Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said in an interview that conservatives who work for the tech giant don’t feel comfortable expressing their political views on the job because of the far-left work environment.
“We have a lot of conservative-leaning folks in the company as well, and to be honest, they don’t feel safe to express their opinions at the company,” Dorsey told journalism professor Jay Rosen in an interview published on Friday by Recode.
Is it necessary to feel “comfortable” to express minority opinions at work? If someone is going to reject you personally because of your political views, they aren’t worth knowing anyway.
“They do feel silenced by just the general swirl of what they perceive to be the broader percentage of leanings within the company, and I don’t think that’s fair or right,” he added. “We should make sure that everyone feels safe to express themselves within the company, no matter where they come from and what their background is. I mean, my dad was a Republican.”
And some of my best friends are (fill in the blank).
Dorsey said that Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity were ”on the radio all the time” during his childhood but his mother ‘was on the opposite end of the spectrum” politically.
“I always felt safe to challenge both of them, especially my dad, and so it was definitely a privilege, but if we’re creating a culture that doesn’t enable people or empower people to speak up or not, we’re gonna be able to do that for our service,” he told the esteemed NYU professor.
The Twitter CEO recently told Fox News Radio that he understands why many conservatives are suspicious of the large tech companies, given the liberal-leaning culture of Silicon Valley.
Just last week, Dorsey laid out his company’s defense to allegations of anti-conservative bias on its platform and denied that the San Francisco-based company is biased.
“Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions, whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules. We believe strongly in being impartial, and we strive to enforce our rules impartially,” he said in prepared testimony to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce obtained by Fox News.
Dorsey talks a good game:
“I think it’s more and more important to at least clarify what our own bias leans towards, and just express it… I’d rather know what someone biases to rather than try to interpret through their actions,” Dorsey told Rosen.
Until about 125 years ago, media bias was not kept secret or denied. You knew where the editor of your local paper stood, whether he was a Republican or Democrat. This was especially true in large cities, where newspaper titans vied for political influence with the major parties.
Few pretended to be neutral or unbiased. Fewer still didn’t shape the news to fit a predetermined political point of view. Everyone knew where the bias was coming from.
Now, the pretentiousness of modern media prevents them from telling the truth. They are the “gatekeepers of democracy.” They “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” They claim to see journalism as some kind of “calling” — like the priesthood but definitely without the celibacy. Anyone who dares criticize their bias is “attacking the free press” or worse.
And they wonder why journalists are held in such low regard?
The solution is simple. Go back to the days where everyone admits their bias and allow people to make up their own minds. CNN and Fox could include their party identification on the crawl. Reporters could sign off their segments with, “This is Jake Tapper, liberal.” It would seem strange at first, but after a while, we’d all get used to it.
Anything’s better than the nauseating arrogance and pretentiousness we have today.
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