Nick Clegg: Silicon Valley Is Full of Wealthy Men Who Think They're Victims
Posted5 months agoActive5 months ago
theguardian.comTechstory
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Silicon Valley CultureWealth InequalityTech Industry Criticism
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Silicon Valley Culture
Wealth Inequality
Tech Industry Criticism
Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg criticizes Silicon Valley's wealthy men for claiming victimhood, sparking discussion on whether wealth precludes being a victim and the nuances of privilege.
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Aug 23, 2025 at 3:18 AM EDT
5 months ago
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> In one of the first meetings I held with one of the teams I had just taken charge of, a poster on the wall declared the ubiquitous Silicon Valley mantra: Bring Your Authentic Self to Work. To try to break the ice, I said, “Please don’t bring your authentic self to work. You wouldn’t like my authentic self if I brought it to work. So just bring your inauthentic self to work from nine to five and then you can go home and be yourself and we’ll get on perfectly well.” Stony silence
That would have absolutely earned a(n ungainly) fist pump from me!
You "feel" something and you demand Clegg to prove what you feel instead of you proving that Clegg is really implying what you feel. But he isn't trying to prove anything, in fact he accepts whiny wealthy men as fact, he just feels this to be an ugly combination:
>> Clegg: “In Silicon Valley, far from thinking they’re lucky, they think... they’re victims. I... can’t, understand this deeply unattractive combination of machismo and self-pity."