The problem with mixing politics and business is that you get what Nassim Taleb is calling a 'dictatorship of the most intolerant'. If someone foolishly thinks it's safe to express a mainstream opinion, a minority of radicals will attack relentlessly with intent to destroy that person's career. Conservatives and Christians in academia and Silicon Valley have first-hand experience with this. Like Brendan Eich, we know that we can lose our jobs if we identify our political views. Not because we're in the minority, but because radicals make more noise, and most employers are cowards.

Therefore when liberals, who know their jobs aren't at risk, repeatedly ask that we all talk about politics in a professional forum, it comes across as a dare.