.
4
As long as any of the social media platforms act as free-to-the-user bait for ad revenue, the social media platforms will be manipulated.
Political diversity in the workplace? I'd not hold up tolerance for Ayn Rand as the barometer - most adults get over that infatuation a few years after entering the real world after college.
But the fact that this article includes Zuckerberg supporting immigration reform as a sign of liberalism shows how off-base the conversation itself has spun. Everyone pretty much agrees we need adjustments to our immigration laws. The problem is how to discuss what needs doing and when.
6
Good grief of course progressives are intolerant. It is part of what it means to be a progressive- don’t debate the merits, resist! And more importantly, it’s not what you say, it’s who is saying it - identity governs credibility. Most of the comments to this article help to prove that point. I see this, my moderate left colleagues see it, and I have voted liberal left for decades.
18
Maybe people would be more tolerant of conservatives if they offered something other than racism, misogyny and homophobia.
There are no more ideas
7
There is a need for diversity of opinion,what there is no need for are masked thugs trying to suppress it by violence.Our country was founded on this very important principle,the right to express yourself differently and tolerance for it.Personally I am conservative but I also want the person to do the job and keep their word because that is all we really have.I do not like Trump,s personality but he is in all my 66 years the only President who has done almost exactly what he campaigned on and has been vilified for it.Identity politics glorified the useless one before him.Who was the precipitator of the cultural divide.We are a great nation being torn apart by everyone compartmentalizing to their ideologies,please consider America first for America's sake,someone has to bend.
7
I respect your comments! Am 69, was a former Democrat, but voted Trump for the same reasons. I don't like "him" necessarily but who cares. Open borders, sanctuary cities, etc, that's nuts and not the signature of a country!
4
Conservative views are clearly not being suppressed when I can log in and see shared Breitbart and Fox News stories easily in addition to comments on just about every news article of people screaming FAKE NEWS and feeling sorry for themselves.
There is no real victimization, just posturing. Maybe if conservative outlets weren't reliant on marching everyone to the same-old drumbeat of racist dogwhistling, xenophobia, conspiracy theories, and straight up fabricated "stories" then they wouldn't have to worry about so-called "conservative" news getting caught up in content removal policies.
This is all a bad faith effort to stir up even more noise and keep sweaty hands in control of the news cycle narrative for just a few weeks longer.
4
The rumor has it that the American economy is SO HOT because of Trump's policies. In fact, his appointees released Trump approved, manufactured economic growth figures today since bureaucrats are no longer allowed to release facts. The employees who feel they are not comfortable working for a firm they allege is curbing conservative views should quit. Simple.
Backtrack on this sudden allegation within the Facebook family and you will find Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon and, at the tail end appropriately, the Instigator in Chief itching to get his name out there more often than anyone else everyday by expanding on these allegations.
3
I always thought that liberals were tolerant, gentle people, open to hearing all ideas, valuing every opinion, listening to every side of the story, being cool with everybody doing their thing. But is seems that is not that the case. And in the example of Facebook, some can't take the intolerance. Well, bless their hearts, looks like they are coming to their senses. Cheers!
6
Ok, let's consider the culture at a company that derives the majority of its earning from advertising ($40.6 billion total annual revenues 2017, ~50% operating margin). Who can say? It appears to be a gigantic free-for-all. In the West it's the Wild West there at Menlo Park. All that cash sloshing through an organization ($24 billion cash from operations, 2017) where the youth there is making it up as they go along. They don't play well with each other. These are our future leaders defining social media as we know it today? I think this cause for concern.
I don't get it. When I worked at a conservative software company, I saw people fired for asking questions about the company gym in a meeting with the CEO. So these folks at Facebook are worried that their point of view is not acknowledged within company culture? Here's an idea: take out your paystub (okay look at it online because it's 2018) and see who makes out to the check to you. Then ask yourself, "Is my employer trying to prevent me from marching or writing op-eds?" If the answer is "no," then your rights are intact. You do NOT have the right necessarily to see your values reflected at work, like it or not.
11
“Political diversity” in the mouths of modern conservatives, such as these, is Orwellian doublespeak. They don’t have an honest, defensible position or any interest in subjecting it to the crucible of discourse. Instead, they have a fixed ideology which they want to impose on everyone by bullying organizations into submission. Note that one of the people mentioned was disciplined not for any kind of genuine conservative views, but for circulating anti-Hillary Clinton memes, the fodder of Trump rallies and the alt-right and fake news press, and that Peter Thiel made a crusade of destroying an on-line magazine because he was offended by it. These are dangerous forces: they’re not supprting diversity; they’re at war with it.
367
@Linda and Michael
"“Political diversity” in the mouths of modern conservatives, such as these, is Orwellian doublespeak. They don’t have an honest, defensible position or any interest in subjecting it to the crucible of discourse. Instead, they have a fixed ideology which they want to impose on everyone by bullying organizations into submission. "
You just perfectly explained the left.
31
Dennis Prager was censored last week. He is no uncivil demagogue or firebrand. He is a brilliant conservative thinker who is highly regarded in truly liberal circles. Leftism, on the other hand, tolerates NO views that dissent from their ideology. It it totalitarian by nature; it always has been. I challenge you to defend the censoring of a brilliant conservative thinker like Dennis Prager by FB. @Linda and Michael
16
@Linda and Michael You just confirmed Mr. Amerige's point in eloquent fashion.
12
Obviously just not enough White Supremacist supporting news being spread. I suggest they hire some prominent GOP representatives who will be happy to help spread the word.
4
Aside from the fact that Facebook is an evil company that tracks people who HAVE NOT signed up for a Facebook account, the whole company has a business model I can live without. Would never work for them and cannot imagine how anyone who does can sleep at night.
As to whiny Conservatives (are there any other kind these days?) who feel put upon working for the evil empire of Zuck & Sheryl, I have some news for you: you do not go to work to spout your political views unless you are an opinion writer at this paper or some similar position. Most employers discourage political discussions in the workplace and many will be happy to escort you & your belongings to your car if you have a problem with that. You go to work to be productive- not political.
As usual, the same Conservatives that tell employees at "Christian" companies to suck it up want their own safe space at companies they view as liberal or whatever. Maybe Mark Zuckerberg will let you hang your Michael Savage poster and wear your MAGA hat when Hobby Lobby & Chick-fil-A start paying for employee abortions and birth control.
6
President Trump is right once again!!!
5
Isn’t he always right?
I wonder what the definition of conservative is as its being used by that group.
Alex Jones and his ilk are not conservatives. They are liars and conspiracy theorists who sow discord and social unrest. It is a very sad commentary on our country and the current political climate that so many people, and virtually the entire remaining Republican Party, believe that Infowars, Breitbart, and even Fox News are conservative media outlets.
7
So when is Fox "news" and Breitbart going to become more diverse?
7
@Spencer
At about the same time MSNBC, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, etc. do I guess.
4
This so reminds me of the recent multi-day build-up in our mainstream media for a nothing-burger of a demonstration by White supremacists in DC. Facebook has more than 25,000 employees. So a few dozen of them make a little noise from the far right wing and the Times jumps to give them a front page headline. Why, oh why should we be bothered with this whining? Why should our subscription money be spent covering it?
What are you writing about the tens of thousands of Americans making gun law changes in state legislatures across the nation? When will you get to the success of successful efforts to displace District Attorneys who refuse to prosecute murderous police officers?
There is real news out there, activities engaging tens of thousands of Americans. What do we hear of this from "All the news that's fit to print"? Crickets. Too busy doing the far right's bidding. And what does the far right do for the Times? Nada. Hold your friends close, New York Times. They are keeping you alive.
7
Wow! Bravo!!!!
I applaud the brave individuals who are calling attention to the BULLYING in Leftist organizations like Google( not to leave out colleges= NOT free speech!!)
Go people! No organization has the right to attack your religion or politics and force you to go underground in order to stay employed!!!
7
I notice that nobody seems able to give a single solitary example of their being picked on for being "a conservative." Nor are the commenters yellng at Facebook here. Gee, I wonder why that is?
But let's clear something up: guys like Thiel and Amerige and Jones and Trump aren't conservative. The first two are plain old Randites, and Ayn Rand used to TELL everybody she was a radical. Jones is just a very well-paid shouter. And Trump...well, you know.
These guys, and it IS mostly white guys, are radicals. They want society attacked at the root; they want full-on laissez-faire capitalism; they're social Darwinists, believing that they're superior. At least half the time, they're flat-out racists. And they ALWAYS have real problems with girls at work, which is probably what sets Amerige off.
Oh, and they're always guys who hate unions and workplace regs up to and including regs against sexual harassment, who make it a point to tell you that the boss gets to run it how he wants.
Boo hoo, somebody came to work in a Gay Pride t-shirt. Waaah, there was a workshop on harassment. Flow my tears, somebody laughed at me when I insisted that Ayn Rand was a Big Thinker.
Same old story; I want the job, I want the money, I want the relaxed workplace, I just want everybody to Obey Me.
Because make no mistake: these clowns don't want a voice. They want to be the only Voice.
12
The tech companies and leftist talk a lot about diversity... But they really have none. most of these workers are imported cheap labor from China and India. both the owners and these workers have an interest to keep this game going... of course they don't want to tolerate any different views on immigration because they are personally benefiting..the companies are making billions by not hiring America IT workers. These so called liberals are using this game to make billions in profits.. at the expense of American workers. They play being fake liberals by pretending to be against racism.. liberal tool.. scam..
5
FB a bastion of Far Left, speech-squelching fascism? Really? Here's some more "news:" The pope is Catholic. :(
3
@Charlie
And your position on Net Neutrality is...?
'The new group has upset other Facebook employees, who said its online posts were offensive to minorities. One engineer, who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation, said several people had lodged complaints with their managers"
So the world inside FB is just like the world outside FB. And the world inside the NYT offices. And those of Twitter, Microsoft, Google & YouTube, WaPo, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Time, etc. etc. etc.
7
If these Facebook employees don’t like the liberal culture, they can also leave the company and get a job at Breitbart or Infowars. Grow up.
3
A few disgruntled employees form a complaint group and this is news? Why is the NYT lending credence to Trump's argument that social media companies are biased? As far as I can tell, only the most vile content is banned - and that takes forever. Maybe social media just reflects the millions of opinions that this group and Trump deems too liberal and unworthy. It seems a few delicate flowers have banded together over hurt feelings that they're surrounded by liberals. Feel free to get a job at Fox News, Sinclair, or with Alex Jones.
3
Playing the victim card. Again.
4
These brave people are learning what the rest of America already knows: the Left is intolerant and will criminalize even the slightest nonconformist thought
5
@Larry Yet here your comment sits. Is the irony not obvious to you?
Poor little reactionary snowflakes.
Maybe they need to get jobs at Heritage Foundation or one of the umpteen other right-wing think tanks, who could surely use their services, rather than trying to jimmy Facebook into becoming yet another right-wing pipe organ.
As the right wing so often like to say to others, if they don't like where they're working, go get a job someplace else. Funny how they never seem to apply their own ethos to themselves. I sense a pattern, here....
12
"Conservative" views at this time mean absurd conspiracy theories, lies, and white supremacist rhetoric. So Trump and friends Google and wonders why "news" about them doesn't look "good".
What a joke.
7
Is the problem that liberal people are intelligent, or that intelligent people are liberal? I don’t see a problem here.
Yeah, these tech workers should feel hardly done by - I mean their plight of not being able to tack up confederate battle flags at their desks and send each other memes of Hillary as a lizardperson is pretty much on par with the children being separated from their parents at borders and black unarmed teens being shot. Oh wait...
4
TL;DR: A couple of employees got together to create a closed-off internal group not visible to the rest of the company (for which admission is tightly controlled and applicants have been rejected) for posting thoughts about increasing political diversity and tolerance, and whining that their opinions are unpopular, then sent their manifesto to NYT so they could write another lazy hit piece on Facebook.
6
All I can say is its bout time....This starts at the top....your leader n founder made his liberal view of all things influenced the company current culture n behavior.
Bravo for the employees who started this!
2
@SA
See? Ayn Rand was wrong! Collectivism works!
This is not about bias in views expressed by media. Most media are openly biased and that's fine (though not preferable). Social media corporations, however, are blocking accounts just for expressing views that the far left and identitarian extremists finds disagreeable, which is why even on this comment section several writers have no idea what "conservative" views even are. The leftist bubble is so thick that nothing seems to penetrate in.
Consider the people blocked on Twitter for sarcastically imitating and mocking some of Sarah Jeong's hundreds of ultra-racist tweets. They got blocked but the original racist extremist being mocked got a blue checkmark of approval on the Twitter account.
These corporations are selectively censuring content that's an inch politically right of Mao Zedung and the new cultural revolution involving extreme leftist identity politics. No wonder then that the far-right identitarians are also raising, which is even more scary to me as a liberal.
6
Conservatives don't just want the ability to express their views freely. They already have that. What they want is to have everyone accept their views as rational and reasonable and correct. If their ideas are rejected by the overwhelming majority of people around them (as they should be by anyone who values truth, the value of data, and morality), they don't interpret this as a reasonable and acceptable response to the weaknesses in their belief structure. They see it as "intolerable bias". Pathetic, but true.
And BTW, I don't believe that I have EVER heard a conservative complain that Fox or any of the other right wing propaganda organizations aren't giving equal time to those who oppose them.
Conservatives are so myopic and have such well developed persecution complexes that they can't see the forest for the trees. Their ideas are wrong, based upon dogma which is untethered from objective reality. The fact that their thinking is rejected by the vast majority of people not living within the right wing bubble is not a reflection of "bias", it is a reflection of truth rejecting nonsense. Conservatives need to understand this and stop whining and/or trying to pervert reality to meet their desires.
6
As usual, the poor Conservative bemoans their status as a lone wolf attacked by rabbits. Conservatism has been the mainstay of every corporation in the United States. Political Diversity only works if those that were never included are finally allowed their voice. Amerige is focusing on losing their dominance. Like Trump, they believe they are under siege when in fact, others are finally included. Go cry to Trump, he probably needs your Engineering skills to steal another election.
5
Political speech has no place on Facebook. Facebook is a way of letting my friends know that I had a terrific bottle of wine last night. Facebook is a way of letting people know that my astronomy club is meeting tonight.
Given the level of fact free political debate in this country a ban would be the best idea. Even this article is a joke. What exactly is a "left leaning ideology"? What exactly does this group mean by "Political Diversity"? If they mean denying the Holocaust that's one thing. If they mean that our immigration laws should be changed that's another thing.
If the NY Times can't figure out what's going on, it's not news, it's just gossip. Put this article in the style section where it belongs.
2
We don't mind diversity. It's fraud, race-bating, and bullying we won't stand for.
9
Don't those right-wingers listen to AM talk radio. You'd think they would get their fill of lies, rumors, and innuendo there. Why pollute their workplace with false information and rabid partisanship?
4
There are dozens of us. Dozens!
5
What a welcome article, I have felt alone in a desert of liberalism that permeates the NYTimes to the bone. I have always been a NYTimes reader, but it is harder and harder to reconcile my strong Christian, conservative views with the organizations in your face liberalism. Everyday I face an agony of looking at the front page wondering what manifestation of sexual degradation or ultra liberalism will be there. The Op/Ed writers make it clear they are for the dissolution of the Republic as we know it to welcome folks here who would not welcome us where they live. And the President, the disrespect in the NYTimes would have bordered on treason in many countries. They have thrown their lot in with the extremists and Antifa, Black Lives Matters and other social miscreants .
5
@Tom ,Retired Florida Junkman
You say: “And the President, the disrespect in the NYTimes would have bordered on treason in many countries.”
This is exactly the line of thinking of people who would love to turn our country into a police state. Is this what MAGA is all about?
This is America Tom. The Founding Fathers wanted us to have the freedom to ridicule an anti-democratic, fear mongering, corrupt bully of a president.
2
What exactly does "liberal" or "conservative" mean in this context? Because you write the story like everyone knows what a "liberal workplace" is supposed to mean?
