#SiliconValleyBacklash hashtag - Bluesky

@robertcfried.bsky.social

1 year ago

The article from *The Guardian* explores the deep-rooted right-wing and reactionary tendencies in Silicon Valley, tracing their origins back to the 1990s and earlier. It highlights how the tech industry, often perceived as liberal, has long harbored conservative, anti-feminist, and authoritarian undercurrents. Key figures like George Gilder, a prominent conservative thinker, played a significant role in shaping Silicon Valley's culture by promoting entrepreneurship as a means to restore traditional gender roles and reject welfare programs. Gilder's ideas influenced the Reagan administration and helped frame tech entrepreneurs as moral leaders and symbols of masculine power. The article also examines how media and tech culture in the 1990s glorified young, white male entrepreneurs like Marc Andreessen, reinforcing a narrative of entrepreneurial genius tied to masculinity. This era saw a backlash against political correctness and diversity efforts, with tech leaders and publications like *Upside* openly criticizing the "feminization" of Silicon Valley. Figures like TJ Rodgers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, became symbols of anti-PC culture, rejecting calls for diversity and attacking civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson. The piece argues that these reactionary roots have persisted into the present, with modern tech titans like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Peter Thiel continuing to embrace and amplify right-wing ideologies. Zuckerberg's recent moves to dismantle diversity programs at Meta and Musk's transformation of Twitter into X, a platform catering to anti-"woke" sentiment, are seen as extensions of this long-standing trend. The article concludes that Silicon Valley's current rightward shift is not an anomaly but a culmination of its historical foundations, with tech leaders drawing inspiration from fascist movements and reactionary politics to shape the future of technology and society.

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