First of all, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon etc. are informal parts of the government. They build its IT infrastructure, their leaders play a huge part in the political process (look at Eric Schmidt in the last election,) they implement de facto government policies when it comes to controlling public discourse.
Second, they form an oligopsony. When it comes to work in Silicon Valley, if you’ve been spectacularly fired from one of these companies for failure to conform to their political code, your ability to make a living is severely affected. If I object to something you say and use my immense wealth to blacken your name in such a way that supermarkets in your state refuse to sell you food, is this just a fine and dandy exercise of my personal rights?
Third, we still hear whining from the time that leftists suffered employment consequences for their political views-it was called “blackballing” in the 50s. But when leftists do it to others, it’s totally fine. Even though those poor innocents blackballed in the 50s were actual, card-carrying Communists, at a time when the Communist parties of the world were murdering millions, and all this poor guy did was to express a fairly mild opinion.
Fourth, I hope your leg gets caught in the machinery next. You’d be amazed how opinions go from mild and uncontroversial to crimethink, enough to get you blackballed, in the blink of an eye.
