6 ms·

> ...your work, which occupies a large portion of your life, should not be divisive. I get that desire, I really do, but I think it's so important to recognize

by ketzo 6y ago

> ...your work, which occupies a large portion of your life, should not be divisive. I get that desire, I really do, but I think it's so important to recognize that your work is not apolitical. It doesn't matter what you're building. What you build does not exist in a vacuum, and the decisions you make around politics at work are themselves political decisions.

tupputuppu 6y ago
If you want to have such a broad definition of political, then why restrict the whole fight to tech companies? Why aren't on the barricades about the fashion industry or traditional media? Are you sure this isn't just an excuse to make things political in these west coast companies that are full of young, hot-headed, extremely left wing people?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
baggy_trough 6y ago
This is really a noxious idea. It's like saying that because we all breathe the same air, everything I do affects you. No, not in the vast majority of cases.
- Avamander 6y ago
  Okay this is like the worst example. Everything you do does affect the environment around you. For example if you take a Bahamas trip, you are paying to generate tons of CO2. If you buy a diesel car, or just driving one, you're affecting the shared air as well.
  - baggy_trough 6y ago
    Yes that is true in a pedantic sense. It is also true that my gravitational force affects everyone in the world as I move about. But not enough to matter.
ErikBjare 6y ago
I see people replying this a lot, and those who do must have missed what Brian said about it this exact thing in his original post.
f69281c 6y ago
To me this take rolls into the general "silence is violence" or "either you're with us or against us" refrain that has become background noise to me. It reads the same as someone telling me I'm enabling fascism by not posting a black square on instagram or whatever. I'm nearing the point of being aggressively dismissive towards this kind of attitude, because a lot of it doesn't even seem to be laid out in good faith. People are just addicted to being mad, addicted to being right, addicted to the idea that they can channel their anger through pop politics and get validation for it as a bonus. I have an extremely low opinion of the people and groups who follow along with whatever pop social issue is trending today because they don't want to get in trouble, and IMHO those people aren't really worth interacting with because again, it's more about landing a spicy dunk on the bad guys (tm) and collecting heart icons than whatever issue they're using as a weapon today. >your work is not apolitical. It doesn't matter what you're building spare me.
- freeone3000 6y ago
  We control the information flow for billions. How the hell could that NOT be political?
  - war1025 6y ago
    > We control the information flow for billions Who is "we"? The majority of people here don't work for FANG
    - username90 6y ago
      And the large majority of people at FANG have about as much control over the flow of information as a plumber has over the flow of shit from a city. They just keep the system running, they don't influence it.
      - war1025 6y ago
        Even more so then. "We" don't control anything any more than anyone else.
dingaling 6y ago
> work are themselves political decisions But those political decisions are ones relevant to the mission of the company. Coinbase probably shouldn't be involved in politics around police reform, fracking, climate change or the Second Amendment because they are orthogonal to its mission. Insert other topics as you see fit. And hence its employees should leave their opinions of such matters at the door. Coinbase should be focused on politics around global financial regulation. And its employees should focus their workplace political energy on those matters. Also, it's generally just polite and respectful to your coworkers to provide a non-political, non-partisan workplace.
- bluntfang 6y ago
  >Coinbase probably shouldn't be involved in politics around police reform, fracking, climate change or the Second Amendment because they are orthogonal to its mission. It's impossible to not involve yourself in politics that effect your employee's everyday lives.
- mrguyorama 6y ago
  Taking "no stance" on a political issue is itself a political stance for the status quo. It is impossible to not be political
  - username90 6y ago
    If the outcome of society would be the same if you exist or not then you are not political. For example if you don't vote and don't support any political causes, then the people who take the time to get involved decides everything and you had no influence.
    - xmprt 6y ago
      There are 4 levels of competence. For all the people who know they are incompetence and therefore abstain from voting there are a lot of people (possibly more) that don't know their incompetence and decide to vote regardless. If you're not voting because you're uninformed, you're probably much more informed than many of the people who are voting.

by ketzo 6y ago

tupputuppu 6y ago

If you want to have such a broad definition of political, then why restrict the whole fight to tech companies? Why aren't on the barricades about the fashion industry or traditional media? Are you sure this isn't just an excuse to make things political in these west coast companies that are full of young, hot-headed, extremely left wing people?

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

baggy_trough 6y ago

This is really a noxious idea. It's like saying that because we all breathe the same air, everything I do affects you. No, not in the vast majority of cases.

Avamander 6y ago
Okay this is like the worst example. Everything you do does affect the environment around you. For example if you take a Bahamas trip, you are paying to generate tons of CO2. If you buy a diesel car, or just driving one, you're affecting the shared air as well.
- baggy_trough 6y ago
  Yes that is true in a pedantic sense. It is also true that my gravitational force affects everyone in the world as I move about. But not enough to matter.

ErikBjare 6y ago

I see people replying this a lot, and those who do must have missed what Brian said about it this exact thing in his original post.

f69281c 6y ago

To me this take rolls into the general "silence is violence" or "either you're with us or against us" refrain that has become background noise to me. It reads the same as someone telling me I'm enabling fascism by not posting a black square on instagram or whatever. I'm nearing the point of being aggressively dismissive towards this kind of attitude, because a lot of it doesn't even seem to be laid out in good faith. People are just addicted to being mad, addicted to being right, addicted to the idea that they can channel their anger through pop politics and get validation for it as a bonus. I have an extremely low opinion of the people and groups who follow along with whatever pop social issue is trending today because they don't want to get in trouble, and IMHO those people aren't really worth interacting with because again, it's more about landing a spicy dunk on the bad guys (tm) and collecting heart icons than whatever issue they're using as a weapon today. >your work is not apolitical. It doesn't matter what you're building spare me.

freeone3000 6y ago
We control the information flow for billions. How the hell could that NOT be political?
- war1025 6y ago
  > We control the information flow for billions Who is "we"? The majority of people here don't work for FANG
  - username90 6y ago
    And the large majority of people at FANG have about as much control over the flow of information as a plumber has over the flow of shit from a city. They just keep the system running, they don't influence it.
    - war1025 6y ago
      Even more so then. "We" don't control anything any more than anyone else.

dingaling 6y ago

> work are themselves political decisions But those political decisions are ones relevant to the mission of the company. Coinbase probably shouldn't be involved in politics around police reform, fracking, climate change or the Second Amendment because they are orthogonal to its mission. Insert other topics as you see fit. And hence its employees should leave their opinions of such matters at the door. Coinbase should be focused on politics around global financial regulation. And its employees should focus their workplace political energy on those matters. Also, it's generally just polite and respectful to your coworkers to provide a non-political, non-partisan workplace.

bluntfang 6y ago
>Coinbase probably shouldn't be involved in politics around police reform, fracking, climate change or the Second Amendment because they are orthogonal to its mission. It's impossible to not involve yourself in politics that effect your employee's everyday lives.
mrguyorama 6y ago
Taking "no stance" on a political issue is itself a political stance for the status quo. It is impossible to not be political
- username90 6y ago
  If the outcome of society would be the same if you exist or not then you are not political. For example if you don't vote and don't support any political causes, then the people who take the time to get involved decides everything and you had no influence.
  - xmprt 6y ago
    There are 4 levels of competence. For all the people who know they are incompetence and therefore abstain from voting there are a lot of people (possibly more) that don't know their incompetence and decide to vote regardless. If you're not voting because you're uninformed, you're probably much more informed than many of the people who are voting.