2
If you listen to other people's opinions, you understand better what you are fighting for. If you respect people's opinions, then they tend to listen to you when you argue the other side. If you are kind to people, they will be kind to you. What this person is looking for is a place where opinions can be freely shared and debated. What they experience is name calling, anger, ostracism, and intolerance. Liberals think that anyone that doesn't agree with them is evil. If you (liberal) think that all conservatives are bigots - then you must listen to them to change their minds. You might find they are not bigots or you may find that they will listen to you if they are - because you were kind. The nature of liberalism now is to shut down conversation and call anyone they do not agree with racist. All this does is entrench the other side to their own opinions. I am a fiscal conservative and I believe in a strong hand in foreign policy. I voted for McCain and Romney - and I was called racist for not voting for Obama so many times I can't count. I didn't vote for Obama because I didn't agree with most of his policies - but I was proud of my country for voting for him and respect the voters who did. I just wish I had been given the same respect. What liberals do not realize is that their intolerance is fuel for Trumpism. You can change people's minds if you listen to them.
4
@Valium
No, we Liberals don’t think that Conservatives are racist sexist bigots. We just think that those to the right of Conservatism are racist sexist bigots. And those even farther to the right, the tiki torch brown shirts, are the evil ones.
P.S. FYI, I registered Republican for the 2000 primary to vote for McCain because i knew W Bush was under the influence of the neoconservatives who wanted to invade Iraq. We wouldn’t be in the Middle East mess we’re in if McCain had won. RIP Senator.
1
The only company that needs to be broken-up is Google. Fakebook, Flakebook or Facebook is only for people that don't socialize in the real world. Most of the people that use social networking are lying about how happy they are and that is why I call them Flakebook. Who needs to be validated by a bunch of acquaintances?
3
@Pbo
OK if I “like” your comment?
"Dozens at Facebook Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture"
So...after reading the article, I'm still left wondering how the culture at Facebook is liberal or intolerant. The new internal Facebook group advocating for political diversity strikes me either as a fraudulent cover for someone with political ambitions...or a cry for help from someone who is a right wing radical.
I did note the complaint that this new Facebook group is anti-minority. What a shock...not. Actually, I'm surprised there are only about 100 proud racists among Facebook employees. After all, Facebook did help right wing operatives and Russians steal the election by allowing fake news to dominate and be pushed on the membership. The more outrageous the lies, the more views a story gets on Facebook as the software gives attracting views the highest priority.
So, what do Trumpublicans in congress want? They want Facebook to give a preference to right wing lies and right wing liars. They will claim they want "diversity" of opinions on Facebook, while they oppose diversity among their own ranks. But what Trumpublicans really want is the ability to spread propaganda and lies without restraint...and with the help of Russians, so they can maintain power.
Facebook should continue to police the site for fake news. Yes, that is prejudicial against Trump and his Trumpkin base. Fake news is the only news that favors Trump. Reality is Trump's enemy.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
5
It is going too far to call what Facebook has done partisan intolerance. As far as I know Facebook has not shut down any Ayn Rand interest groups. And the Alex Jones and InfoWars stuff--which they have shut down--is top-to-bottom lies and conspiracy theories and white supremacy. So what if the target for their junk is Trump's base, which sucks it up indiscriminately. So what if Trump himself is fond of Jones and InfoWars. We can and should all agree that a bi-partisan opposition to lies, conspiracy theories, white supremacy, and miscellaneous other forms of indecency is reasonable and within the realm of what Facebook and the other tech firms may do and indeed should do.
3
This is an in-house, on-line group at Facebook, approved by HR, which says it wants to be able to discuss ideas that may not fall in step with liberal orthodoxy--a "safe space" if you will--without getting punished or losing a job/career.
It is hard to see how this is anything to fear.
76
@Talbot
Maybe it could also be a "safe space" for those who want to organize a Union
2
@Talbot
Is that really "all" they want? If so...why did the Times bother to write them up. Why are they even "news"?
If, on the other hand, this group wants to do what Trump and the alt right do...spread lies about minorities and immigrants...then maybe they are something to fear.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
1
If you express political ideas about diversity and immigration which diminishes your reputation amongst the majority of your co-workers, perhaps the problem is not that they are intolerant, rather perhaps it is your political philosophy which is intolerant. Some self-reflection seems in order.
7
Self-reflection is always good. Perhaps you should follow your advice and reflect how you would feel if you worked at a company with a conservative or religious culture and had your stature "diminished."
2
Due to age and life in very rural America, I am no longer politically active. I do follow politics, mostly on the internet. That gives me the vantage point of many sources . My summary of Google properties, newspapers, and internet writers is that I have to go to solely Conservative sites to get any information that is not rabid Liberal or totally Leftist in content. No middle ground, no Conservative, no thoughtful analysis. The most troubling is the intense and vicious war against the President and all who support him. I saw none of that against Obama. It began late in Bush's Term against him. It could be my advanced age, but it is truly sickening and depressing and it just isn't fair.
4
@Jack Just because you don't agree with what is published doesn't mean that the analysis isn't thoughtful or the story isn't accurate.
3
You ignored the prevalent vitriol against Obama because you agreed with it. You see the anti-Trump comments because you disagree with them.
2
@Jack
“I saw none of that against Obama”
Really?
So you saw none of that “Obama wants to take our guns away”? or “Obama is the Anti-Christ”? or “Obamacare will bankrupt the country” or (my favorite right-wing conspiracy theory) “Obama is a secret Muslim who hates America and loves the terrorists and wants to impose sharia law on America”?
How much of that turned out to be true?
So much for your viscous war against the President.
2
What is this Facebook thing, and who are the sad, self indulged and deluded people who feel their life has no meaning without a personal presence on the web, anyway?
3
Spreading lies and conspiracies do not need to be part of an ideology whether liberal or conservative. I would hope that the Facebook employees who understandably want a diversity of opinions recognize the damage that Alex Jones has done. When misinformation spreads it can endanger people's lives. They need to ask themselves if they would like their family to be the brunt of people's anger and death threats based on Alex Jones lies about Sandy Hook. Would they like to move 7 times to prevent harm to their families after losing a child to gun violence? Would they like their kids to be exposed to measles because some group on Facebook is trying to convince others that vaccines cause autism? Would they respond with tolerance?
The problem with Facebook is that all the misinformation spreads like wildfire. This has happened with liberal posts too. Can't algorithms be developed so that before a controversial post is live, the truth of the claim can be investigated. I am not taking about people who support conservative candidates or ideas. I am concerned about those who knowingly make up false stories designed to enrage and hurt others. There is a difference between a conservative or liberal opinion and a bald face lie.
8
The conservative of yesterday: "Let's have a discussion about limiting government and lowering taxes."
The "conservative" of today: "Mexicans are rapists and McCain wasn't a hero because he was captured. Coal is clean. Everything you read that is critical of me is fake news."
The conservative of tomorrow: "I love Big Brother. War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, and truth isn't truth."
And you wonder why we've become "intolerant" of conservative views.
9
Good points. I would argue that current "conservatives" are nothing of the sort.
2
I think the key word in the Headline is "dozens" - says everything. maybe, just maybe, the dying ultra-conservative posture is wrong? they may be loud but are declining in numbers.
2
Facebook apparently has a predominately liberal culture, hence the perceived need of the conservatives there to speak out against groupthink and intolerance of opposing viewpoints.
If you really think such viewpoints are a dying breed you must not have paid much attention since 2016...
2
If Facebook believes that part of its mission is to bring people closer why do they allow as many vicious and vitriolic posts as they do? What they are really doing is helping extremists who want to resort to violence find each other.
3
Let me get this straight: The people who elected Donald Trump as president, a man who created a nasty nickname for all his political opponents, who encouraged shouts of "lock her up" at his rallies, who came close to encouraging the lynching of the press at his rallies, who responds with vitriolic twitters against anyone who challenges him, who chums around with world leaders who assassinate or imprison dissidents. Those people are bemoaning the lack of civil political discourse? All I can say is "you made your bed, you lie in it"
401
@Shoe Smuggler - So, in effect, you are saying that anyone and everyone who does not agree on all issues with the political left voted for Trump? You sure are painting with a very broad brush.
Your approach belies the Facebook employee's case. How about attacking the ideas in his statement rather than taking the same ad hominen approach he identified as the reason for his need to act?
9
@Why No it's more a case of "as goes the president so goes the nation". Until conservatives are willing to call out Mr Trump on his abominable behavior I see no reason to listen to their complaints if liberals treat them in a similar fashion. This is meant as a comment on political discourse in general, not aimed at the individual cited in the article. The article doesn't give us enough information about what the employee said or why others objected to it to draw any conclusions as to whether the criticism was warranted.
1
@Shoe Smuggler have you seen Antifa and the violence they engage in just because they are not liberal or want to speak?
3
Alex Jones - get real. Keeping him off of all social media is a good thing. The so called Right Wing gets plenty of coverage -- FOX News a prime example. Yes, free speech is a treasured right - but abuse of free speech is a pox on our nation.
7
Bravo Facebook conservative employees!( applause)
I also worked at at large tech company and felt the pressure to CONFORM. Stifle my views and comments. God forbid that I liked any policies like immigration control, or was opposed to "sanctuary cities". Felt like I was in Nazi land except there weren't Nazis, just AntiFa employees that controlled all discussions. Pathetic. Liberalism has become angry ugly.
17
@SecondChance Why are you discussing politics at work anyway? Keep your personal life/politics out of the workplace and it's amazing how the "pressure to conform" disappears.
2
I don’t have any problem with Conservative views but I will not listen to anyone who is clearly insane. Want to compete? Stop whining and find some real people worth my listening time.
1
Facebook has to be careful. If they don't censor conservative voices, the Left will regulate their profits away. Honestly, the big Internet companies have to lean left. They need to appeal to some "save the world", empathetic narrative to deceive their employees and the public into thinking they are really doing anything more than selling ads to make money for investors. They aren't saving the whales or improving the climate, they are selling ads for tooth whitening and Coke. Our "best and brightest" are being hoovered up by a liberal borg focused solely on manipulating our time and preferences to the benefit of advertisers.
2
Brazil has national elections coming up in October and Facebook has vowed to fight against fake news on its platform. The results have been: (1) one of the largest left-wing groups is accusing FB of right bias for taking down its pages, (2) one of the largest right-wing groups is accusing FB of left bias for taking down its pages. I guess its a matter of perspective.
1
the primary problem with conservative groups like this is that they assert the need for "equivalence" between mainstream and pro-trump views when in fact there is no equivalence: the primary strategy of trump republicans today is to lie. repeatedly. to deceive. to mislead.
it's no accident that viewers of fox news, studies have shown, are the most ignorant (of basic facts) group of people in the country. moreover, outlets like infowars, etc., tend to promote indecent stories. if facebook were to seek to become "equivalent", without regard to the ignorance and indecency of what today passes for right wing "views", it would lose most of its members.
8
Since when does Facebook take a political stand for either side? Offensive is offensive, and lies are lies no matter who or what you are talking about. When it comes to social media the emphasis should be on social. The intent of Facebook was to keep in touch with friends and family. If what you are saying is some sort of propaganda with no basis in fact, then your site should reflect the fact that your information is gossip and be labeled as such. If you are saying something offensive that could be construed as bullying, you should be barred from the program altogether. Gossip has always been a dangerous and hateful thing. Some people can't or don't want to tell the difference between truth and gossip. The more salacious the better.
3
The facebook employees that united are the ones who threatened to have their co-workers fired if they made their opposing views heard. Probably the same ones ho tear down posters. "We're not biased" says the ones accused of bias.
You can slap any label you want on someone or some organization to discredit them, but fomenting hatred and the violent overthrow of the government fall way beyond the bounds of our First Amendment.
Facebook should not allow vicious speech or people like Alex Jones who makes up conspiracy theories and questions everyone's motives for a living to have a soap box.
Heaven knows there are enough rich "Conservatives" wanting to return to the golden days of the 18th century who can buy Jones his own soapbox/echochamber.
3
This is true not only at Facebook but of American culture generally
White writers can no longer write characters with 'black dialogue' for fear of getting lambasted
That Nation recently published a poem by a white poet. The poem was told in the voice of a black homeless man. The outcry was insane. He was crucified for daring to write in a voice other than his own!
Safe spaces
Trigger warnings
If anyone (Matt Damon) does not speak exactly in a way that the Me Too movement members approve he is vilified.
I saw Jerry Seinfeld the other day saying he was critised for making a joke about a "gay French king".
The parameters of free speech are being pulled back further and further
Do we want comedians self-editing their material? Novelists thinking twice about writing that next sentence? Professors afraid their classroom isn't 'safe enough'?
What in the world is happening to my country?
17
@Luciano
If you’d like to find out what happens when a black man uses his ‘white voice’, see the movie “Sorry To Bother You”.
Hopefully now playing at a theater near you.
When does a "Conservative view" become Fascism? That is the question. These FB employees want to be supported in their praise of Trump -- a president who is against the free press, against the rights of workers, in favor of unreasonable searches and seizures, a blatant purveyor of falsehood, a self-dealing leader, and likely obstructor of justice -- in short a leader who is antithetical to everything America used to stand for.
There is no reason why any of us, including Facebook the company, should be forced to tolerate of views and actions counter to our Constitution and to our Nation's founding democratic principles.
5
Why does ANYONE refer to Alex Jones as a conservative? Spreading lies, slander, libel, and disinformation is NOT a conservative action except among the right-wing and libertarian Republican factions who are hoping to break the US into rubble -- yet another action which is NOT conservative. I was raised by conservative Republicans, and I can testify that John McCain was the last of them. So sorry for the libertarian "techies" -- if that's what you want to call people who cannot grill a cheese sandwich without consulting their cell phones -- there should be no hiding place for misogyny, race and ethnic hatreds, slander and/or libel. It's not conservative; it's not even science fiction. It's propaganda straight from the worldwide kleptocrats who will profit from the destruction of my country.
4
Is this new group at Facebook advocating tolerance of spreading of false rumors, like those made by Alex Jones, or the smearing of political candidates with lies? Sounds like the end of conservatism and the emergence of a new viciousness in American political culture.
3
I have a problem with Facebook, it is a destructive force in our society.
5
Justice feels like oppression to the oppressors. What these poor folks are missing is how their hurt feelings are literally the only thing that is at stake for them. If the response is "but I will be fired," I think the Ayn Rand answer to that is, start your own company. This just demonstrates total disinterest in the perspective of people who suffer because we privilege skin color, wealth, procreative sexuality, and cisgender maleness. I can't tell you why you should care about other people. Shrug.
2
Ugh. Say it with me, once again:
"My opinions are not protected from challenge. Being judged for them is not discrimination."
Repeat until rescued by members of your subreddit.
4
It appears to me that conservatism is throwing yet another tantrum on the grounds that no one will take it seriously.
Golly, I wonder why...
When the doddering Ronald Reagan abolished the Fairness Doctrine, American culture got in return Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, and a host of other polemicists from the lunatic fringe. Perhaps the right-wing's status as a farcical minority demanding a return to a time which everyone else finds oppressive could explain the "bias" which they bemoan.
Moreover, anyone who still clings to the pseudo-philosophy of Ayn Rand lives in a fantasy dimension that is just this side of downright evil. Even William F. Buckley discredited her, albeit mainly due to her atheism.
To those of you whining about "suppression of free speech:" the First Amendment disallows the government from censoring you. However, a private citizen or institution can cut you off after you've had one too many discordantly irrational rants. Conservatism is crippled and invalid; I doubt it will ever truly die due to its reliance on two of humanity's deadliest and long-lived cultural maladies, nationalism and religion. Nonetheless, whatever "moment in the sun" conservatives believe they currently enjoy, it is very likely the last such moment they will see in a very long time.
Therefore, Brian Amerige, stop crying and get over it, snowflake.
5
Much ado about nothing. 100 employees or even 10 times that amount is just a rounding error of the more than 30,000 employees working for Facebook. Why not research and write an article about the real culture at FB instead of just another "gotcha" claim.
