8 ms·

I am beyond sick of political activists in the workplace, so I hope this trend catches on.

jojo2333 6y ago
same. I don't even think the severance is necessary. Just ask people who are interested in politics in the workplace to leave.
- mpweiher 6y ago
  Just as a reference point: Germany is well-known for its very strong employee protection. However, activism at work is something you can actually legally lose your job over. That doesn't mean you can't express your political opinions, freedom of expression is protected, but no agitation/activism.
  - LockAndLol 6y ago
    And that's exactly how it should be. It's a workplace, not a forum. Unless your job is political activism, it has no place at work.
linuxhansl 6y ago
I am beyond sick of folks in the workplace who silently accept the status quo, so I hope this trend does not catch on.
- disposekinetics 6y ago
  Silence gives us the ability to work together, without silence you get to hear my hardcore religious ideas all day. Silence is our truce.
  - batt4good 6y ago
    This is getting down-voted but honestly I agree. Silence is a professional courtesy when it comes to certain ideas. For instance, I don't talk about how I find certain parts of 4chan incredibly hilarious. As a black man, I'd definitely have co-workers blow up if I mentioned this at work - granted they feel more than entitled to talk about all sorts of things that I wouldn't even talk about if I was at a bar with friends (fringe lefty politics and sexually explicit things).
    - spollo 6y ago
      I feel this. As someone who grew up in the 4chan hey-day, the internet I fell in love with was extremely inappropriate and anarchic. Shooting the shit about whatever inane thing 4chan was going on about were the source of hilarious and open conversations we used to have amongst friends. Don't get me wrong, 4chan is wrong, messed up, socially deviant and not something to look up to. But all the people I know who used to browse that crazy site ended up being normal, well adjusted people. The social climate is so tense nowadays I would never think to talk about good old 4chan openly.
- 9HZZRfNlpR 6y ago
  Political activism and pandering to left wing mass hysterias is status quo.
TedShiller 6y ago
Agreed. I think there are only two options for a company: 1) don't allow any activism in the company 2) allow ALL types of activism in the company Right now, it seems most companies only allow liberal activism but not conservative activism. This is a recipe for problems because it's arbitrary and not democratic.
- titanomachy 6y ago
  Do companies have an obligation to be democratic? Are democratic companies common? Protected classes aside, if I start a company I can choose to hire or exclude whomever I choose. I could start a company that only hires registered Republicans, or only people who can't stand the taste of bananas. If this turns out to be a bad business decision (which it probably is), the market will punish me and I'll eventually lose to smarter competitors. Right?
  - TedShiller 6y ago
    They do not have an obligation. However, employees will feel it is unfair if their side is not heard as much as the other side.
    - titanomachy 6y ago
      Agreed, being democratic seems to be generally a good practice for employers. Especially those that need to compete for talent.
  - gnicholas 6y ago
    > I could start a company that only hires registered Republicans This might be illegal in California, which considers political activity to be a protected class.
    - titanomachy 6y ago
      I didn't realize that, you are likely correct! I could start such a company in my state, but I'd have to be very careful with jurisdictions. In practice most companies I'm familiar with have official policies banning political discrimination across the board, which makes sense considering the importance of California in tech.
nunja 6y ago
Me too. I can't see why staying in my comfort zone is regarded as political. One solution is to just get comfy. No politics involved, just plain survivalism, nothing wrong.
- thundergolfer 6y ago
  It’s political because a number of hugely important issues call us all to action (child poverty, climate change, homelessness) and those issues are and will continue to put vulnerable people in danger of death and suffering. Staying in your comfort zone is likely an expression of indifference to them as vanishingly few people are comfortable when tackling these problems. You might adopt a political position that your privileged position of safety and comfort is not subject to any particular obligations to engage with others and become involved in society’s problems, but that would be politics all the same.
  - mattparcens 6y ago
    So who gets to decide which issues to get involved in? Does everyone have to get involved in every issue?
    - thundergolfer 6y ago
      No, they don't have to get involved in every issue, the point is merely that inaction, or excluding yourself from politics, is itself political. That doesn't make inaction immoral. It just means that it's not apolitical.
  - nunja 6y ago
    I actually agree with you. My comment was provocative in the sense that I would surely immediately become engaged politically if I was out of this comfort zone.
    - thundergolfer 6y ago
      It seems my comment was more provocative :) Or were we both heavily downvoted?
sneak 6y ago
It’s a bummer that Coinbase’s ploy to intentionally conflate not supporting the Black Lives Matter movement (that is, a clear implicit endorsement of the status quo) with generalized left/right-political-activism-at-work seems to have worked, at least for a lot of people who aren’t paying attention. This isn’t about office politics, or political activism at work. This is about Coinbase making an explicit vote for the status quo of American racism, and trying to deflect the heat they’re taking for that by confusing people into thinking that this is about standard political discussion. It makes me really angry that they would do this. It makes me really sad that it worked. I guess with that much money you can hire really good PR people to shape the narrative into exactly what you want, and dupe tons of people who are rightfully tired of the american culture war into thinking that this has anything to do with that.
- muzika 6y ago
  The reality is thar vast majority of those who do not support the BLM movement are not at all racist. I believe that this movement has made our society more racist and divided than it was before.
  - webkike 6y ago
    Okay, so are black people supposed to just be fine with police killing them? I genuinely don’t understand at how you could arrive at that conclusion
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - anm89 6y ago
      Care to quote the part of the parent comment where he said anything remotely like that? This is obnoxious, dishonest, bullying.
      - webkike 6y ago
        I’m responding to “I believe that this movement has made our society more racist and divided than it was before.” Effectively this means the parent thinks that no movement should be made at all, ergo the status quo should continue. You can debate the merits of the demands that BLM puts forth but how on earth is this not implying that the protests in response to police killings are making society more racist?
gnopgnip 6y ago
Where do you draw the line on what is political? Is wearing a mask political? What about calling someone by their preferred pronoun, or recognizing gay marriage?

