One of Silicon Valley’s most precious resources is under attack.
I’m not talking about the money in our bank accounts, the beautiful ideas in our heads, or even our technology. I am talking about the builders behind it all. The ones who dare to think differently, to rile and provoke the status quo, to strike out in directions that might seem weird or even disturbing to most people. I am talking, of course, about us.
One of us, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, came under attack recently after a journalist found that he was using his fortune to fund Donald Trump memes.
Many people who disagree with Luckey’s politics are taking this as an opportunity to paint him as some kind of powerful, spoiled elitist who deserves to be ridiculed and dragged through the mud.
First of all, I’d like to dispel this ridiculous idea that just because someone has 700 million dollars automatically means that they are part of the elite. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Take me, for example. I am a billionaire, yes. But many of the ideas that I have in my brain — about the end of human government, for example—are absolutely repulsive to the established elite. So in a way, the more money that people like me have, the less elite we actually are.
But I’d like to set this aside to talk about something even more insidious that’s been going on, and that is the name calling.
Look at the words that people are using to describe tech leaders like Luckey who are daring to express themselves politically: “Dorks.” “Nerds.” “Sensitive.” “Boys.” “Soft.”
The implication here, of course, is that these are all negative traits that indicate weakness.
What the people hurtling these insults don’t realize is that that ‘softness’ is, in fact, one of Silicon Valley’s greatest strengths.
Softness is what separates us from the ruthless, toxic worlds of politics and finance, and enables us to attract talented so-called “boys” from around the world to our companies. It’s what makes our startup offices such open-minded, welcoming environments. And it is what will eventually make us the nicest, best-intended, best-educated, most pleasant ruling class in history.
A ruling class of, and I am proud to say this, ‘soft boys.’
Our critics should think about this next time they feel like picking on one of us. If we are to move forward as a species, I believe that instead of attacking them, we must protect our soft boys at all costs.
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