2
Facebook is a private company and can hire and fire whoever it wants. As far as it’s users- tons of them are conservatives, racists, conspiracy theorists, tea party, right to lifers, etc. The comment sections prove that in spades and can be some of the most depressing reflections of humanity available. Seems like no bias at all- just another chapter on the “War on Christmas “ to inflame the conservative base.
2
Just the headline demonstrates that the New York Times is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) culprits in this very real inconsistency. By putting 'Intolerant' in quotation marks, the New York Times reveals that it really thinks that "intolerant" is defined however the current liberal culture defines it, which excludes basically all of the majority opinions about life for the past centuries (e.g., only the religion of the Bible and the one true God is valid; we are created by God; God endows us with rights - not the government; God gave gender - it isn't moral to behave as if gender and all its attributes don't matter, limited government and conservatism are good; mankind is made in God's image and he is to own and be served by the animals, and all other creation, etc.)
In short this betrays the fact that the New York Times believes that "intolerant" is anything but Democrat and liberal, or virtually everything Christian, Republican, or conservative.
To make it look like its (and the) liberal position isn't internally inconsistent (which it is), the Times gives lip-service to one instance of this real problem, at Facebook.
2
In before staunch NYT readers start pouring into the comment section proving the engineers' point.
Oh and just because technocrats are repackaging authoritarian censorship and reinstating it through the backdoor of capitalism and monopolies doesn't mean the government should just sit back and watch because "muh private company".
1
Is Facebook and it's employees aware this memo violates The Civil Rights Act of 1964 making them liable to litigation? In particular the statements:
"They know that all the talk of openness to different perspectives does not apply to causes of social justice, immigration, diversity, and equality."
"We ask HR to investigate those who dare to criticize Islam’s human rights record for creating a non inclusive environment. And they called me a transphobe when I called out our corporate art for being politically radical"
Company wide memos complaining about an inability to criticize immigration, religion or gender can be seen as coercion and discrimination. Strict federal guidelines open liability against any employer in the U.S. including Facebook to litigation even in the case of unintentional discrimination under codes:
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
8 U.S. Code § 1324b - Unfair immigration-related employment practices {[Section a.5] [Section [b.1]]}
This is why the following political discussions are generally forbidden in the workplace during new hire orientations:
-Sex
-Pregnancy
-Religion
-National origin
-Disability (physical or mental)
-Age (for workers over 40)
-Military service or affiliation
-Bankruptcy or bad debts
-Genetic information
-Citizenship status (for citizens, permanent residents, temporary residents, refugees, and asylees)
Employees who feel coerced, discriminated against or threatened from this memo should seek legal counsel immediately.
Liberals are so biased they can't even see their own biases. Some of the things they believe make no sense, valuing emotion over reason. I call that "cognitive dissonance."
@Dan Warnock
Trumpkins are so biased they can't even see their own biases. Some of the things they believe make no sense, valuing emotion over reason.
Here's one small example of Trumpkins believing something with no evidence....they believe they created the term "cognitive dissonance".
It's just one more example of alternative facts. Hey, as the truth does have a liberal bias, what other alternative do Trumpkins have besides making up stuff.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
2
I applaud Facebook for barring Alex Jones!
5
This idea of "political diversity", ESPECIALLY at a company like Facebook, is dicey. Unlike gender or flesh tone, your political philosophy -- much like your religion -- is a freely chosen world view. Is facism simply a one-among-many legitimate, honorable world view that is merely in philisophical conflict with liberal democracy, or is it a worldview that has no place in decent society? A Soviet style totalitarianism -- again, a legitimate political stance that deserves equal time? Supporting Alex Jones isn't a political philosophy; it is a mental illness.
The leader of this charge is an acolyte of Ayn Rand, which sort of tells us much of what we need to know about the quality of his intellectual engagment. And of course, the irony here is that Mark Zuckerberg, self-made billionaire contributor to democratic causes, is as close to a Randian hero he will probably ever get.
3
Diversity of political views? Really? Here's the old way. If you are unhappy at your job because the company has a culture you don't like, take the risk, speak out and if your opinion is not heard, move on or adapt. If the market place does not agree with the company product, it will too. Ayn Rand would likely agree.
4
Wouldn't it be nice if people would stop with the hyperbolic polemics and, instead, support the Founders principles of what this country should be, as defined by the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution? Equal rights for all, under the law, and a belief in "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are not shaded in red or blue. The "tribalism" McCain referred to can be attributed to a willful ignorance of the core values we should all be ACTING on every day. Corporations are beholden to ROI, nothing more, but our society has become one of "takers", not "givers". Morality and ethics, as defined by law, should overrule corporate greed and rationalizations for same, but that is not what's happening in our country.
1
The staff and employees of the Facebook Corporation live in the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the most liberal and left leaning regions of the United States. I'm not surprised that their political leanings should be representative of the area where they live and from where many of them were recruited or chose to live. As for their willingness to hear alternative viewpoints, consider the likely reception given to an advocate for a women's right to choose attending an Evangelical Church congregation in Oklahoma. Tolerance is simply not a feature of contemporary culture. And how about diversity in the Republican Party where any criticism of our scoundrel of a President is squashed or punished with political banishment? Oh America I mourn thee!
3
Don't look at just Facebook, look at any American University. Try getting tenure or even being a student if you say something against the prevailing culture. You don't even have to be outrageous, you just have to suggest that the prevailing 'group think' is too narrow.
Try saying these phrases, but be prepared to run when you do:
Our existing immigration system is not working.
We have more coal than any other energy source.
Is it possible to reduce government spending?
Remember tyranny on the left is still tyranny.
4
@Bruce1253 I work at an American University, where we engage in critical thinking in the classroom and out of it every day. The sample statements you gave would be welcome in discussion, but rather than being "prepared to run" you'd better be prepared to think. you present these sentences as thumbs up or down beliefs versus opportunities for exploring ideas. I don't know anyone who thinks our existing immigration system is working. No one. But there isn't a single proven solution; a complex problem requires exploration of causes (historical, international, etc.) and effects (economic, ethical, etc.). Having more of something does not equate with an imperative to consume it, much less make that consumption a wise choice. And all the discussions I've had about government spending hinge on what to cut, not whether or not to cut. Your complaint reveals far more about the narrowness of your own thinking than it does the 5000+ institutions of higher learning about which you seek to generalize.
7
@Bruce1253
The whole purpose of going to a university, is being presented with a different set of ideas. It is not a place where everyone is suppose to believe what you believe. It is suppose to make you examine what you believe. It is not suppose to make you comfortable. What ever university you attended did its job. You came out with more conviction of your own ideas. Obviously, liberal ideas didn't threaten your beliefs.
1
As a company, Facebook might have a progressive ideology, but as one who peruses many posts on that platform, I've never seen so much right wing venom, coming from supposedly regular folks!!!
203
@Counter Measures WHERE?...where is the right wing venom? Please show me since it seems so very few are commenting here!
Is this really about accommodating "conservatives" or about tolerating any opinions that depart from Progressive orthodoxy? It often seems that holding any opinion that disagrees with accepted doctrine makes one a "conservative" if not a member of the hateful "alt-right".
Out there in the hinterlands between the Hudson and the Rockies, there does exist an intellectual middle ground.
3
@ERP
Vermont does not "sit" between the Hudson and the Rockies. The source of the Hudson is west of you. Just sayin'.
As for the so called progressive orthodoxy...care to point out where anyone can find that written down? FYI, the far left progressives don't like liberals either, much less moderates.
But yes, on one small point I have to agree...far left progressives are as intolerant as Trump supporters, and that is a problem for a democracy. That said, the real problem for the country is that there are a lot more Trump supporters.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
1
If we can't agree to disagree, things will entirely become disagreeable. As they are right now.
This culture is also pervasive in other trades such as Hollywood. Then again there are other areas of workplaces that would not be so welcoming of left wing ideals.
I find it's best to keep your political leanings under one's hat today. Veer or balance towards the middle and try and listen to other's perspectives. Works well for me. Be Swiss-like.
2
If FB and other tech employers in the Bay Area were more willing to hire older workers, they might, as a side benefit, develop a more tolerant, tactful, and socially experienced workforce.
5
Suspicions confirmed. Facebook is biased against any point of view that's not left.
2
I am not sympathetic because as long as we hold to facts we pretty much have the same outcome. I think the mono culture complaint could be answered by have more foreign language speakers relegating American English to a less important role.
One of the most significant issues, which is largely ignored here, is that the we are allowing the difference between right and left to be defined not by ideological differences but by the musings of serial liars like Alex Jones who has, among other things, claims that the Sandy Hook killings never occurred. The Drudge Report and Dinesh D'Souza run close seconds. In the real world conservatives cannot be synonymous with liars and transparent fabrication cannot be confused with legitimate voices from the right or the left. Most disconcerting is the fact that Donald Trump is the President and his obsessive tweets are often unrelated to reality. As long as he remains President the media will continue to cover what he tweets, but as often as is possible the coverage should be accompanied with qualifiers when the content is obviously untrue. That certainly applies to this morning's tweet claiming that Google is stifling conservatives.
14
The first thing Facebook should address is the fact they provided to some really unsavoury fringe groups across the political spectrum and to some political actors, both US and foreign, the best propaganda machine ever made. As such, it should be very tightly moderated for the quality of its content.
The irony is the ones arguing the most for free speech neither understand the purpose nor the responsibilities involved by it and by extension do the most damage to this fundamental human right.
6
Do you really expect to get an honest assessment from the inquiry into allegations of political bias when the leader is former Senator Jon Kyl, a right-wing conservative?
5
Gee, now if Fox and Breitbart will do a similar review of their “intolerant conservative” biases everything will be just peachy.
14
@The Dude
Your analogy is defective. Facebook censors individuals in their expression of viewpoints. Breitbart is open about being an opinion section devoted to conservative opinions. It's neither a forum for people to post private views nor is it a news outlet - it is an editorial page.
Fox is moderate - but when all of the other news is leftist propaganda, which it is, Fox will appear to be "right wing" because everything else is left wing. Put another way, Fox is journalism, NYT, CNN, MSNBC etc are propaganda.
3
@Rick Shonsite
Your opinion is wrong. Facebook doesn't censor individuals for expressing viewpoints...it censors for spreading lies and slander. As for Fox...they are an entertainment channel on cable/satellite. As such, they don't need to meet any standards for public service from the FCC. Networks that broadcast over the air must meet some standards for accuracy.
The claim that any mainstream media besides Fox is propaganda shows your bias perfectly. Journalism is a joke on Fox. Fox is the propaganda arm of the republican party. Maybe it can affiliate with Pravda now that Trump is Putin's puppet.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
2
@Rick Shonsite
Your analysis is defective. Facebook does not censor opinions, it censors hate speech and fake news. Alex Jones is guilty of both.
And Fox fake News is an entertainment channel, not a news channel. They do not broadcast, so do not need to meet any standards for public service as set by the FCC. Fox is the media arm of the republican party. To suggest that the Democratic party controls the rest of the mainstream media is ludicrous. As ludicrous is what Trump does every day, I'm not surprised by your claim.
Propaganda is not any news that disagrees with Trump even if that is the definition in what passes for a right wing dictionary. So, all the free press is engaged in Propaganda except Fox and Pravda. Well, aren't you special and oh so precious...little snowflake.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
1
If Facebook is so liberal, how did they get used as a tool by so many conservative, and foreign, groups? That's what Amerige should be focusing on.
262
@Red Ree
If NYT, CNN, MSNBC etc are journalism, how did they get used as a tool by so many liberals and foreign groups? That's what you should be focused on.
2
@Red Ree How? it is their technology and willing a need (supply economics). And most using FB have no idea of the ideology.
@Red Ree Lets ask Alex Jones if he's using FB as a tool.
The primary issue is that social media companies have a greater reach, the ability to put content in front of readers/viewers than any entity in history, arguably greater than the government itself.
Those companies have the power to demonstrably sway public opinion, and therefore sway the results of free elections. People have been hysterical about a Russian troll farm purchasing four million dollars worth of ads on Facebook, a fifty billion dollar company who controls what billions of people see. The inherent dangers of that concentration of power should be obvious.
1
Social media platforms enjoy unique liability protections under the CDA that assume they won't edit legal content. The moment they decide to edit otherwise legal content, as is certainly their right as a private company, they need to lose that protection and be treated just like Fox News or the NYT is. Facebook can do what they want, but they can't have it both ways. Publisher or provider: pick one.
5
“We are a political monoculture that’s intolerant of different views,” Brian Amerige,"
What a load of manure, and as usual for these people completely dishonest. I don't appreciate the Times misguided and insincere effort to balance its news delivery. Just stop it, your mission is to report the news not manipulate it.
IN point of fact FB is boiling over with every flavor of right wing intolerance from flat out idiocy to calls for violence.
What these people desire is to expand their platform where they can continues to pervert American democracy with lies and every other kind of misrepresentation available to them.
"As Stephen Colbert said; Reality has a liberal bias."
16
So the Russians have finally hacked Facebook. What a surprise!
1
Kind of funny as Facebook appears to be a prime driver of Trump's victory.
11
The groups that like to oppress others, the conservatives if you miss that reality, are now whining that they don't get to be openly bigoted. They claim as a right the ability to demean others and another right to make their private employer bow down to their demands.
You can be conservative in the U.S. without being a bigot, you cannot be a bigot without being what now passes as a conservative in the U.S.
7
Mr. Amerige wrote“you can either keep quiet or sacrifice your reputation and career.”
You don't have to sacrifice your reputation and/or career. Just Leave. Quit. Start your own Facebook.
You have been there six years. You must have figured it out by now. And by the way, everyday
so called "liberals" leave their job because they don't agree with the climate of the workspace. You can do it do, Mr. Amerige. And take the half percent with you.
6
The declared purpose of Mr. Amerige's document is to start a discussion forum in which ad hominem attack is forbidden, a sensible rule which should be the norm in all fora. Discussion on most sites is plagued by useless, content free, attack and pure speculation, and not primarily from the left. As such, I would agree with the proposal.
The judgement, however, outside of discussion forums, of the actions of those in or related to the community, is another matter. To pick an extreme example, it would hardly be surprising if an advocate for Nazism or the KKK were viewed unfavorably. So the question is whether Mr. Amerige and those who support him are looking for a more constructive forum or a change in the social structure of the community.
1
I worked for a company that was likely 80% Trump supporters and politics never came up. I worked with people at all levels and politics was simply never discussed. Why is there so much political discussion at these places? Seems like people should be directly focused on their jobs and should be leaving political organizing and strategizing to when they are off work in their communities.
11
The author of this memo is truly courageous. That being said, it’s ridiculous to have to commend someone for “courage” who’s only request of his fellow employees is to allow for diverse political opinion. Leftist ideology has become so oppressive in the tech world its employees might as well be living in Cuba, or former East Germany, with spies and Stasi on every corner informing the governing mob of any alternative views and swiftly punishing anyone who refuses to submit to the leftist groupthink with ruined careers. This is not liberalism, it’s fascism/communism.
169
@XLER No recognition should be given to viewpoints based on prejudice and ignorance. If these disgruntled employees wish to express cogent arguments in support of fact based alternate beliefs their voices should be heard and heeded. If they are hoping to reshape company policy based on unsupported opinion they have no chance of succeeding.
20
@Bill
That's not what I gathered from the article. Seems to me they just want to be able speak about their political leanings without being personally attacked by a mob.
What you call prejudice and ignorance is another's patriotism and religious beliefs. You may disagree and that is perfectly acceptable.
4
@Bill
Who says their views are “prejudiced” or “ignorant”? You?
That is the whole point of the memo - breathlessly dismissing all opposing views with false, inflammatory hyperbolic labels and overgeneralizations (“prejudiced,” “ignorant,” “racist”) simply because you don’t agree with them.
