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> But for some employees, working at an activism focused company may be core to what they want, and we want to prompt that conversation with their manager to he
by ciarannolan 6y ago
> But for some employees, working at an activism focused company may be core to what they want, and we want to prompt that conversation with their manager to help them get to a better place. Life is too short to work somewhere that you aren’t excited about, and we’re happy to make that a win-win conversation.
> We won’t:
> Debate causes or political candidates internally when unrelated to our mission
> Expect the company to represent our personal beliefs externally
> Assume negative intent, or not have each others back
> Take on activism outside of our core mission at work
I wish more companies would take this position. I go to work to build great things and work with great people, not to talk about identity or partisan politics.
- jMyles 6y ago> I go to work to build great things and work with great people, not to talk about politics. It's hard for me to imagine any topic of discussion internally at Coinbase that is not political. Often in these situations, defense of a status quo becomes "non-political", while any suggestion that a better method might exist for doing something (especially regarding custody of assets precisely designed to be beyond state control) is "political".
- wmf 6y agoEven if everything is political, some topics don't need to be discussed inside the company at all.
- pfooti 6y agoI'm sure you and others realize this, but it bears repeating: everything is political. If you want to work and not talk about the politics of your work, or the politics of the general world, that's basically signaling that you you are okay with the status quo. This is not necessarily a _bad_ thing, but in this world it is impossible to be apolitical. The only thing you can be is okay with the status quo.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- avalys 6y agoI fundamentally disagree with your position. It's totally reasonable to be unsatisfied with the status quo, while still believing that talking about your politics and/or dissatisfaction at work is ineffective or counterproductive.
- yongjik 6y agoI agree that everything is political, but a wise person chooses their battle carefully. You can't fight everything wrong in the world at the same time, people have different priorities, and there's nothing wrong about separating your day job and your political discussion. In the end, few of us can be Nelson Mandela. We rage against social injustice, but in the end we still expect to be paid and sleep under a roof we own. So, in a sense, all of us are "okay" with the status quo, up to a certain degree. There's no shame in knowing your own limit.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- throw_m239339 6y ago> everything is political. Everything is not identity politics or partisan politics. "Everything is political" is the very definition of newspeak and it's sophistic.
- ciarannolan 6y agoI updated my comment with this language, because I agree. Of course people will come out of the woodwork to talk about how "my very existence is political" or some other nonsense. Ie. exactly the kind of thing I'm glad Coinbase is banning at work.
- brucifer 6y agoSince you seem to have some respect for Orwell's ideas, you might be interested to know that "everything is political" is a view Orwell personally endorsed in his writing[1]: > In our age there is no such thing as "keeping out of politics." All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia. Every time we decide to act or not act in the public sphere, it has political implications. That doesn't mean it's specifically partisan or identity politics, but it is nonetheless political. Choosing not to speak up about something is just as much a political decision as choosing to speak up. [1] https://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit https://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_poli...