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Because in theory, a debate is a thoughtful discussion where opponents are respectful to opinions of each other and have the common goal of finding the truth.

Because in theory, a debate is a thoughtful discussion where opponents are respectful to opinions of each other and have the common goal of finding the truth. In reality, political debating at workplace quickly becomes just ugly. And for companies like Google it's also costly, because media adore leaked scandals in big corporations.

bradlys 7y ago
> In reality, political debating at workplace quickly becomes just ugly. I don't think it really has to. I debate politics with people at work enough. I won't get into specifics too much but it's not uncommon to meet someone who has a controversial opinion. You talk with someone, find out why they believe what they believe, and then question a few things (mostly asking why they believe they believe - what lead them to their beliefs). It doesn't have to get heated - it can be a boring lecture to one another about why you believe what you believe. It only gets ugly when you do things that won't lead to change like: "No - you're dumb! You should think what I think!" Which I don't think people who are emotionally and socially competent would do that often... That said - I don't think of people at Google (or other big companies) as being particularly emotionally or socially competent because they don't hire and train for that.
- username90 7y ago
  Do you discuss politics at work in an online forum where 100 000 persons can pitch in? It is very different from discussing politics in person, things gets way more toxic online since there are more people who can take offence so arguments often escalate.
  - bradlys 7y ago
    Sure - I get that. I understand with enough people in a semi-anonymous forum that it could get toxic quickly from just a few bad actors. However, a lot of the commentary here has been around in-person interactions and not on an online forum.
- throwaway3563 7y ago
  It could depend on multiple factors, such as: number of people you're debating with, their demographics, and the fact that some people are more ... shall we say... "trigger-happy" than others.

bradlys 7y ago

> In reality, political debating at workplace quickly becomes just ugly. I don't think it really has to. I debate politics with people at work enough. I won't get into specifics too much but it's not uncommon to meet someone who has a controversial opinion. You talk with someone, find out why they believe what they believe, and then question a few things (mostly asking why they believe they believe - what lead them to their beliefs). It doesn't have to get heated - it can be a boring lecture to one another about why you believe what you believe. It only gets ugly when you do things that won't lead to change like: "No - you're dumb! You should think what I think!" Which I don't think people who are emotionally and socially competent would do that often... That said - I don't think of people at Google (or other big companies) as being particularly emotionally or socially competent because they don't hire and train for that.

username90 7y ago
Do you discuss politics at work in an online forum where 100 000 persons can pitch in? It is very different from discussing politics in person, things gets way more toxic online since there are more people who can take offence so arguments often escalate.
- bradlys 7y ago
  Sure - I get that. I understand with enough people in a semi-anonymous forum that it could get toxic quickly from just a few bad actors. However, a lot of the commentary here has been around in-person interactions and not on an online forum.
throwaway3563 7y ago
It could depend on multiple factors, such as: number of people you're debating with, their demographics, and the fact that some people are more ... shall we say... "trigger-happy" than others.