9
Is it no longer possible to be “conservative” without devoting your political energy to ensuring inequality and discrimination against those whose identities you dislike? I’d be happy to see social media promote fiscal conservatives, for example, or thoughtful arguments for smaller government, for expanding the military, etc., none of which ideas I share. But you don’t get to don a mantle of victimhood because you can’t find a wide platform for odious, bigoted, and uninformed views about immigrants, poc, queer people, and so on.
557
@AnnaTOh, please.
3
@Rick Shonsite I don't think all conservatives are bigoted, as is pretty clear. I do think conservatism has become an umbrella for multiple forms of bigotry, not to mention the kind of Orwellian reversals that see "bigotry" in criticism of what passes for conservatism now. Whatever it used to stand for (I used to think it meant fiscal conservatism and low taxes and small government, possibly wed to an anti-choice position), it means something else now, perhaps because the bigots are the loudest.
Also, I'd love to see some reputable evidence to support your claim that "conservatives," whatever you think they are, are the "vast majority" of Americans. Highly implausible.
@AnnaT
Or how about a left-supporting media site promoting the opinions of those on the Left that promote civility, honesty and morality??
1
A lot comment suggest that if these employees don't like the left bias at Facebook they should simply go elsewhere. Except Facebook claims they don't have a bias so these employees are doing a service to the company by helping to keep them honest. My way or the highway may be the motto of the reader base of the Times but it is certain not the one set by Mark Zuckerberg for his company.
8
@Todd
FB is a social platform, not a news outlet. What Zuckerberg is doing is making sure his employees are heard. I doubt that the corporate culture will change. And why should it? After all, conservatives believe that if a bakery won't bake you a cake, go to another bakery. That is the free enterprise systems so prized by conservatives.
5
Except you’re wrong. If some one wont bake a conservative a cake, they run to their lawyer not to another bakery
1
@Steph The reason the culture should change is it's bad for their business model. Zuckerberg's business model is inclusive. If half the population is alienated then you have halved your maximum profit base. Not to mention that it would lead to a conservative competing social web sites if people believe Facebook is slanted left. And wouldn't that make our current bifurcated dysfunctional social discourse a whole lot better when the two sides don't even see the same things?
1
The bias that Trump believes exists in Google search results is simply a reflection of the size of the main stream media relative to the fringe media. Since the MSM is larger than the fringe, and there are more MSM articles, it is natural that there will be a higher preponderance of those that show up in a search. Whether those articles are biased against Trump has to do with MSM, not with Google.
This accusation from Trump is really a red herring. He simply wants to control the press and not let it talk bad about him.
5
They can run their company as they see fit, of course, but any organization of 25,000 employees will have some variety of opinion represented and it should be made clear that expressions of political ideology, religious practice, choice of associates are basic rights, the expression of which must be respected.
As the workplace goes so should the platform. The mistake we make when we seek to suppress unpopular or even grotesque views is not only that these efforts never work but that once diverted or driven underground these viewpoints tend to flourish with an even more perverse intensity.
The more speech the better.
2
If conservative or right wing commentary is disrupting business operations in any whatsoever, Facebook has every right to prohibit it.
These conservative employees are more than welcome to leave campus and have their discussions in a public place.
Finally, I find it amusing that conservatives are all of a sudden asking for “safe spaces”.
5
It is amusing to think of a left leaning group of employees at Fox forming a similar group.
The first and last 2 words they would here when expressing their publicly concerns would be "You're fired".
13
We become polarized online. Without presence, tone of voice, facial expression, body language, we become reduced to opinion as marker of identity. From this all problems flow. Conservatives and liberals tend to dehumanize their opponents with narcissistic attachment to opinion. They lose sight of how their views can affect others. This is most dangerous when a dominant culture pretends to support diversity of views, when it's really doubling down on its toxicity. The conservatives claim to want a voice on immigration and diversity. Interesting choices - not taxation. Hmm. Methinks someone feels a bit threatened. See my article "Social Media and IRL: Narcissistic Attachment to Opinion" https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-pacific-heart/201806/social-...
5
The most telling thing about this article is that, as a piece of journalism, almost no effort is devoted to the supposed stakes or problem. Apparently, terms like "political diversity" and "left-leaning ideology" are meant to be self-explanatory.
Here's what we don't know. We don't know what views held by these individuals that, if expressed at work, they worry would endanger their job security. We don't know how and where they would like to express them, or why for that matter. We don't have any sense of track record: no mention of lost jobs etc in the company's recent history.
Companies have always fired employees whose publicly expressed views and behaviors are seen as morally reprehensible, precisely because associating with such views jeopardize profit. The 1st amendment has never entitled employees to make a spectacle of themselves at the literal expense of employers.
This is a hollow piece of reporting. The bizarre idea that all Americans are on one of two teams at all times is ruining this country.
7
I would like the see the FB'ers posts which some employees claim were offensive to minorities. If I were betting I'd guess they were pretty benign.
4
Perhaps they should find another place of employment. Maybe Fox News or InfoWars are hiring.
1
@J Ah, then if censorship and thought policing are the real goal, Facebook should stop selling itself as open and inclusive to its employees or its userbase.
5
“We are entrusted by a great part of the world to be impartial and transparent carriers of people’s stories, ideas and commentary,” Mr. Amerige wrote.
Well I don't trust FB at all and encourage others to distrust them as well. The idea that FB is biased against "right-wing" is laughable. They are the biggest enablers of authoritarian trends on the planet. Just creepy.
6
We have been barraged with conservative propaganda for three decades thanks mostly to the Koch and Mellon family's "investments" in colleges and universities (George Mason), think thanks (Heritage and Kato foundations), Fox News, etc. Most of it inaccurate or untruthful. The same players also worked to overturn the "Fairness doctrine" which forced mainstream media to "balance" news stories which often result in false equivalence particularly when it comes to economic agenda issues.
Media bias where it does occur often bends toward what the facts reveal. Op-ed writers appear to harbor opinions that reflect their staffs factual reporting. Conservatives like to make everything about opinion so that they cry about lack of fairness. Maybe if the facts supported their arguments they wouldn't need to try to force the media to adjust their reporting to create a balance that doesn't often exist.
5
@Wesley Brooks Wow, you have it really wrong my friend....Colleges and Universities are the training centers of liberal America for decades!! The socialists and marxists have been infiltrating and indoctrinating kids in our schools for so long we now have a whole generation of morons who can't find the truthful facts if they bit them on the nose! And by the way, it's not the conservatives who enabled the news media to "spin news stories" to back their political bias, it was the liberals. Do some more, deeper research please because your facts are a bit off kilter.
1
I constantly hear and see liberal bias in my workplace.
9
@M which you tolerate, but you know your own opinions won't be tolerated, so your coworkers never hear yours, am I right?
3
@Suzanne
Correct.
@M
Not surprising since you live in Seattle. Move East of the mountains and you will find the opposite. So is life.
I wonder what would have happened is employees at FOX or breitbart did this?
4
I just deleted my Facebook account. Tired of being censored on all my posts. No free speech there.
12
@Ruth Ort I use it much less than ever. Sick of it all.
1
@Ruth Ort
FB was never designed to be a platform for free speech or a news outlet. If you stray off from posting kittens or pictures of your nieces wedding, your on your own.
ruh roh
2
Once again the right plays the victim while winning. They spend half the time gloating and sneering "we won, get over it," and the other half stamping their feet and screaming "not fair."
1. Unlike being female, male, black, gay, hispanic, white, etc., having conservatives views is an ideological stance—you simply have an idea about how things should be. While you have a right to your opinion, if you are outnumbered, tough luck.
2. For god's sake, you have Fox "news" [sic]. Fox has the consistently highest ratings. You have Sinclair Media gobbling up every local news outlet. You have plenty of wing-nut web outlets. You have control of the white house, the congress, and practically a majority in the supreme court. Christianity is the largest religion in this country... You are the minority that is in complete control.
Yet you still bitch incessantly. No wonder the rest of us have such enmity towards you all.
51
Mr. Amerige:
So discussions about "librul" pedophile rings (see Pizzagate AND QAnon) are "political discourse?"
Conservatives need to get their own house in order, as the right's troll army really doesn't seem to be looking for fact-based debate, they just look to incite.
Once they start listening, then the lines will be clearer.
4
Just proves that 'liberals' can be intolerant bigots too.
11
Fire them all—Facebook is not a democracy. Get in line with the corporation or get lost. Besides Comrade Trump believes Russian propaganda is the current base of conservative ideology. I saw him on TV saying just that standing next to Comrade Putin in Helsinki. Problem solved.
2
This depends on the kind of conservative you are. Fiscal, no problem. Most people are when you explain how redestributing your paycheck for mostly useless programs are a waste. Social, forget it. You might as well be a free loving hippy at a Pentecostal church. Not accepted or even tolerated I assume and no dig on Pentecostals. But one thing the left has become masters at is playing twister trying to accommodate all the various viewpoints people have. It spreads them thin and the extreme elements open them for attack by conservatives and Russian trolls. I'm sure FB will accommodate as much as possible, spending even more money and adding layers of bureaucracy. Let's not forget who wins in the end. Lawyers.
5
@John Jorde How about a conservative who supports Federal law, including as regards illegal immigration?
2
If your views on immigration and diversity would ruin your career, maybe the answer isn't finding a 'safe space' at work, it's about discovering why you're a generally horrible human being I'd say.
7
@Dave, you just don't get it. That asinine statement of yours would ban you from the FB’ers for Political Diversity group. Thanks for making his point so quickly.
3
@Dave Here's my view on immigration...Come here via the legal method, that's all. I must be a racist. And this is the view of the president and most conservatives as well. Horrible ain't it? (rolls eyes).
2
The right wing screams about being marginalized ("War on Christmas") as they dominate talk radio, cable news, and the federal and most state governments. I doubt that this is accidental. Claiming to be forever under siege keeps their base agitated into a state of war, which drives their voters to the polls. Without this strategy, they would be at greater risk of losing, because they don't have the raw numbers on their side.
Whether this effort at Facebook was orchestrated by right wing thought leaders or it was picked up by someone at the grass roots who has bought into this mentality, expect these empty protests to continue, especially if Facebook begins to lean rightward to counter the purported leftward (yet non-existent) bias.
Also consider that you don't read stories about liberal employees at Sinclair Broadcast Group complaining that their political views are shunned. It is the right wingers that are the real snowflakes.
6
I wonder if Mr. Zuck is fully aware of what FB is doing these days? Who is really in control? He never struck me a particularly deep thinker anyway.
9
“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.” - William F. Buckley
211
Quoting a man who was not always exactly welcoming of disagreement. Though in his case, it seemed to stem from his confidence in his own brilliance and the utter insignificance of others, perhaps more than from his own evident political bias.
4
@Kirk - Conservative views based on using religion and discrimination to diminish minorities, women, children, and people of other faith isn't a "view", it is intolerance.
4
@Kirk Not really. We merely find it heavily ironic that a set of philosophies which itself is quite intolerant somehow manages to complain about intolerance. Moreover, Buckley was a libertarian plutocrat who looked down on just about everyone; his yearning for an undefined (yet probably culturally oppressive) "organic moral order" never really sold well in the marketplace of ideas. I mean, we can't all be inheritors of ill-gotten wealth (which includes the Kennedys, before you froth about that) from a father who despised democracy-based governance, now can we?
2
Brian Amerige you should learn the difference between facts and lies, between facts and alternate facts, between Donald Trump and truth. In this new era where every day brings a new revelation of absolute and utter corruption and lies of the GOP, your comments that you are being attacked for your ideas is beyond ludicrous. You, the GOP are being attacked for lying. Now your lies may play well in Alabama or Mississippi, but for now, they don't play well here.
4
@John Let me guess - liberals have a monopoly on the truth, and conservatives only believe in lies. Also, if there is a close call to be made, only liberals are competent to determine what is a 'lie' and what is a 'fact'.
4
It seems this branch of conservatives is all for letting the free market decide without big government intervention. Unless the free market decides against them.
9
Facebook is a private investigation company--their "product" is intimate information on not only every one of their users, but because of their reach, hundreds of millions of people who are not and who never have been users of Facebook.
To continue to grow, Facebook has gotten into trouble here by getting involved with content. Content of any sort has bias. Their initial hands-off approach to content brought them criticism based on irresponsibility and the promotion of violence; now their policy of limits is bringing them criticism based on bias. Their vast profit-making machine is at risk.
In Web 1.0 I belonged to a social network forum owned by one man. He had a strict policy on what you could say and what you could do, and he got away with it by saying "This is my sandbox; I'm paying for it; if you want to play in it, you abide by my rules." It worked. Trolls were weeded out. It was a wonderful, peaceful site not free of spirited discussions with views on all sides, but those spirited discussions were kept free of personal attack. But that guy never became a billionaire.
76
It’s inspiring to see these brave people risk their jobs and their lives standing up for what they believe in!
11
Why is it that libertarians and some conservatives seem so hellbent in playing the victim? The last time I looked Republicans control the office of the president, both houses of congress and around 30 statehouses.
12
I am not sure that any employer would tolerate hatred of minority groups. Well, actually Fox and Sinclair embrace them. But I bet that FB has no problem with any employees feeling that fiscal conservatives are better. Oh wait...deficits don't matter to conservatives anymore. Unthinking, uninformed employees don't really warrant a platform.
5
I think the real problem here is what conservative and liberal have come to mean, and I think the idea that liberals are more biased against conservative views then conservatives against liberals is an argument out of context. For the past 40 years the GOP, the supposed standard bearer of conservative thought, have turned liberal political thinking, not into an opposing viewpoint, but something treasonous or vile, they used 'liberal' the same way that they used 'red' or 'pinko' back in the 50's to basically dismiss anything to the left of attila the hun as 'vile'. Rather than making it into a discussion about the ideas themselves (and they can be debated), it turned into villifying the person, not the ideas.
Then, too, what was once conservative (as defined by people like Buckley) suddenly became the hard right, alt right world of the racists and religious right and the anti intellectual/anti thought brigade. Buckley on Firing Line would make people defend their positions, and was an intellectual, we have people like Sarah Palin and Trump who can't put together a rational argument and instead deal in tweets and blurts, facts be dammed, and facts themselves become "fake news". Suddenly conservative means it being okay to be racist/white supremacist, to be openly hateful of gays as "valid conservative thought", or banning evolution because "it conflicted with deeply held beliefs".....Alex Jones? So inflicting pain on those who lost loved ones by claiming it was a hoax is ok?
6
@bill d Excellent comment. Today Buckley wouldn't even get a "like" from any rightie.
No one would know his name.
No one today could understand what he was saying.
Is it just the attitude that has dropped - or is it also the I.Q.? I'm beginning to suspect that anyone under 45 thinks the world was created last week.
Bubble Boyz.
Anyway, Thanks.
3
Why do the few get to wrestle control from the many? These employees are living in the wrong state, time to move and get a new job.
7
Frankly, it's too little too late. The stampede out is already irreversable, and anything Congress or the President do will only prolong Facebook's death spiral. Facebook's trigger finger intolerance of debate, and smearing of 2/3 of its own user base as "hate" mongers has reduced it to a platform of people posting kitten pictures with captions, 'Find my people on Minds, Gab, Steemit, Mewe, & BitChute'. Except for checking private messages from those luddites who've forgotten how to use email, Facebook is going the way of MySpace. The market has gone off to where it can discuss the problems of humanity without jackbooted kindergarten nannies imposing themselves always on the side of the bullies. We're all sick of the low contrast blue-on-blue toolbar anyway. Why should we all suffer because it's the only color colorblind Zuckerberg can see? It is symbolic of the colorless experience Facebook has become.
5
@Suzanne
Facebook has a market capitalization of over $500 billion. The company is not going anywhere soon.
2
Were FB not a way to connect with family, I would have left it a long time ago.
They allow HATE pages to exist and good pages/groups are removed.
The more heated the political scene, the less accepting Facebook is of others, especially the conservative view.
#FacebookNotWorthTheEffort
8
This doesn’t seem like a very high % of people, but that’s only if you only count those foolish enough to join the group. The Damore incident is instructive - lists were kept of those who agreed, people were blackballed, careers were sidetracked.