same. I don't even think the severance is necessary. Just ask people who are interested in politics in the workplace to leave.

mpweiher 6y ago
Just as a reference point: Germany is well-known for its very strong employee protection. However, activism at work is something you can actually legally lose your job over. That doesn't mean you can't express your political opinions, freedom of expression is protected, but no agitation/activism.
- LockAndLol 6y ago
  And that's exactly how it should be. It's a workplace, not a forum. Unless your job is political activism, it has no place at work.

linuxhansl 6y ago

I am beyond sick of folks in the workplace who silently accept the status quo, so I hope this trend does not catch on.

disposekinetics 6y ago
Silence gives us the ability to work together, without silence you get to hear my hardcore religious ideas all day. Silence is our truce.
- batt4good 6y ago
  This is getting down-voted but honestly I agree. Silence is a professional courtesy when it comes to certain ideas. For instance, I don't talk about how I find certain parts of 4chan incredibly hilarious. As a black man, I'd definitely have co-workers blow up if I mentioned this at work - granted they feel more than entitled to talk about all sorts of things that I wouldn't even talk about if I was at a bar with friends (fringe lefty politics and sexually explicit things).
  - spollo 6y ago
    I feel this. As someone who grew up in the 4chan hey-day, the internet I fell in love with was extremely inappropriate and anarchic. Shooting the shit about whatever inane thing 4chan was going on about were the source of hilarious and open conversations we used to have amongst friends. Don't get me wrong, 4chan is wrong, messed up, socially deviant and not something to look up to. But all the people I know who used to browse that crazy site ended up being normal, well adjusted people. The social climate is so tense nowadays I would never think to talk about good old 4chan openly.
9HZZRfNlpR 6y ago
Political activism and pandering to left wing mass hysterias is status quo.

