As we have all learned from the firing of Google memo writer James Damore, diversity of opinion is not popular in the private sector.
Regardless of whether or not you agree with Damore's memo, or #GoogleManifesto as it's being called, that doesn't take away from his ability to have a different opinion from the echo chamber that far too often only allows for collective thought and idea policing. Diversity of opinion is necessary to a free exchange of ideas, and a person's different viewpoints should not have an alienating effect on his or her professional career.
It looks like Peter Thiel, the founder of Paypal and a Facebook board member, may have experienced this intolerance firsthand -- and from a fellow Facebook board member, no less.
In a 2016 email recently obtained by the New York Times, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who also happens to be the chairman of a comittee that evaluates Facebook board members, sent an email to Thiel expressing his upset at Thiel's support of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. The email, sent on August 14, also expressed that Thiel's personal choice for president would impact his evaluation as a Facebook board member, scheduled to take place the next day.
“I see our board being about great judgment, particularly in unlikely disaster where we have to pick new leaders,” Mr. Hastings wrote in the email to Mr. Thiel, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. "I’m so mystified by your endorsement of Trump for our President, that for me it moves from ‘different judgment’ to ‘bad judgment.’ Some diversity in views is healthy, but catastrophically bad judgment (in my view) is not what anyone wants in a fellow board member.”
Sounds like an attempt to punish political belief to me. After all, why should Thiel's support for a candidate have anything to do with his abilities as a board member of a social media network?
Thiel, who along with founding Paypal was also one of Facebook's original investors, was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump and was the first openly gay speaker at the Republican National Convention. Whatever the disagreement between Thiel and Hastings, both men remain on Facebook's board.