I work at a FANG as a traditional centrist conservative (Romney not Trump), and as a straight white guy. I disagree with our approach to diversity and politics in many ways.
However, I have bills to pay and career aspirations. I keep my opinions to myself, my podcasts/books hidden, and join in on anti-Trump conversations to signal liberalism to colleagues. I stay off Twitter, I barely use Facebook, I ignore colleague friend requests, and my bold stance is liking Mitt Romney’s FB page. Then I come to the NYT and comment under a fake name, and, even then, won’t say which company I work for.
Does that seem like the behavior of an employee at an “inclusive” company? The McCarthyism is real.
16
The only reason you object to Trump is to put on a show for your colleagues? Virtually every ethical conservative objects to Trump. That's why so many have left the Republican Party-before-country.
5
@Carl H A good reason to get rid of "At Will Employment" and replace it with just cause.
1
No, Trump himself isn’t fit for any public office. He’s no conservative. He’s a self-interested opportunist. That shared viewpoint allows me to speak honestly while allowing my colleagues to assume the rest of my views align with theirs.
2
Those dozens will be fired by noon today. Because biases must match.
3
Odd that no one on the right everything complains about the absence of liberal ideas at ExxonMobil.
10
@HowardR ExxonMobil isn't selling itself as a public forum.
4
@HowardR I love Exxon. They help provide me, you and the world with the energy that provides jobs, food and resources. Thank you Exxon. You are the best!
3
A good republican would say “find another job.” What makes this different?
12
What's the difference in what Google/Twitter/Facebook does and the NYTimes or almost all main stream media? When a culture like the current PC authoritarians are allowed to control what is presented then we have a potential disaster in the making. And, we do...
9
Hearken back to the protests in various universities because conservative viewpoints were not taught or considered. More current are the groups wanting creationism taught in our schools as a viable alternative to evolution.
It's possible that Mr. Amerige is a peeved individual with a few like-minded followers, but this protest foretells an organized effort to trumpet these claims in many large and visible organizations. Watch for it.
3
@L. AmenopeThanks, Norma Jean. will do as you say and watch for it.
@L. Amenope You are the exact mindset that is what we regular folks that are mostly neutral on issues call an intolerant liberal. You have to be open-minded and accept that there are ALL kinds of people on this Earth and not all of them care to see it YOUR way.
3
It's like "Duh"; it took this 'brilliant' engineer to figure out what I found out in like the first two seconds when I first joined Facebook a few years ago.
3
The culture wars infect everything, so it's no surprise that FB now will have to cure itself, probably at the direction of the US Congress, itself a prime example of cultural antipathy and dysfunction. Corporations have culture and those cultures may be biased. However, I detect asymmetry in the expectations about how "liberal-progressive" and "conservative-libertarian" individuals and organizations are to behave. Liberal-progressives are expected to be tolerant of and open to all, including intolerant and often indefensible non-fact-based opinions of individuals like Alex Jones (InfoWars), President Trump, or organizations like Fox News. Meanwhile, many conservative-libertarians reserve the right to offend, goad, denigrate, and bully liberal-progressives with impunity. It is no wonder that those who have been historically disrespected and abused now reflect disdain and disrespect back onto their tormentors.
Can we learn to exchange ideas without disrespecting our debaters? Only when we can agree that our shared American values are more important than those that divide us.
7
No accident that these companies are located in Lenin's Bay Area--the political order requires same from them.
No question their internal political operation is like the high-tech group-think gulags--though much gilded--that they, in fact, are.
The product demands it, e.g., Google's ubiquitous self-serving propaganda often found on its search page.
11
I worked in "high tech" for 35 years, in a variety of positions and locations, including "Silicon Valley". Yes, the vast majority of people in the field are liberals - probably because the vast majority are educated intelligent people many of they living in California - arguably the most liberal state. So, a small percentage of that particular work force could be viewed as conservative or right wing. People are entitled to their opinions, not necessarily an accepting audience. If there is evidence that someone is denied a job or promotion because of their political views, there must be a way to redress these injustices - which is what they are. But to not have friends or to not have your political beliefs accepted or even listened to - that's another issue. Political views are not religion and are not entitled to any special treatment. If you don't want to hear that your colleagues think you are a but insane for being right wing perhaps you should keep those views to yourself.
34
@conniesz We are talking about the injustices here, not hurt feelings. IRS Employees targeted charities for scrutiny based on their political leanings, people are being beaten in the streets for wearing the "wrong" hat or T-shirt, conservative speakers are being denied speaking venues at our universities and public buildings, now we see preferential treatment for left leaning news sources based on search engines, accounts being closed or non monetized if they are right leaning and on and on. Because you have conservative beliefs does not make you a second class citizen in this country. Those that feel otherwise have no respect for our Constitutional Rights.
9
@dschwar
"IRS Employees targeted charities for scrutiny based on their political leanings"
this is false, both sides were targeted, except with the rise in the number of the tea party groups they were targeted in higher numbers.
Conservatives hold both houses in Congress, POTUS and many state legislatures. Excuse me for not buying the "second class citizen" argument.
6
@Mark you need to read up. Left leaning 504s were given a pass. The IRS deliberately impaired the ability of numerous conservative advocacy organizations ability to fundraise during an election season. They did so by delaying application approvals for years, and demanding things like lists of all attendees at all rallies, complete membership rolls etc. The assertion that the IRS did that to both sides has been repeatedly debunked.
5
Conservatives at Facebook here are simply saying they no longer want to be censored or silenced. That's the difference. As another comment here says: "And Alex Jones maintains a 'conservative viewpoint' that needs to be heard? Give me a break." If you disagree with the views of someone else, do you feel that is justification enough for censoring them? Big Tech and social media have a well documented recent history of censoring and banning conservatives - including elected officials in the US House of Representatives, or Alex Jones. No one is saying he is "needs" to be heard, just that he is allowed to speak. These conservatives at Facebook simply ask to not be censored or banned. When conservatives disagree with liberal organizations they don't try to censor them. Facebook is a private company, but they do get the favorable legal treatment of not being recognized as a publisher. Maybe social networks that discriminate based on politics, shadowban users without informing them and choke off traffic to users they disagree with, but allow hate from the left, should be treated like publishers and be exposed to liability for the speech of their users, like libel. Facebook, Google/ YouTube, Twitter, Instagram dominate internet traffic by several measures. When they ban the same user from all of their platforms on the same date, that becomes an antitrust issue, as big tech firms appear to be conspiring to deny their overwhelming majority share of the market to someone.
13
@slothb77
Therein lies the issue with free enterprise. This is a monopoly but that has happened with many big corporations over the last 100 years. These are social platforms not news outlets. Do you really think that the government should step in and monitor FB and other social platforms?
After all, a baker was allowed to discriminate and conservatives sited it was his right. They said go to another bakery.
There are conservative platforms like 4chan which allow nothing but right wing postings. So you can go there.
2
I spend way too much of my time correcting the "conservative" speech I find on FB. What I mean by correcting is basic fact checking. Example" recent memes going around saying the Jacksonville shooter was a rabid liberal.
As far as work goes, we don't discuss politics. I'm in corporate financial services, so mostly Trump supporters anyway. But its not uncomfortable. Obviously you can't have a hostile work environment. A rabid supporter of any candidate can isolate themselves or others, so its just best to leave it low key. However, my sense is Mr Amerige isn't one of the low key supporters.
9
@Sxm"the Jacksonville shooter was a rabid liberal"
That's not something you could possibly know either way.
3
It's been my experience, working in a community that includes many individuals who identify as conservative, that ideas that differ from than their own positions are taken as a refutation of those more conservative ideas. Coming to a place of dialogue or any kind of conversation is often difficult, if not impossible. Especially when those conservative ideas embrace systemic racism and sexism.
6
@Cindy
I guess you could say the same thing about both sides. You don't have to listen nor agree, but they have the RIGHT, same as you!
1
These are PUBLIC companies, owned by millions of shareholders with diverse political views. Why should the CEOs of these companies impose their personal political viewpoints and use the resources of these companies , WHICH THEY DO NOT OWN, treat them as their personal political playthings and suppress the views of the rest of shareholders such as myself?. Something is very wrong here.
5
@A parishioner Agreed. These big social media platforms actually operate on telecommunication lines that the government subsidizes. Because of this the government does have a legal obligation to uphold first amendment rights.
1
@A parishioner
Since when is FB a news outlet? It is a social platform. it is a fee enterprise. I have never seen censoring of kittens or canning projects. I looked at someones site the other day who had posted a KKK flag which had been up for at least 3 months. What about the 4chan site? That only posts right wing views. Or Brietbart.
And to say the government should step in and censor FB does not sound very compatible with the free enterprise the conservatives so love.
Where was the conservative outrage over the baker who refused to bake a cake for gays? He used public roads for his business and his business license had a non discrimination clause.
Is it only a problem when your politics don't agree ? or would you apply it even to the conservative sites?
1
Apparently, a libertarian thinks that his views should be recognized? Isn't that a conundrum? After all, free enterprise should be able to do and say whatever it wants. That is the basis of libertarianism.
41
FB, like Fox "news" is a private company, not a government institution. It can do what ever it wants to any post or account on its network. If FB employees don't like that they are free to find gainful employment elsewhere.
30
I am so weary of viewpoints. I prefer news, that compilation of facts that provides me with the information I need to determine whether a situation is good or bad for me.
Back in my newspaper days, people would sometimes ask why we didn't run this or did run that. My ready response:
"We own the press. We make the rules. If you want something different, get your own press."
Now everyone has a press, and viewpoints have taken the place of information. Critical thinking is just too darn hard when we can just hit "Like."
22
@Lisa Sandmeyer I agree, I don't watch the news to hear a reporters opinions. I wants facts. That's news. The media is a conduit for corporate marketing, political propaganda, and disinformation by and large in the current era. Many people like hype more than reality, I can't say the same. I change the channel when "experts" start to tell me how it is.. What has become of journalism? Our children are doomed to be fooled.
2
@Lisa Sandmeyer Ah, but facts are automatically labeled "hate speech" by the left. That's the problem we're discussing here.
4
"This month, the social network barred the far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, a move that critics seized on as further evidence that the company harbors an anti-conservative bias."
While we need to respect responsible, fact based opinions, whether we agree with them or not, but we should allow the spread of "alt-facts" (i.e. lies) or irresponsible hate mongering. Alex Jones is neither fact based, nor responsible, and often encourages criminal behavior. Much of today's conservatism is sadly divorced from facts and is flatly propaganda.
24
@Bill - so are you a member of the committee that determines what is fact? what is truth?
wow, I want on that committee, too.
3
"... better be careful because you can’t do that to people,” Mr. Trump said. “I think that Google, and Twitter and Facebook, they are really treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful. "
These are private companies and can post, or not post, what they choose. Trump should learn his history--the Fairness Doctrine is long gone.
37
@Scott d
If Google, Twitter and Facebook become too large and dominant, as I believe they already are, then they become subject to A.G. Sessions antitrust action and can be force to be broken up into smaller, more competitive and diverse companies, just like Ma Bell phone company was forced to do decades ago.
10
@A parishioner Except in this case it is purely for political reasons. Trump isn't getting praised enough, so he goes after them.
8
Just because you are a private company does not mean you cannot be regulated. There are plenty of private companies that have government oversight. These platforms just might find themselves put under FCC oversight and regulations. The law can be changed and nothing prevents the government from protecting the American people from out and out propaganda. So the threat to these companies is the heavy hand of gov interference and they would be wise to police themselves before that comes to pass. I am never one for more government but at the same time I do not want censorship from the left disguised as diversity or some such nonsense. Americans are adults we can deal with nasty words and conflicting ideas, that is the best part of being free, the freedom to choose what you believe or the freedom to check the sources and decide which is true.
7
When a handful of monopolies controls access to information, you've got a threat to democracy.
When these companies are owned and staffed by PC authoritarians opposed to free speech, you no longer have a democracy.
33
@Expatico
There are plenty of conservative sites, if you hadn't noticed.
You think the government should exercise power to tell Google, for instance. which search results to serve up?
16
@Expatico Consumers have a choice, there are other search engines, other social network platforms. Heck you could even build your own. Not the same as Ma Bell or the cable companies owning the line to your house.
8
@Expatico
FB is a social platform not a news network. It has its own corporate culture. It is a free enterprise which I always thought conservatives supported. So you only want it to be free enterprise only when it promotes conservative views?
Maybe, like the gay couple who wanted a wedding cake, go to another bakery, so to speak.
4
" “We are entrusted by a great part of the world to be impartial and transparent carriers of people’s stories, ideas and commentary,” Mr. Amerige wrote. “Congress doesn’t think we can do this. The president doesn’t think we can do this. And like them or not, we deserve that criticism.” "
Refreshing, maybe there is yet hope that the 'group think' that is most prevalent in today's media has begun to run its course. It would certainly serve the country well to have civil discourse in all the medias, as the suppressed voice may just turn out to be the most insightful.
10
@Skeptic An example of the bias I find in news stories, everyday. CNN story on what if Dems win in Oct. Trump is quoted as saying that if the Dems win that they will quickly and violently reverse the action he took and which are favored by his constituency. Headline- Trump says there will be violence if he loses (paraphrase). Headline is deceptive and suggests violence on the part of his follows, exactly the opposite of what Trump said.
3
@edward smith
Actually Edward, the headline was not deceptive but factual. Here's a quote from a "news" source maybe we all can agree has no skin in the game - the BBC. Three paragraphs so you get the entire context.
"An audio recording of Mr Trump's closed-door meeting with Evangelical leaders at the White House was leaked to US media.
During the meeting, Mr Trump said the mid-term elections were not just a referendum on him but also "on your religion, it's a referendum on free speech and the First Amendment [guaranteeing basic freedoms]".
"It's not a question of like or dislike, it's a question that they will overturn everything that we've done and they will do it quickly and violently. And violently. There is violence. When you look at Antifa - these are violent people," he said."
2
“We are entrusted by a great part of the world to be impartial and transparent carriers of people’s stories, ideas and commentary,” Mr. Amerige wrote. “Congress doesn’t think we can do this. The president doesn’t think we can do this. And like them or not, we deserve that criticism.”
NAILED IT. Why does anyone pretend that Facebook is a balanced arbiter of news? It uses everyone who interacts with it as a data mine. Cancel your account, America.
15
Company leaders sculpt a companies culture. Some are more conservative say financial institutions, some more progressive, say community health centers. For a company to be successful it is necessary for employees to accept and live the culture, otherwise both the employee and company will suffer. If Mr. Zuckerberg wishes to lead a company with a progressive lean which is his vision it is his right as it is the right of he present occupant of the oval office to shape his office. If these individuals wish to voice an opposing view, they can do so outside the work place off the clock... but while on the clock, adopt the culture of the company or organization that signs their pay check. It comes down to this, many people do not see eye to eye with their boss or company, however, while on the clock perform as asked, if not, find another opportunity.
6
@JBR
If Google, Twitter and Facebook become too large and dominant controlling our access to information, as I believe they already are, then they become subject to A.G. Sessions antitrust action and can be force to be broken up into smaller, more competitive and diverse companies, just like Ma Bell phone company was forced to do decades ago.
1
@JBR So I assume you are against NFL kneeling during the anthem? I mean they are on the clock right?
1
@JBR ... yes, quite right. Keep at it Koch Brothers.
There is nothing more conservative than Facebook's business model, their utter contempt for people, for society's well-being, for standards of corporate behavior and for the healthy functioning of democracy. They are the epitome of conservatism.
Concern with the political ideas expressed by low-level employees amongst themselves and which are more acceptable than others is akin to a concern with the arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. We've hit an iceberg and are going down, every man, woman and child unless we act now.
Turning our attention to the trivial is exactly what trump would like us to do at the moment. Let's get all hands on deck and resist that temptation.
19
@Sixofone
"There is nothing more conservative than Facebook's business model, their utter contempt for people, for society's well-being...."
Exactly right. That Facebook accepted payment in Rubles for political ads during the 2016 election says all we need to know about its actual values.
