Yeah, DHH is very outspoken politically, and fairly progressive. Of course there was going to be a selection bias where they hired similar people. This shouldn't have come as a surprise to them, and they should have realized the backlash. Shockingly bad foresight.
It's not that long ago that hiring a progressive usually meant hiring a tolerant person who would go the extra mile to include everyone, also people they disagreed with.
It's only recently that parts of the progressive movement has radicalized.
> a tolerant person who would go the extra mile to include everyone, also people they disagreed with
That sounds like the definition of liberalism rather than progressivism. I don't think the progressive movement has ever really fit under your definition -- or even wanted to. I think what you may be seeing is more people shifting from liberalism to progressivism (at least in certain communities like this).
I agree, the Verge article mentions this explicitly that DHH and JF are routinely outspoken on progressive issues:
> Both founders are also active — and occasionally hyperactive — on Twitter, where they regularly advocate for mainstream liberal and progressive views on social issues.
Yeah, I had to stop following DHH on Twitter for that very reason. Every few months he picks up some new pet issue, and then will not shut up about it. Then he finds another issue, and moves onto that one.
Of course they were going to have employees that approached politics in a similar way, and of course that would leak into the workspace. They've built their brand on the personalities of Jason and David, which has obviously informed all of their hiring decisions.
This caught him off guard because the progressive camp has since split into two groups: one that favored Hillary in 2016 and accuses the other of being class reductionists and the other that favored Bernie and accuses the first group of being identity reductionists. DHH is more aligned with the latter and is now discovering that he clashes with the former.
But what leads us to believe it was a surprise? Genuinely curious, did they say they were shocked? I would assume the opposite with an offer that generous.
