6 ms·

This must feel harsh for those on the receiving end, but is the right thing to do. It is not effective to try and turn every company into a rights activism grou

by jiofih 6y ago

This must feel harsh for those on the receiving end, but is the right thing to do. It is not effective to try and turn every company into a rights activism group just because it is a group of people. This may be a sign that it’s become increasingly hard to organize or take part in such activism outside of work. What happened?

meheleventyone 6y ago
It could also be a sign that people feel more empowered to express themselves in work and feel that a workplace that values their ideals is preferable to one that doesn't. Particularly in tech where we're all quite comfortably off we can worry about these things higher up the hierarchy of needs. It will be interesting to see where this takes the culture of Coinbase.
- rjkennedy98 6y ago
  > It could also be a sign that people feel more empowered to express themselves in work The cynic in me feels like it's a casual way for engineers to feel better about themselves. It's no wonder to me that this "bring your whole self to work" nonsense sprung up at ad-tech companies like Google. And by the way - the political stuff never is about anything that Google does. I haven't seen any tax law, anti-trust, or privacy protests at Google.
  - matthewdgreen 6y ago
    > the political stuff never is about anything that Google does Huh? https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/27/18114285/google-employee-china-censorship-protest-project-dragonfly-search-engine-letter https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/27/18114285/google-employee...
- hackerfromthefu 6y ago
  It could also be related to excessive narcissism! A zeitgeist of the times ..
  - Apocryphon 6y ago
    If you're going to talk zeitgeists, it could also be millenarianism, as the belief that the old order is dwindling and about to blow away and must be replaced with something better, the belief in a reckoning, is far from exclusive to either side of the political spectrum but instead is present everywhere.
sagichmal 6y ago
It is incorrect to think of the things under discussion here as "rights activism", as something unrelated to the mission of the company.
hardwaresofton 6y ago
> This may be a sign that it’s become increasingly hard to organize or take part in such activism outside of work. What happened? I might be over-simplifying but the vast majority of people most affected by political decisions no longer have the incomes and free time to partake in such activism. For example if you cared about something like workers' unions (let's assume the relatively well-run, non-corrupt version), the people in the best place to perform the activism do not feel they need the unions because they have the spare income and time (ex. tech workers at TechCompanyX). Those who would be most helped by the activism (ex. workers in TechCompanyX's factories/warehouses/wherever) have grueling work schedules and lower pay.
humanrebar 6y ago
Workplaces and ZIP codes are more homogeneous than they used to be.
paulgb 6y ago
> What happened? I'm partial to Aaron Levie's take on this[1]: > An alternative take on the importance of companies taking a stand on critical social issues that impact our employees and communities: when there's a vacuum of leadership from the government in dealing with these topics, businesses often need to lead more than ever. When we have had presidents who were willing to condemn white supremacy, we tended not to call on CEOs to. 1. https://mobile.twitter.com/levie/status/1311007294033854464 https://mobile.twitter.com/levie/status/1311007294033854464
- tossAfterUsing 6y ago
  > When we have had presidents who were willing to condemn white supremacy, we tended not to call on CEOs to. https://twitter.com/robsmithonline/status/1311132975468359681?s=20 https://twitter.com/robsmithonline/status/131113297546835968...
  - paulgb 6y ago
    Last night he was given the chance to unequivocally condemn the Proud Boys and instead told them to "stand back and stand by", which the group themselves has taken as a rally cry. Just like how after Charlottesville, white supremacists took his ambiguous response as a sign of approval. He doesn't condemn, he validates with just enough deniability that people can make lists like the one you posted, while everyone who is following along sees exactly what is happening.
    - skinkestek 6y ago
      Did you follow that debate closely? Because it seems like a lot more nuanced than the media put it.
      - paulgb 6y ago
        I did, unfortunately. I haven't really followed the media's portrayal of it, but I do know that the Proud Boys' website now says "stand back and stand by" prominently on their home page above a call for recruits.
zo1 6y ago
Or that it's becoming easier to perform activism within work contexts? Especially with left-leaning causes that always sound good, justified and fair in principle, so they are easy for public/PR-sensitive companies to adopt without rocking the boat. Essentially that means that for the company, it ends up being a win-win situation. They satisfy their employees' urges to perform activism and they get brownie points from the public for promoting a "noble" sounding cause with minimal effort, all the while not having to rock the boat by having to defend their opinion because it's defacto assumed to be good and justified. E.g. have a look at the whole Goya Foods incident to find out what happens if a company happens to support a non activist-approved point of view.
- hackerfromthefu 6y ago
  Assuming there's enough non-activists in the company to actually get some real work done while the primadonnas are blowing hot air and ganging up on the the next victim
tehjoker 6y ago
If one were to engage with the works of leftist thinkers, one would recognize that the workplace is actually the central point for activism as it is where one seizes the means of production.
- hackerfromthefu 6y ago
  Seizes or sabotages .. it's all a matter of perspective
matthewdgreen 6y ago
Why would it feel harsh? He’s giving the most employable people in the company a huge bonus to leave.