3
While I agree that people of diverse political backgrounds should have the opportunity to communicate their ideas civilly, it is counter-intuitive to provide political views that run counter to a company's vision. It certainly isn't the company's job to provide a platform for views it finds abhorrent. If, for instance, you extol the virtues of mass deportation or believe that transgender individuals shouldn't use certain bathrooms, but your company does, you're going to get overridden. I can think whatever thoughts I want, but if my company's vision, mission, or overall philosophy doesn't mesh with mine, I'm not going to get a voice. Get on the boat or get off, but don't complain when you don't like the way the boat you chose is sailing.
13
@Carl
These are PUBLIC companies, owned by millions of shareholders with diverse political views. Why should the CEOs of these companies impose their personal political viewpoints and use the resources of these companies , WHICH THEY DO NOT OWN, treat them as their personal political playthings and suppress the views of the rest of shareholders such as myself?. Something is very wrong here.
1
@A parishioner — If one doesn't like the way a public company is run, one changes the management. So go ahead and do that...
Oh, wait, you don't own stock in Facebook, do you?
1
We must embrace tolerance and diversity, especially of diverse opinions on both the right and left of the political spectrum.
The best way to do this is to associate with people with whom one disagrees. This mitigates the current corrosive tendency to delegitimize and even demonize people with different views. It also is our country’s best defense against Russian and Chinese efforts to inflame passions and divide our society.
4
@John — There is no ethical imperative to "embrace tolerance" for those making use of disinformation to mobilize partisan voters through fear and racism.
1
No one understands how to deal with the Pandora’s Box that Facebook, among others, has opened. This issue of minor conservative rebellion among their workers is a footnote in the history of social media’s unintended assault on belief in objective truth.
2
The assumption by many people that other people having “conservative” views equates to racism, the suppression and intolerance of minorities, and even hate speech, basically goes against their own ideology.
Cutting to the chase, if acceptance of conservative views is intolerable by others, be it in public, at the work place or any other imaginable segment of society then the Democratic principles has failed.
6
@MDCooks8 if conservatism isn't standing for racism, suppression of minorities and general intolerance, conservatives sure are electing some weird people that don't agree with their views because they feel like it's going to make them more money. (at least that's my only assumption left in this world, that people don't do the research and think that a conservative leadership means a profitable private sector despite the idea that it just funnels more wealth above the majority of the people who vote in the first place and has an overall reductive amount on the number of people who benefit from society at large.).
I'd personally hate to be called conservative or liberal currently, both have quite a lot of contradictory positions on the idea of having a quality life, and neither are really doing great things for America as-is. But it sure does seem that the Republican view of conservative has a lot of social issues to work on at the moment.
1
@MDCooks8 If that isn't conservatism in today's world, please elect those who do not share those views.
1
Corporations, even FB, are not bastions of liberalism. If these people want to express their conservative views fine. They just can't do it with alternate facts and magical thinking. That should not be allowed by any side. And if they want to say what a great job Trump is doing they open themselves to ridicule because this is demonstrably untrue
They or whoever are not allowed to say 2+2=5.
25
@pendragn52
Actually Trump IS doing a great job. He is responsible for the BEST economy in years, great employment figures, renegotiation of NAFTA and other trade agreements to favor the US workers, destruction of ISIS, and too much more to list here. YOU are opening yourself up to ridicule actually.
6
Gee, I don't know. I see a lot of right-wing-nuts happily posting on FB. I see a lot of right-wing bias on FOX. Most of the real media is owned by right-wing-leaning corporations. If the Left is making some sort of impact it would only be because the Left tends to speak/write that weird thing called, "Truth."
71
@lynchburglady
What silly nonsense.
The LEft in America has become the radically intolerant segment of our society. They hate free speech and honest discussion. 'Truth' has nothing to do with it.
George Orwell had it right.
3
Another article using valuable journalistic space to report on a small group of discontented employees.
Deliver the eggs.
14
These people and men’s rights activists share a similar narrative in their complaint: they’re in the group holding power, yet on an individual basis they do not feel powerful. Perhaps they’d find solace in re-thinking the value of collectivism.
8
Facebook is trash. I do enjoy the kitty videos though.
8
How can anyone, liberal or conservative, rely on this drivel to gain knowledge of current events? Why does anyone accept information on FB as accurate? I liken it to a virtual cocktail party spreading rumor and innuendo. The only facts I see are people posting about family, friends, and business events.
In the interest of disclosure I don’t have a Facebook page. I do read the public pages of businesses and my favorite authors. I sometimes read my husband’s page when he wants to show me something. I haven’t seen anything on FB resembling news, only tabloid fodder.
262
Perhaps I read too many dystopian sci-fi novels in my youth...books like 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, etc. In future societies citizens and their speech were controlled by the state and/or those with authority (the media). It was mandated what people could say or even think (the thought police). Today, we are almost there.
Free speech is our most important right. There are appropriate laws restricting libel and speech that incites violence. Otherwise, we should be allowed to say whatever we want and use whatever words we choose. If it offends someone, ignore it. Let's not evolve into one of those horrible futuristic places we were warned about.
115
Actually, Brave New World was about how the government wouldn't need to censor things because there would be so much speech, anything truly subversive would be lost in the shuffle.
This isn't about free speech. It's about letting "conservatives" say whatever baseless things they want to say without having to face any consequences. Not only that, but the first ammendment doesn't apply to Twitter or Facebook. It only applies to government censorship of speech.
These cries of bias are, again, the attempt of the right to work the ref so they can get away with whatever they want, regardless of its consequences. What the right is doing now is very evocative of Brave New World in that they are spreading so many lies and distortions that they drown out and bury truth. Or at least they try.
4
@Rand Dawson "Otherwise, we should be allowed to say whatever we want and use whatever words we choose." You cannot stand up to say whatever you want without restraint in a library or classroom. You have to abide by accepted social standards of decorum, such as not using swears in a public place. Even the government has the right to escort you out of a public hearing if you don't abide by rules and standards. There is and never has been such thing as unlimited free speech. Venues and platforms have an obligation to enforce policies for codes of conduct. As long as something is phrased decently, though, and doesn't stem from poison pill ideologies like eugenics, it is usually very well tolerated. So what does that say about the views that are being "censored"?
2
@Rand Dawson
There is no problem with stating opinions...as long as they are put forward as such. The problem is fake news...which comes by a very large margin from the right...particularly on facebook.
Alex Jones is famous for producing and reporting fake news...he should be barred from Facebook. Promoting racism also promotes violence. Sorry to have to tell you this...sorry that you need to hear it, but fake news and far right conspiracy theories promote violence.
You need to reread 1984 again...I don't believe you understood what it was saying.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
2
Why does this even require a write-up? Only 100 employees out of more than 25,000 feel like they can't express their political views freely. Moreover, why do they even need to? Can't they just do their jobs? I don't talk politics with my co-workers. Seems like the NYT is trying to appease the Trump crowd with this one.
408
“Sir, I’m from Joe McCarthy’s Office. We’d like to know if you disagree with his tactics and policies. If so, please sign this list so we can better inform the Senator. Oh, you agree with him? Great. We haven’t had many people say they don’t. Maybe 100 out of 25,000 polled thus far.”
6
@Jack H. Or perhaps the NYTs is just trying to make everyone aware.
Can't just appease the liberal crowd.
1
@Jack H. If your job is making widgets then politics isn't an issue. If you job is looking at millions of posts and deciding what should go on line and what should be rejected and it's mostly shades of gray then political opinions do matter especially if the people making the calls overwhelming identify with the left.
2
I don't have a problem with honest conservative evaluation of the news. What I have a problem with is the never ending stream of vicious lies masquerading as conservative evaluation of the news.
61
Thank you.
1
Liberals want everyone to look different but think the same.
Mere superficial diversity.
If the point of going out of your way to admit or hire (presumptively) less qualified people from diverse backgrounds (i.e., affirmative action) is to ensure an organization covers all blind spots and can make better decisions or is a more effective academic learning environment, shouldn't intellectual diversity be the primary factor?
An unspoken truth is that a quarter of black students at elite colleges are African immigrants. And many others disproportionately come from the upper classes. The point being that in an attempt to promote racial diversity these schools are disproportionately selecting for the same type of person and ignoring true diversity of worldview.
20
@Mmm Your view from afar is skewed. The tech sector is overwhelmingly white and male. Nothing wrong with white males, but if you're designing products for ALL of society, you need people with varied backgrounds and life experiences. Tech companies fight hard to bring more women and ethnic minorities into the field, people who are SMART and qualified, and then people like Mr. Amerige snort in protest from their comfortable dominance. And btw: Alex Jones & Co. are not "political diversity," they're dangerous provocateurs and liars.
3
@Michael Actually, you are mistaken. Whites are slightly underrepresented in the tech sector while Asians (which are not a monolithic group, but constitute a number of diverse cultures that are arguably more different from each other than black and white Americans are from each other) are overrepresented by about a factor of 6. This is FB's stats in the U.S.:
57% white, 34% asian, 4% hispanic, 2% black, and 3% two-plus races
Here is a broader survey: https://www.businessinsider.com/infographic-tech-diversity-companies-com...
1
“We are a political monoculture that’s intolerant of different views,” Maybe someone at Fox News and in the Evangelocal churches should start their own groups to eliminate bias. Couldn’t hurt.
32
Political diversity, huh? I wonder what qualifies? Historically speaking, conservative ideals involved- conservatism of all things. Fiscal responsibility, personal choices being personal and limited government intervention. On the liberal side side, utilizing government to promote the common good through education, a living wage, decent housing, unions, health care was the main agenda. Now we have fascist religious zealots on one side and psuedo liberal wealthy handwringers on the other.
6
Unless I'm missing something (which is certainly possible), we public are unrestricted from turning off both Facebook and Fox News (and the Catholic church hierarchy, if you like that better) . . .
12
One enduring problem in all sociopolitics is the "twiddledee/tweedledum" (this or that) syndrome. Everything gets parsed into left or right, democrat or republican, black or white, gay or straight, rich or poor, ad nauseum.
Another is that few people are willing to really take in a point of view, understanding the whole thought, before reacting to it. Usually people pick out a few fighting words and go ballistic.
To me, the corporate left is just as neofascist as the corporate right, more alike than different. Both are suffering from confirmation bias, only interested in that which confirms what they already think; both posit themselves as correct and reasonable, but tolerate no dissent, which is very revealing.
I've thought for a long time that everyone should be required to study psychology and be on a debate team in jr. high. To learn about self deceit and how you can argue for/against any issue using the same information. And how suspect it all is.
Not every criticism is a condemnation, people! Unplug and go camping. Please grow up...
12
What corporate left is that? Certainly only a tiny proportion of corporate management is leftist.
3
Enough with this whining from conservatives. This is a private company, and this is the free market speaking that you so love. Your ideas are losing in the marketplace of ideas because they are garbage and intolerant.
Stop with this nonsense that the left is intolerant. Being intolerant of intolerance is completely acceptable, otherwise the *actual* intolerant would win. One side fighting for white supremacy and the other side seeking to stop white supremacy so that all can flourish is NOT the same thing. But you knew that.
101
@A parishioner — You said that already and I will reaffirm what I said before: if shareholders don't like the way a company is being run, shareholders are free to change the management. Just because a company is publicly traded doesn't mean that conspiracy theorist loons like Alex Jones get a free run...
1
Corporations get to do what they want, right? Where's the political diversity on Faux News?
24
The difference is, they are violating their own policies on what is allowed and what is not. They should be honest, as FOX is, and admit their leftist bias. It would be great if NYT, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, TIME, ABC, etc., did likewise. Intellectual honesty is all this conservative wants. I don’t believe in anyone being allowed to force a private business to do much of anything, but honesty to the consumer is paramount to maintaining trust. @Lynne
2
Facebook employees like Amerige, either through incompetence or by design, allowed Russian operatives to spread misinformation and lies for years on their platform, and now he whines about the fact that people at FB aren’t taking him seriously enough.
Facebook employees allowed Jones to continually promote lies about Sandy Hook, the victims and their parents, now Amerige tells us that people at FB are mean to him because he thinks The Fountainhead is an operator’s manual for Americans and others don’t.
All due respect to Amerige, who I’m sure is a great guy, but as a highly paid FB employee who is in favor of policies that keep a large majority of his fellow citizens down he really needs to understand that for him it’s only his feelings that are hurt. For millions of Americans, his beliefs and the people he supports cause genuine pain and despair. Maybe spending more time watching his stock options go up will make him feel better about the company that pays him.
14
@M They allowed CNN to push Lanny Davis lies on their platform as well. They allowed CNN to push stories that used Lanny Davis as an anonymous source, but falsely claimed Lanny Davis declined to comment. Facebook allowed the Obama campaign access to personal user data. They allow all kinds of hateful, racist, discriminatory or possibly illegal speech (the a-word threats, folks, of which there are legions on social media) from the left.
1
@A parishioner
A "public" company doesn't mean what you're trying to imply. You buying shares of FB is the same as you buying any other product, financial or otherwise. You may buy or not buy FB the same way you may or may not shop at Hobby Lobby. In both cases the company is not required to adhere to any particular individual or group's political views or even to maintain a neutral stance. Citizens United v. FEC went one step further and said it was unconstitutional for the government to attempt to block a company's participation in elections via things like ads and other media, effectively giving a "public" company's CEO the right to try to sway the electorate to vote in the company's (or even his/her) best interests.
Right-wingers only seem to discover the intolerance in this when they realize that there are times when the laws work both ways.
He lost me at "Ayn Rand."
41
Why should we care about the political views of employees at FB?
7
Same reason we care about gender and racial diversity in hiring.
5
It is good to read about these activities at Facebook; it is timely and worthwhile of the Times to print this article.
I personally lean to the right on many, but not all, issues. It is not that I lack compassion, but rather that I worry about the costs and consequences of many liberal policies. But this is a discussion for another day.
Here, I bemoan the growing lack of tolerance I myself experience. We have become disrespectful of opposing points of few. Yes, there are some perspectives, such as frank racism and bigotry, that have no place in society. But the intolerance I see today goes far beyond this. The Times described this in a recent article,
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/us/politics/political-fights.html
This well written piece described how research has shown there is more intolerance by liberals of conservative points of view, than the other way around. I often experience this intolerance myself. One of the bigger offenders is perhaps the Editorial Board of this newspaper.
So kudos to the folks at Facebook, who are questioning the policies imposed by the liberal majority of the firm. Here’s hoping the leadership of Facebook will be respectful of the conservative’s perspective, and act accordingly. Given the oversized role Facebook has come to have in disseminating news of the world, the importance of free speech for (almost) all points of view is of vital importance.
28
If Facebook attempts to limit conservative speech, they must not do a very good job at it. I see plenty of conservative speech, despite my left-leaning filter bubble.
One should consider that it might actually be the other way around: perhaps Facebook, Google, and Twitter try to increase the diversity of ideas that we all see. Perhaps conservatives see liberal ideas added to their news feeds *because* they choose mostly conservative sources, and wrongly assume that everybody else sees the same thing they do.
12
Really. I wonder how you can do that without being a facebook employee. There is a difference between what gets tolerated on Facebook platform and what gets tolerated inside Facebook corporation. It is not a hard concept to understand if someone spends 30 seconds thinking about it.
3
Mr Amerige is ‘a senior Facebook engineer.’ Yet he has posted regarding his admiration for the libertarian philosophy of Ayn Rand. The characterization ‘senior’ stands in opposition to such admiration. ‘Senior’ implies experienced, and experienced Americans know Rand’s philosophy opposes our Constitutional aspirations. Rand begins and ends with Me; the Constitution starts with We. Rand is, immaturely, all about responsibility for oneself alone; the Constitution‘s Preamble makes clear, we are responsible BOTH for ourselves AND, maturely, to one another.
One hopes Facebook can provide Mr Amerige with the context and resources to mature into a truly senior contributor. But as others have expressed, Facebook is by no means obligated in any way to give equal time to both immature and mature thought.
