6 ms·

https://xkcd.com/1357/ https://xkcd.com/1357/

chrissnell 9y ago
Political affiliation is a protected class and you are protected from workplace discrimination based on your affiliation.
- aaronbwebber 9y ago
  It is not unless you are a federal employee. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_class https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_class If you are a federal employee you are covered by a different law than everyone else, and that does include political affiliation. https://www.eeoc.gov/federal/otherprotections.cfm https://www.eeoc.gov/federal/otherprotections.cfm
  - om2 9y ago
    Political affiliation is a protected class under California law.
    - chrissnell 9y ago
      Bingo. Learned about this in my mandatory California-required anti-discrimination training.
  - jellicle 9y ago
    There are actually several US states that have political activities as a protected class. But you are correct for most US states, that is, employers in those states are free to say "All Democrats - you're fired!" and it would be legal.
  - DannyBee 9y ago
    It is in california, among other places. Federally, there are about 5 or 6 regulations covering workplace speech, the most sweeping of which is usually considered to be the NLRA. If you google for nlra and lexology, you can see a number of articles about the scope.
marcoperaza 9y ago
The legal right to free speech is indeed only about the government. Free and open discourse as a virtue for citizens of a republic is a much broader concept.
- bduerst 9y ago
  And even the founding philosophers of the freedom of speech concept said there were limits to the concept - i.e. JSM said that there is a harm principle, where if the expression causes harm then the liberty to express it should rightfully and forcefully be admonished.
Spivak 9y ago
http://sealedabstract.com/rants/re-xkcd-1357-free-speech/ http://sealedabstract.com/rants/re-xkcd-1357-free-speech/
jimjimjim 9y ago
This xkcd is wholly appropriate to this and almost every discussion in the tech industry.
novembermike 9y ago
This is one that really misses the mark. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution says that the government can't persecute you for your speech, but Free Speech is a separate principle that says that we should allow a free forum for people to put out their thoughts.
sctb 9y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14953192 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14953192 and marked it off-topic.
cabalamat 9y ago
A critique: https://medium.com/@patkerr/why-i-think-xkcd-is-wrong-about-free-speech-ab9361e0be26 https://medium.com/@patkerr/why-i-think-xkcd-is-wrong-about-...
DannyBee 9y ago
This is actually not even legally correct. There are protected categories of workplace speech.
randyrand 9y ago
Its simple. Google did not violate free speech in terms of law. But freedom of speech is much more than just a law, its also a social responsibility that we can choose to care about or not. Personally I think americans should choose to defend freedom of speech, even if they aren't legally required to.

Political affiliation is a protected class and you are protected from workplace discrimination based on your affiliation.

aaronbwebber 9y ago
It is not unless you are a federal employee. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_class https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_class If you are a federal employee you are covered by a different law than everyone else, and that does include political affiliation. https://www.eeoc.gov/federal/otherprotections.cfm https://www.eeoc.gov/federal/otherprotections.cfm
- om2 9y ago
  Political affiliation is a protected class under California law.
  - chrissnell 9y ago
    Bingo. Learned about this in my mandatory California-required anti-discrimination training.
- jellicle 9y ago
  There are actually several US states that have political activities as a protected class. But you are correct for most US states, that is, employers in those states are free to say "All Democrats - you're fired!" and it would be legal.
- DannyBee 9y ago
  It is in california, among other places. Federally, there are about 5 or 6 regulations covering workplace speech, the most sweeping of which is usually considered to be the NLRA. If you google for nlra and lexology, you can see a number of articles about the scope.

marcoperaza 9y ago

The legal right to free speech is indeed only about the government. Free and open discourse as a virtue for citizens of a republic is a much broader concept.

bduerst 9y ago
And even the founding philosophers of the freedom of speech concept said there were limits to the concept - i.e. JSM said that there is a harm principle, where if the expression causes harm then the liberty to express it should rightfully and forcefully be admonished.

Spivak 9y ago

http://sealedabstract.com/rants/re-xkcd-1357-free-speech/ http://sealedabstract.com/rants/re-xkcd-1357-free-speech/

jimjimjim 9y ago

This xkcd is wholly appropriate to this and almost every discussion in the tech industry.

novembermike 9y ago

This is one that really misses the mark. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution says that the government can't persecute you for your speech, but Free Speech is a separate principle that says that we should allow a free forum for people to put out their thoughts.

sctb 9y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14953192 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14953192 and marked it off-topic.

cabalamat 9y ago

A critique: https://medium.com/@patkerr/why-i-think-xkcd-is-wrong-about-free-speech-ab9361e0be26 https://medium.com/@patkerr/why-i-think-xkcd-is-wrong-about-...

DannyBee 9y ago

This is actually not even legally correct. There are protected categories of workplace speech.

randyrand 9y ago

Its simple. Google did not violate free speech in terms of law. But freedom of speech is much more than just a law, its also a social responsibility that we can choose to care about or not. Personally I think americans should choose to defend freedom of speech, even if they aren't legally required to.