by jiofih 6y ago

meheleventyone 6y ago

It could also be a sign that people feel more empowered to express themselves in work and feel that a workplace that values their ideals is preferable to one that doesn't. Particularly in tech where we're all quite comfortably off we can worry about these things higher up the hierarchy of needs. It will be interesting to see where this takes the culture of Coinbase.

rjkennedy98 6y ago
> It could also be a sign that people feel more empowered to express themselves in work The cynic in me feels like it's a casual way for engineers to feel better about themselves. It's no wonder to me that this "bring your whole self to work" nonsense sprung up at ad-tech companies like Google. And by the way - the political stuff never is about anything that Google does. I haven't seen any tax law, anti-trust, or privacy protests at Google.
- matthewdgreen 6y ago
  > the political stuff never is about anything that Google does Huh? https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/27/18114285/google-employee-china-censorship-protest-project-dragonfly-search-engine-letter https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/27/18114285/google-employee...
hackerfromthefu 6y ago
It could also be related to excessive narcissism! A zeitgeist of the times ..
- Apocryphon 6y ago
  If you're going to talk zeitgeists, it could also be millenarianism, as the belief that the old order is dwindling and about to blow away and must be replaced with something better, the belief in a reckoning, is far from exclusive to either side of the political spectrum but instead is present everywhere.

sagichmal 6y ago

It is incorrect to think of the things under discussion here as "rights activism", as something unrelated to the mission of the company.

hardwaresofton 6y ago

> This may be a sign that it’s become increasingly hard to organize or take part in such activism outside of work. What happened? I might be over-simplifying but the vast majority of people most affected by political decisions no longer have the incomes and free time to partake in such activism. For example if you cared about something like workers' unions (let's assume the relatively well-run, non-corrupt version), the people in the best place to perform the activism do not feel they need the unions because they have the spare income and time (ex. tech workers at TechCompanyX). Those who would be most helped by the activism (ex. workers in TechCompanyX's factories/warehouses/wherever) have grueling work schedules and lower pay.

humanrebar 6y ago

Workplaces and ZIP codes are more homogeneous than they used to be.

paulgb 6y ago

> What happened? I'm partial to Aaron Levie's take on this[1]: > An alternative take on the importance of companies taking a stand on critical social issues that impact our employees and communities: when there's a vacuum of leadership from the government in dealing with these topics, businesses often need to lead more than ever. When we have had presidents who were willing to condemn white supremacy, we tended not to call on CEOs to. 1. https://mobile.twitter.com/levie/status/1311007294033854464 https://mobile.twitter.com/levie/status/1311007294033854464

tossAfterUsing 6y ago
> When we have had presidents who were willing to condemn white supremacy, we tended not to call on CEOs to. https://twitter.com/robsmithonline/status/1311132975468359681?s=20 https://twitter.com/robsmithonline/status/131113297546835968...
- paulgb 6y ago
  Last night he was given the chance to unequivocally condemn the Proud Boys and instead told them to "stand back and stand by", which the group themselves has taken as a rally cry. Just like how after Charlottesville, white supremacists took his ambiguous response as a sign of approval. He doesn't condemn, he validates with just enough deniability that people can make lists like the one you posted, while everyone who is following along sees exactly what is happening.
  - skinkestek 6y ago
    Did you follow that debate closely? Because it seems like a lot more nuanced than the media put it.
    - paulgb 6y ago
      I did, unfortunately. I haven't really followed the media's portrayal of it, but I do know that the Proud Boys' website now says "stand back and stand by" prominently on their home page above a call for recruits.

zo1 6y ago

Or that it's becoming easier to perform activism within work contexts? Especially with left-leaning causes that always sound good, justified and fair in principle, so they are easy for public/PR-sensitive companies to adopt without rocking the boat. Essentially that means that for the company, it ends up being a win-win situation. They satisfy their employees' urges to perform activism and they get brownie points from the public for promoting a "noble" sounding cause with minimal effort, all the while not having to rock the boat by having to defend their opinion because it's defacto assumed to be good and justified. E.g. have a look at the whole Goya Foods incident to find out what happens if a company happens to support a non activist-approved point of view.

hackerfromthefu 6y ago
Assuming there's enough non-activists in the company to actually get some real work done while the primadonnas are blowing hot air and ganging up on the the next victim

tehjoker 6y ago

If one were to engage with the works of leftist thinkers, one would recognize that the workplace is actually the central point for activism as it is where one seizes the means of production.

hackerfromthefu 6y ago
Seizes or sabotages .. it's all a matter of perspective

matthewdgreen 6y ago

Why would it feel harsh? He’s giving the most employable people in the company a huge bonus to leave.