By Selwyn Duke

“Liberal institutions cease to be liberal as soon as they are attained: later on, there are no worse and no more thorough injurers of freedom than liberal institutions,” observed philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. This is brought to mind by new research showing that at “Facebook, Google and many other tech companies the level of political intolerance is stunning,” as Fox News’ Garrett Johnson puts it.

At issue is a Lincoln Network-commissioned study that surveyed more than 1,900 tech professionals on the matter of “viewpoint intolerance.” Released last week, it reported that nearly “half of Lincoln’s 2019 Viewpoint Inclusion Survey respondents believe their companies promote a political agenda — specifically, a left-leaning one, with 47.7 percent of respondents saying their respective company has a clear liberal agenda, as opposed to the 37.9 percent who reported a conservative agenda,” informs Johnson.

One problem with the research is already evident: Self-reporting relies on the (mis?)perceptions of the respondents. To the point here, tech companies are notoriously left-wing, so the notion that 38 percent work at companies with a “conservative agenda” sounds a bit fanciful (unless they all just happen to work at the same anomalous firm!). Can anyone name one prominent tech company that actually has a rightist agenda and cite what conservative causes it’s pushing?

Read the rest here.