TedShiller 6y ago

Agreed. I think there are only two options for a company: 1) don't allow any activism in the company 2) allow ALL types of activism in the company Right now, it seems most companies only allow liberal activism but not conservative activism. This is a recipe for problems because it's arbitrary and not democratic.

titanomachy 6y ago
Do companies have an obligation to be democratic? Are democratic companies common? Protected classes aside, if I start a company I can choose to hire or exclude whomever I choose. I could start a company that only hires registered Republicans, or only people who can't stand the taste of bananas. If this turns out to be a bad business decision (which it probably is), the market will punish me and I'll eventually lose to smarter competitors. Right?
- TedShiller 6y ago
  They do not have an obligation. However, employees will feel it is unfair if their side is not heard as much as the other side.
  - titanomachy 6y ago
    Agreed, being democratic seems to be generally a good practice for employers. Especially those that need to compete for talent.
- gnicholas 6y ago
  > I could start a company that only hires registered Republicans This might be illegal in California, which considers political activity to be a protected class.
  - titanomachy 6y ago
    I didn't realize that, you are likely correct! I could start such a company in my state, but I'd have to be very careful with jurisdictions. In practice most companies I'm familiar with have official policies banning political discrimination across the board, which makes sense considering the importance of California in tech.

nunja 6y ago

Me too. I can't see why staying in my comfort zone is regarded as political. One solution is to just get comfy. No politics involved, just plain survivalism, nothing wrong.

thundergolfer 6y ago
It’s political because a number of hugely important issues call us all to action (child poverty, climate change, homelessness) and those issues are and will continue to put vulnerable people in danger of death and suffering. Staying in your comfort zone is likely an expression of indifference to them as vanishingly few people are comfortable when tackling these problems. You might adopt a political position that your privileged position of safety and comfort is not subject to any particular obligations to engage with others and become involved in society’s problems, but that would be politics all the same.
- mattparcens 6y ago
  So who gets to decide which issues to get involved in? Does everyone have to get involved in every issue?
  - thundergolfer 6y ago
    No, they don't have to get involved in every issue, the point is merely that inaction, or excluding yourself from politics, is itself political. That doesn't make inaction immoral. It just means that it's not apolitical.
- nunja 6y ago
  I actually agree with you. My comment was provocative in the sense that I would surely immediately become engaged politically if I was out of this comfort zone.
  - thundergolfer 6y ago
    It seems my comment was more provocative :) Or were we both heavily downvoted?

sneak 6y ago

It’s a bummer that Coinbase’s ploy to intentionally conflate not supporting the Black Lives Matter movement (that is, a clear implicit endorsement of the status quo) with generalized left/right-political-activism-at-work seems to have worked, at least for a lot of people who aren’t paying attention. This isn’t about office politics, or political activism at work. This is about Coinbase making an explicit vote for the status quo of American racism, and trying to deflect the heat they’re taking for that by confusing people into thinking that this is about standard political discussion. It makes me really angry that they would do this. It makes me really sad that it worked. I guess with that much money you can hire really good PR people to shape the narrative into exactly what you want, and dupe tons of people who are rightfully tired of the american culture war into thinking that this has anything to do with that.

muzika 6y ago
The reality is thar vast majority of those who do not support the BLM movement are not at all racist. I believe that this movement has made our society more racist and divided than it was before.
- webkike 6y ago
  Okay, so are black people supposed to just be fine with police killing them? I genuinely don’t understand at how you could arrive at that conclusion
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - anm89 6y ago
    Care to quote the part of the parent comment where he said anything remotely like that? This is obnoxious, dishonest, bullying.
    - webkike 6y ago
      I’m responding to “I believe that this movement has made our society more racist and divided than it was before.” Effectively this means the parent thinks that no movement should be made at all, ergo the status quo should continue. You can debate the merits of the demands that BLM puts forth but how on earth is this not implying that the protests in response to police killings are making society more racist?

gnopgnip 6y ago

Where do you draw the line on what is political? Is wearing a mask political? What about calling someone by their preferred pronoun, or recognizing gay marriage?