31
This is a debate that we as Americans will have to confront not only in the social network but also in the traditional media outlets as well as our gov't. America was founded on Christian ethics and values. In more recent years our culture has moved away from those traditional ethics and values & it appears to me that some elite are trying to replace them with what is called progressive ethics and values. This has not been thought through. For example, the traditional media and the Justice Dept. appears to think it is alright to use coercion to get an indictment. However, most of the traditional media and the Justice Dept. (including the FBI) are against using coercion in some instances (e.g., waterboarding) even if it is used to save lives. It seems these progressive values are based on situational ethics. When the Soviet elite did this, we called it brainwashing. It will be interesting to see how this all works out.
6
@Rod When you have evidence that waterboarding (recognized as torture in international law) is actually effective in saving lives, get back to us, will you?
And, our criminal justice system would fail miserably in prosecuting lawbreakers without the testimony of lesser criminals with first hand knowledge of the crime to step up to help. It's not "coercion" to offer someone a lighter sentence for providing such help. It's trading and it is done on our behalf. As you point out, we don't torture these criminals to get their help, we give them something they want. Where's the coercion in that?
3
@The coercion comes when the prosecutors have unlimited resourses and the accused has limited ones so he is faced with financial ruin if he tries to fight in court so he settles for pleading guilty to "lesser charges" even though he maybe completely innocent of them, as I believe General Flynn was.
1
@Rod This oft-repeated lie that America was founded on Christian ethics. These "ethics" included a belief in racial superiority that made slavery and genocide morally palatable and a misogyny that even Republicans might find a tad distasteful. Don't romanticize the ethics of the founders—mankind has progressed greatly since then!
1
0.4 percent of the workforce. How underwhelming. And Alex Jones maintains a "conservative viewpoint" that needs to be heard? Give me a break.
28
@EFR
I WANT to hear ALL viewpoints, including Alex Jones. It is not for someone else to decide for me what I am allowed to listen to.
2
@A parishioner
FB is not a news outlet. It is a social platform. You can look up Alex Jones all by yourself.
It concerns me that people rely on FB for news.
No one is blocking you from finding any ideas on line. FB was never intended to be a news source. Maybe you need to stop using it as one....or delete your account.
1
Why debate politics in the workplace? Any workplace? Just like religion, you can believe anything you want, but push it into others? No.
Treat everyone with kindness and respect and there will be no problem. Why preach about your views one way or the other?
Most people who work in businesss that deal with science, creativity and innovation are progressive and don’t support Trump, by definition. They can’t, for example, hate immigrants and Muslims because they need talent, where ever it comes from, and that includes people from India, Pakistan or Arab countries, for example. They can’t deny science, data or facts, such as evolution and climate science. They can be creative and innovative if they hate gays, for example.
These “conservatives” can believe whatever they want, but don’t expect your business to not allow people who are not white and Christian. And no one, should push their politics on anyone in the workplace, right ir left.
14
@ls No political discussion is fine as a corporate policy. But that should apply evenly. When a well intended employee tries to promote the value of gender diversity, other well intended employee should be able to point out the flaws and promote intellectual diversity.
1
@ls social media companies have robust internal message boards, as that is their business. naturally conversations will revert to politics.
@ls You can be fired for innocuous words at Facebook and many other 'liberal' companies.
Your point is...not grounded in reality when liberalism is informing the HR processes.
1
Given the tendency of Facebook to monetize everything it touches, how liberal could the employees be? I would think an Ayn Rand libertarian would fit right in.
Considering all the questionable things FB has done in the past decade, it's amazing any thoughtful person would want to work there.
4
I find it disappointing when the FB company activist who wants greater diversity of views turns out to be an Ayn Rand acolyte. I've tried reading her books, but it remains a mystery to me what many Americans see in this writer, whose books are kept at the bedsides of powerful people like Paul Ryan and Alan Greenspan. Americans with serious medical conditions rely on fund raisong by internet to pay their bills when it is blindingly obvious that health insurance (risk pooling) should be available. The pernicious, reactionary ideas of Rand underlie many of the collective action issues that bedevil America in our time, IMHO.
15
@Byron Rogers
I suspect that Rand has given comfort and a pseudo-intellectual veneer to those politicians who preach the gospel of self-reliance, while busily ensuring that any policies that might actually provide people with the education and support to become self-supporting are gutted. In short, a con job.
4
@Byron Rogers:
While I find Ayn Rand vile (and she is, there is no doubt, and the fascination with the supposedly Christian gop members is even more mind boggling, the women was an ugly, immoral hedonist, definitely not a Christian, but religious right types love her, go figure), her fascination with some in places like Google and Facebook is not surprising. Tech companies tend to be liberal because the workforce is global, the people are educated well, and they have been exposed to science, they have been exposed to people who are gay, or Muslim, etc. That said, though, there is also a not small culture in the tech world of 'superiority'; Google and Facebook, for example, prided themselves on taking 'only the best', only hiring people with 4.0 GPA's, only hiring people from top notch universities (Zuckerberg being from harvard after all), and their traditional culture is "if you work here, you are elite"). The problem with that is it also tends to hire a lot more people who see themselves as elite, better than others, narcissist/egotist to the nth degree, so Rand is therefore attractive. They look at people not as fortunate as themselves, and say "well, that is because they failed at life, I have worked hard, why should I care about them" or "I am smart, I am creating really amazing things, why shouldn't I get all the rewards of that"). I have met more than a few people like that in the tech world, and it comes in part from being in the bubble that is the new tech world.
3
Why focus on only on Facebook? Where are the liberals on FOX? Where are progressive voices at Koch Industries? Lets haul them before Congress and ask them why their privately owned corporations are not promoting free speech. Of course the Republicans don’t want a level playing field and the same rules for all- it only suits them win the surface is tilted.
106
@James Osborne
If you actually watch it, FOX typically has a liberal counterpoint on their opinion shows. Which we can’t say for CNN or MSNBC.
14
@James Osborne There is always equal representation on FOX opinion shows. But on other segments, news is...news.
On CNN, they use an echo chamber and 'anonymous sources' which happens to be the same person they're having on during a segment as fact.
Literally every other outlet is liberal-bias infested.
I am a former Democrat. I will never vote Democrat again.
2
@XLER
Fox has a couple of token liberals on their "opinion shows", but the problem with Fox is their news content is opinion as well, the thing that the right wing claims is true about the "liberal biased MSM" is exactly what Fox is. Their talking heads are overwhelmingly far right, and the few liberals they have are that, token.
2
These conservatives need to learn to stand up and defend their beliefs, and not to rely on the government to protect them. The good "makers" who developed and grew the company should not be forced to accommodate these "takers" by rulings issued by un-elected bureaucrats.
Or is that not supposed to be the way a conservative thinks?
16
This sort of radical divisiveness in corporate America would've been inconceivable before the current administration. As I recall from my own career, the political leaning of employees was generally not known or spoken about and if it was, there were no warring 'us vs. them' factions within the company. What have we come to?
19
@NYCtoMalibu This story is about employees revolting against what they call an 'intolerant' culture within Facebook. Responsibility for this would fall under the management at Facebook. But somehow you are blaming Trump for this? This is about the culture at Facebook. More than 100 Facebook employees say it is intolerant. And there have been plenty of workplace disputes like this in the past. Look at the fights over unionizing over the years, or over the gender wage gap, or Hobby Lobby or Chik-Fil-A.
3
@NYCtoMalibu Actually your savior the BIG O divided at a much more efficient rate. Remember when he told conservatives to get the back of the bus? Yeah, that was great eh? ick.
1
Everyone has the right to express their opinions. It seems that some disgruntled Facebook employees are complaining because their minority views are not reflected in organizational policies. Company leadership has the duty to set company policy and does so based generally on business decisions while adhering to the company's stated mission statement. The complaining employees may express their viewpoints as is their right under the First Amendment. What they may not due is alter company policies in an effort to shape the direction of the company.
15
@Bill
You misunderstand the First Amendment. It only applies to the government, not private employers (or private property). You don't have a right to free speech at work at a non-governmental employer.
20
It isn't a question of diversity of views, it's a question of respectful discourse which creates the opportunity to listen and learn from each other about what the underlying concerns and beliefs actually are. If social media platforms deny access to disrespect and hate speech, I support them as long as they are equitable in enforcement. What we're seeing today on all social media platforms is name-calling, blame, degradation, hatred, bullying and attempts at one-upmanship. Such an environment closes minds and hearts and fosters more of the same. Such an environment is born out of and engenders fear and will continue to erode not only the values of democracy, but any opportunities for all of us to have our basic needs met which is ultimately what we all want. As a social progressive I want to listen to what you have to say, but I can't hear you when you yell and hurl invectives, point your fingers in my face and threaten to destroy all that I hold dear. I want to respect you but can't until you begin to respect yourself enough to listen to yourself. When you can hear how your vitriol gets in your own way perhaps you will change your words and tone, allow me to hear you, and listen to me so together we can find our way through these dark ages.
34
@Kathleen Brown, the problem is that it's both sides hurling insults. I lean left on some issues and right on others. Right now both sides have serious issues and each one blames the other.
In my experience people that claim to be socially progressive tend to only be that way if you agree with them. Once someone disagrees they still get labeled a something-phobe or a something-ist by the so called "socially progressive" and "tolerant" people. Even if the disagreement is presented politely with no insults.
21
It’s so funny to hear the kettle calling the pot black. Progressives always assume they are the only virtuous ones. Get over yourselves. I say that as a social liberal and fiscal conservative who hates Trump.
2
@Adolf Oliver Yes, Adolf, we all need to respect each other in order to be heard and flourish.
1
When a brilliant conservative thinker like Dennis Prager is censored from Facebook, as he was last week, when he has broken none of FB’s stated rules, then it is time to admit that FB doesn’t really believe in being open to all views. They need to publicly state that, so that consumers can make a choice based on the truth. Diversity of thought is the only true diversity, and, just like in Hollywood and academia, it is both hated and sorely lacking on FB.
18
Brilliant??!! Are you serious?!! Prager is the same guy has suggested that if same-sex marriage were legalized, then "there is no plausible argument for denying polygamous relationships, or brothers and sisters, or parents and adult children, the right to marry." In 2014, he claimed that the "heterosexual AIDS" crisis was something "entirely manufactured by the Left.”
11
What makes Prager ‘brilliant’ as a conservative thinker? His misogyny? His anti-homosexuality? His religious bigotry?
5
Prager's content was restored and apology issued. To stay in the news cycle he continues to be butt sore on Fox news.
3
Let's have the Trump administration investigate the diversity of viewpoints within social media. Any company that operates as a public utility with a monopoly like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. should come under scrutiny. End shadow banning in the name of "political correctness" and allow free speech to flow. You may not like what I say, and I may not like what you say, but we should not trounce people who disagree with us. If we cannot act as adults and end the bashing of conservatives then we will need to regulate these utilities so all have unfettered access. Granted, there will be what some consider "hate speech". And just as TV, radio, and other sites you are welcome to block, mute, ignore or change the channel to avoid them.
4
A pinnacle of the Age of Reason, the Constitution grants us the right to speak freely. It does not shield speech from consequence, however, as you appear to believe.
Speech based on reason, on fact, on evidence, deserves to be heard sustainably. Reason, fact, and evidence serve as foundations, so that we can move forward.
Speech based on non-reason, on illogic, on lies intentional or not, on falsehoods, deserve at most to be heard once, and then tossed in the dustbin — not to be repeated endlessly in the hope that repetition alone can impart truth.
4
@RICK NC
And what about FOX News, official mouthpiece of the Republican cowards and grovelers. Where are the diverse viewpoints there ??????
1
Most illustrative of Times bias that "intolerant" is in quotations when describing left leaning Facebook. Those quotation marks would be nowhere to be seen had the article been about a conservative entity.
22
FB is a private company and can run its business however it wants, but these practices are deceptive. If you are going to lean left, that’s fine, but don’t try to hide it and don’t lie about to Congress.
If people who disagree with you upset you, then just say that. People will find an alternate location to fill that service.
6
This is an amazing development. The liberal political culture at Facebook is being overtly challenged by the people who work there and who see what is happening from the inside. A wonderful sign of American democracy in action.
20
Since when is a private firm in a capitalist culture a democracy? Companies are not required to be accountable Ro anyone but stockholders and do not have to provide checks and balances.
12
It's still a free country, isn't it? FB is under no obligation to disseminate their views. Why don't they start up their own site? Oh, I know: the only folks who will join are "like-minded" people, so they won't be able to spread their conspiracy theories and right-wing propaganda to the rest of us.
41
@SteveZodiac
Even the NYT, as liberal as it generally is, publishes opinion pieces and reader comments from a very wide perspective. That's what a great newspaper does and why I admire the NYT even though I frequently disagree with its editorial perspective. Sure, in theory anyone who does not like FB is free to create their own media company... but economic factors would very quickly give FB a distinct advantage. Kind of why we have anti-trust laws on the books.
3
Facebook is intolerant of intolerance, bigotry and outright lies? The nerve!
Those disgruntled employees should quit and apply for employment at fox or its brethren. I'm sure that they would fit right in.
71
Great idea! Fox is a media company and should be able to put up its own bulletin board. It could even hardwired Trump into its search algorithm and its subscribers would applaud. As a liberal globalist I would welcome the absence of alt-right bigots on my Facebook. They offer no value to trying to understand or solve real problems. Facebook could then field a value-added team with a shared vision of truth.
4
@Dave Liberals should realize that even if you are outnumbered by your peers, you are still entitled to your opinion or position. Haven't liberals fought for the rights of LGBT employees who stood up to the establishment until they were recognized for their opinions and choices? What about Me Too victims? Racial prejudices?
How hypocritical of you.
3
@Ray Ozyjowski So the people who viciously suppressed and oppressed all the marginalized groups you mentioned are now somehow worthy of protection to continue espousing intolerant views? That comparison doesn't gel.
1
This old chestnut again, the persecuted majority. Conservative viewpoints DOMINATE America’s airwaves, but we constantly have to hear about how under attack they are. Just like how evangelical Christians control all three branches of government, but many of them never stop whining about how their religion is being outlawed. At the same, misconduct and excuses for misconduct seem to be the only talking points conservatives have these days, so I question what these employees are really standing up for.
203
Uninformed opinion is what it is.
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-biased-is-your-media/
3
@Steve
They seek to put racism, naziism, etc forward as legitimate “political” viewpoints that are being victimized by Political Correctness. It’s basically a demand that others tolerate their intolerance, cynically twisting the language of the values of the left against them.
1
@Steve hyperbole is never a good substitute for verifiable facts. Try again.
2
What conservative views need to be displayed more often— hatred of gays, women, ethnic minorities, Muslims, illegals, etc?
Is it fiscal responsibility because the current conservative President and Congress display no fiscal responsibility.
Is it support for free markets in a time when the aforementioned politicians support tariffs?
Is it fighting government regulation just as Trump is threatening to regulate social media?
What exactly are conservative views today?
311
@EmmettC Good question at the end: We can't know what the range of conservative thought is today if we start out by assuming that all conservatives "hate" gays, women, ethnic minorities, Muslims, illegals, etc. (PS - I'm by no means a conservative; I just try to be a thoughtful person.)
5
And they say conservatives live in echo chamber :).
3
@EmmettC — ....you forgot the conservative mantra about the absolute and immutable nature of ethical values, like love of God and family. Hashtag Stormy Daniels.
3
Putin’s team is still using FB to communicate with and engage their followers in key states in the USA. Is this conservative group of 100 FB employees counting Team Putin as Conservative and on their side?
32
" Dozens ". Wow, a tsunami of Conservatives. Grow up, or get a Job with the GOP or a " faith based organization ". Seriously.
62
The main stream media ought to clean its house.
Calling illegal aliens " undocumented imigrants" and "dreamers."
Government sanctioned racial, gender and ethnic discrimination is "affirmative action."
Unwed mothers are "single monthers"
Rioters and looters are "protesters."
Attacking the POTUS when he takes NATO partners to task for not meeting their spendin targets. Imagines taking a partisan side against the US!
Many more example than the above. No wonder the MSM is considered the enemy of the people.
16
@Reader In Wash, DC Sure, and they should also change the wording of "falsely claiming" when speaking of Trump's statements to "outright lying," but that isn't going to happen.
29
Which federal agency will be the first to sprout one of these bands of dissenters? If this is happening in deep blue Silicon Valley, it is happening in deep blue Washington, DC.
@Robert Hahn Hi, Republicans currently control all three branches of the government. What point are you making, exactly?
1
25,000 people work at Facebook. A mere 100 (so far) right-leaning employees feel their views are not respected and sharing it on an internal facebook group is not organized dissent. But also, are they really being disrespected and/or attacked for their views? For example, if Amerige's political view is that immigrants are a problem then working at Facebook, where there's lots of immigrants, will be very awkward. A lot of people there are immigrants who probably feel attacked themselves if he were to go around the office sharing his thoughts that immigration is bad. So if the hundreds and thousands of people defend their very existence at Facebook, is Amerige really being attacked or just being told that his perspective is narrow? Just because you have a view or opinion does not mean it is right. Alex Jones is proof of that.
83
@Niche
Very few people believe "immigrants are a problem". Many believe illegal immigration and unlimited immigration are a problem.
9
@planet87 My example is inspired directly from the internal message written by Amerige: "They know that all the talk of “openness to different perspectives” does not apply to causes of “social justice,” immigration, “diversity”, and “equality.” "
Notice how he didn't say illegal immigration or mass migration. Just immigration.
Furthermore, a lot of right-wing people think
even legal immigrants are a problem but they use euphemisms and sub-text. For example, saying things like "the right kind of immigrants from places like Denmark" which implies there's a wrong kind from the wrong countries or "chain migration doesn't work properly" because too many people of the wrong kind bring family over...That's all legal immigration.
5
Yup. And you hardly see any dissent in North Korea, Russia or China. So the citizens there must have all the freedom they want.
1
Earth to Renegade Facebook Employees:
While our government cannot regulate free speech, corporations, being private, can. So if the company officers want to delete the accounts of people they don't like, that's a decision they can make. If you don't like it, well, you are free to leave.
36
@Wally
Except they have told Congress they are not content providers. They have told Congress they are a neutral platform. So they have lied. And therefore they expose themselves to different regulations.
4
The distinction is, they claim to be unbiased. I would be fine with them censoring conservatives, if they would publicly state the fact that they are leftist and will not allow speech or ideas they disagree with. CNN and other media should do the same. Then, we can make an informed choice to go elsewhere for real intellectual diversity. They lie, however, when they say they allow all speech that does not violate their current standards. Change the standards or admit the bias, those are the intellectually honest choices they have as a private company. @Wally
5
I believe that the major social media firms would contend that they are biased towards facts and the truth. There should be no room in the public square for lies and falsehoods. I think that a constructive solution would be for media platforms to fund fact checking of their submitted content regardless of its source. That would be a true public service. It could even label postings of vacation stories as “unchecked” which wouldn’t diminish their value. A reasonable approach might be to set an amount they would spend on fact checking and publish their criteria for what they would check.
4
It is certainly re-assuring to see people of good conscience organizing around a just and urgent cause. If you find out the location for the next meeting, I would be happy to discuss an Amazon delivery of some tissue boxes and self-esteem literature.
34
@Citizen Ally, I almost snorted my coffee when I read this! Thanks, I needed a good laugh this morning.
5
And, what about Fox News? Does it not have an anti-truth bias? Is it not oblivious to GOP political corruption? Is it not rabidly hostile to anything Democrats support?
141
@proffexpert ABSOLUTELY!!!! Let's investigate the bias in ALL media, social and news. Let's see where the bias lays. If we're looking at Facebook and the rest of social media, why not Fox and the rest of news media. I think it's a grand idea.
4
If Facebook and Twitter are to be investigated for political bias, then shouldn’t FOX news be as well?
447
@jammitt
Poor analogy. The tech companies are monolithic in their leftist ideology. Television news has multiple sites for alternative views (CNN, MSNBC).
2
@jammitt More pertinent to the article, shouldn't FOX news employees object to the organization's bias?
1
@jammitt But it's CNN that s-cks!
Please provide an example of "political diversity" that you feel is lacking.
It seems to me they are looking for a pass to be offensive and inappropriate, like those who bemoan 'political correctness'.
116
@caljn Here you go: "Unchecked illegal immigration depresses working class wages and breeds contempt for the rule of law, while straining the US social safety net. Discuss'
15
@Richard, legit comment/viewpoint expressed without vitriol. That is, I think, what we're not seeing much of. I would hope a liberal viewpoint that was in opposition could respond with the same approach. Not what I see on social media from pretty much any perspective. I would also hope that both conservatives and liberals would recognize that outright lies should not be left uncontested by anyone regardless of political/social perspective and that is not happening
1
It's certainly not unchecked. While companies outsource jobs and wages stagnate, undocumented workers are being scapegoated, drawing attention away from these policies that benefit employers and into good old fashioned discrimination that helps no one. Contempt of human life seems like the much bigger problem here.
6
They might have commented about their "lack of political diversity" but boy did they have an outsized say in pushing back against diversity by allowing Russia to swing our election to an anti-diversity President.
61
@MomT
Except that's clearly not what happened. Can you point to a vote that was affected? $10K in Facebook ads could make so much difference, Clinton should have spent more money there.... (I'm sure she spent a bunch).
4
True that. A little birdie told me that Clinton spent more than 3 times the money Trump spent on election.
2
@MomT Americans elected the most award winning pro-diversity president we've ever had. Not a single Russian cast a single vote. But leave to a liberal to give more weight to foreign (illegal) votes than American votes.
1
In supporting the despicably immoral Alex Jones these people aren’t conservatives they’re something far worse. Or perhaps that is what conservatism is nowadays.
83
He’s not the only way be being censored. Dennis Prager was, too, and he is a highly respected conservative thinker. @ Kevinlarson
3
@Michelle Godown You're commenting this on several posts without evidence. It smacks of astroturfing.
1
Given that the GOP is now the party of fascism, I find not only the formation of this Facebook employee group terrifying, but also the neutral tone in which this article frames the issue.
There is no "liberal v. conservative" anymore, only democracy v. authoritarianism. What's it going to take for our news media to present the problem accurately? What's it going to take for more members of the public to understand the danger we are in?
159
He real dichotomy is between truth and lies. All must reject Giuliani’s “there’s truth and then there’s truth” concept. I think that social media should adopt the mechanism used by the more reputable media firms of conducting independent assessments of truth in the form of fact checking. The alternative is that everything is assumed to be true and roar algorithmic search should not be biased towards accuracy in any form. This would render search useless for anyone seeking truth.
5
@JF You are a prime example of what this article is talking about within social media companies. You, like the companies, are so caught up in your hate, that you can't even bring yourself to listen anymore. You can't communicate without listening. And without communication, what do we have left? I'm pretty sure that is not a place any of us want to go... LISTEN! They are trying to tell you that you are being manipulated by a censorship of information and ideas. Without opposing ideas and views, how can you know when your own ideas and morals have wavered or skewed?
12
@Interesting Enigma There's no listening to fascism, and it is tragic how many Republicans are unaware they have crossed the line. I am not blinded by hatred, I am informed by history. Read some Orwell and think about the criminal demagogue you put in the White House. "Your side" has nothing to offer.
5
Zuckerman and his ilk are publishers, not mailmen or sign painters. They should own up to it and admit their biases control what goes on their websites.
Oh, for the good old days when all we had were newspapers that printed all points of view. Take Walter Annenberg, who would not allow mention of politicians like Milton Shapp in the Philadelphia Inquirer because he threatened his TV station. Or take W.R. Hearst, who started a war or two. The best description of a publisher comes from Earl Long, as quoted by A.J. Liebling— publishers are like shoe store owners who sell only their size of shoe and are surprised when customers complain.
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Oh for the return of the Fairness Doctrine: in retrospect, a brief, few decades of shining, truthful transparency amidst the long history of otherwise yellow American journalism.
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I Know Of Only One Paper Who’s Policy Is ‘ All The News That’s Fit To Print”
The narcissism of ego's here is staggering.
Don't like where you work?
Then DO like the everyone else not employed by a fancy Silicon Valley Silo firm and
Go Find Another Job where- you 'feel comfortable'.
The entitlement factor smell test here is off the Richter scale.
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@RLC
So, by the same logic, a person who experiences sexual or racial intolerance at work should keep their mouth shut and go find another job where they feel comfortable?
How many times should they change jobs?
Tell us.
Or should a more logical, mature, humane approach be to foster tolerance and respect in the workplace so we can all live in a civilized way.
Oh, and that's well established in employment law btw.
(the comment writer and all who foolishly recommended will smack forehead with palm in 3,2,1…)
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@RLC It has nothing to do with "liking where you work". Maybe he does like the job and that is why he is speaking out about the mistreatment of employees. It has to do with the suppression of ideas. How is it egotistical to shine light on evil? How else would you describe the intentional forced silencing of opposing thought?
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@RLC Would you say the same thing if liberal ideology were suppressed at your company? This guy isn't starting a conservative group - he wants a place where any opinion can be heard and debated. And people can feel safe with their views - and not personally attacked. What is narcissistic about that?
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These perceptions of bias in favor of progressives, aka "leftists," are accurate, I think. But from my perspective the proposed remedy--adding to the number of conservative, aka "Republican" opinions--is analogous to asking the group of people who aced the SAT test to see the merits in the "wrong" answers selected by people in the 34th, 50th, etc. percentiles, just to add diversity to the set of responses.
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@SPQR Does this make them wrong? Or do you just not like the messenger?
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@SPQR Did you really just trot out the tired old argument that somehow "progressives" are smarter than conservatives? You kind of defeated your own argument.
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Speaking as a liberal, some of these people have a point.
I'm not taking about hate groups or fake news from the Kremlin. But look at what happened to a Google employee when he wrote a memo about women in the workplace. Fired.
I may not have agreed with everything in that memo, but I did read it, and it was a reasoned discussion -- anything but hate speech.
We've created a new McCarthyism, a climate in which even responsible opinions that depart from orthodoxy on certain social issues can lead to loss of one's job.
Companies should not tolerate hate groups, but most of this falls short of that.
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@Josh Hill Agreed. I also read the memo from the Google employee. I didn't agree with his reasoning or his conclusion, but it was a well-thought out memo, and it certainly wasn't hate speech. He didn't deserve to be fired for it. (And yes, I'm a woman).
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Damore's memo on women was not a "reasoned discussion". It was agenda-driven cherry-picking of mostly outdated and long-debunked research. But a non-specialist in the fields he was quoting from wouldn't have known that. The best that can be said about that memo is that he made an honest mistake. He was fired because he refused to acknowledge the reality revealed by modern research. He was fired because he sought to impose his "alternative facts".
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@Josh Hill You are worthy of the label "liberal" (meant as a compliment). Unfortunately, there are many liberals who are not so....liberal.
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Personally I think that platforms such as FB, Google, Twitter et. al. should be declared public utilities and regulated or monopolies and broken up into smaller companies like the government did to MA BELL decades ago. You cannot trust these operators to be objective when it comes to political views and only the threats of government interference will make them change. Asides from vulgar language and criminality there is really nothing that should be banned from Social Media.
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@Harry L
Would you also be in agreement that fox news cease to call itself that, other than the actual news department?
Hannity, laura ingraham, tucker carlson...etc should all be categorized as opinion or entertainment since they obviously have no actual journalist ethics since their bread and butter is innuendo slathered in outrage.
This would include all networks to provide a level information field.
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@franjo You do realize that Hannity, Carlson and Ingraham are all considered to be opinion shows, don't you?
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There is absolutely the possibility that intolerance of opposing political views can come from the left or right.
Human beings do such things.
Last I checked, we're all human.
But, bear this in mind and don't live in a fantasy.
Here ya go:
www.pollingreport.com
On every major issue, from limiting money in our politics to health care to abortion to concern about climate change to taxing the wealthy more to helping the most needy to spending on infrastructure…
On every major issue, the majority of us disagree with the Republican position and tilt toward agreement with the Democrat's position.
Hit that link above and see for yourself.
America is a "center left" nation.
Majorities of us tilt left on most issues.
Thus, it is up to the majority to hear and honor the dissent of the minority - those on the right.
But, don't ever forget that the positions on the left are what Americans most often agree with.
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@Paul King 1. the results are highly dependent on how questions are asked. ("universal HC coverage" is popular until you ask the responder if he will pay higher taxes for it. 2. we have elections to address these differences in values. 3. governments should be small enough so that individuals can control the vast majority of their own lives. and 4. none of your post means it's ok to censor speech.
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@Paul King
You don’t get it. It doesn’t matter that we’re a “center left” nation (if that is in fact even true). It doesn’t matter where we “tilt.” Individuals are supposed to be able to “tilt” in any direction they want irrespective of group “tilt.” Our Constitution protects our right to do so. In fact, the very FIRST amendment of the US Constitution addresses exactly that issue. Your group does not get to tell any other individual or group what political beliefs they can and cannot subscribe to.
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@Paul King Funny thing is people still think that Republicans are better at handling the economy, while FACTS show that the economy does better when Democrats are in charge. We just have to look back to the end of W's debacle to remember who drove the economy off the rails. Like you pointed out, facts have a liberal bias. Same with national defense.
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"This month, the social network barred the far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, a move that critics seized on as further evidence that the company harbors an anti-conservative bias."
Critics don't seem to understand that Alex Jones doesn't represent informed, reasoned, reality-based views. If conservatives want an open platform, they'll have to learn that civility is not a political bias, it's a requirement for live in a civil society, and live/speak within the rules of civil communication. Keyword: Civil
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@Beanie oh come on. How can destroying the lives of others for cynical political purposes be construed as uncivil?
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Are you familiar with Dennis Prager and Prager University? If so, then you knows he is a Princeton-educated scholar who never engages in uncivil behavior, and his website has no violent or sexual content. It was, however, censored by FB last week. This is not about Alex Jones, this is about censoring speech that is not leftist, and not upholding the claims that they are welcoming to ALL views. They need to be intellectually honest and state that in their description if that’s how they operate. @Beanie
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@Beanie Alex Jones is a garbage site. All fake news. He should not be banned anyway. that's what true liberals should (and used to) believe.
25,000 people work for Facebook as employment. The ultimate goal is a paycheck. However well disguised as a playground it may be it is still a workplace and a highly desirable one. If the politically inclined of Facebook want to make a serious commitment to liberal values they would begin with Facebook employee impact on property values in their communities. Talk or act?
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It will be interesting to see how many days it will be before the mob assembles and has him fired. His continued employment would be frankly astonishing, and any progress on the matter would be stunning
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@Bryan Precisely. The Left always reacts violently to opposing viewpoints or ideas. Examples include Stalin and his purges in the 1920s (which claimed many more lives than the Holocaust) and Mao's Cultural Revolution.
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@Richard
Smart people tend to be liberal, so it's not surprising that the employees at Facebook are mostly liberal. If an employee doesn't like that, he can go elsewhere.
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@Richard
Pretty simple-minded analogy, comparing the Left to Stalin and Mao, neither of whom were in the least bit liberal.
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This is less than 1/2% of full-time employees. You need to say that.
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@Virginia Since dissent of this nature doubtless means career suicide at Facebook, you cannot rely on the number of employees who have publicly signed up to this group. Rest assured they have many silent supporters who cannot risk running afould of Mark and Sheryl's thought police.
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@Virginia Peer pressure is a very tough thing to overcome. Stepping up and saying this puts their jobs and livelihoods at risk. Maybe that is why there are only 1/2% you mention. You can see the historic results of last elections polling, where when anyone who supported President Trump was ignorant, undereducated, etc. Who wants to be associated with that bias? So they stayed quiet.
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@Virginia Galileo was less than .0001% of Christians. yet the earth still goes around the sun. you need to acknowledge that.
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