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> (Almost) everything is political. Only in a world where words have no meaning.

kelnos 6y ago
That's an uncharitably pedantic way of looking at it. I think the parent meant that (almost) every endeavor will have some element of politics in it. That doesn't mean the word "politics" has no meaning.
- samatman 6y ago
  That's an uncharitable way of looking at it. I think the parent meant that the more you use the term "political" to refer to everything, the less meaning "political" has. That only means the word "politics" has no meaning at the limit.
- throwaway894345 6y ago
  > I think the parent meant that (almost) every endeavor will have some element of politics in it This is textbook pedantry. Obviously "don't discuss politics in the workplace" means "don't discuss divisive topics, especially when they're not particularly relevant to your work". Of course everything is "technically political", but that's not how anyone uses "political" except when they're trying to argue in bad faith (specifically engaging in tautology).
  - bcrosby95 6y ago
    Gay marriage is a divisive topic in the USA. A gay man talking about his wedding around the water cooler is political. A straight man talking about his wedding around the water cooler is not political. The only non-political choice is not allowing either to occur. Because if you allow both, that is a political statement. If you only allow one, that is too. The funny thing about politics is: a company doesn't get to choose what topics are divisive. People do. All it takes is one person to strongly hold a belief in the office to make it political.
    - knorker 6y ago
      > A gay man talking about his wedding around the water cooler is political Not like "we need to put gay marriage banners on our home page" is political. I really think people should start respecting the difference. > All it takes is one person to strongly hold a belief in the office to make it political. No. It requires them to act on it. To engage in political activity. It's not political to be a communist at work. It's political to use this belief to steer how the job is done or how the company should perform its mission, or indeed to try to change its mission.
    - throwaway894345 6y ago
      > Gay marriage is a divisive topic in the USA. A gay man talking about his wedding around the water cooler is political. A straight man talking about his wedding around the water cooler is not political. Talking about one's wedding around the water cooler is not political, irrespective of the speaker's orientation OR the audience's opinions about gay marriage. Similarly, an argument in favoring or opposing gay marriage would be political irrespective of the speaker's sexuality or the audience's opinions. This seems perfectly straightforward to me. It seems like you're trying to make a problem where none exists.
      - joshuamorton 6y ago
        While that's true now, it wasn't true 10 (or even 5 in some places) years ago. It's arguably not even true in some places today. Just this week, the Supreme Court denied cert on a lawsuit about same sex marriage (Kim Davis).
        throwaway894345 6y ago
        You’re confusing “controversial” with “political”. Someone’s marriage may be controversial to someone, but talking about it isn’t political (at least not in the sense we’re discussing here). It becomes political when someone is arguing for or against gay marriage.
        6y ago
vkou 6y ago
Politics is the process of determining the allocation and distribution of scarce resources, status, and power. Unless you are living in a post-scarcity, post-status, post-power anarchist society, populated entirely by The New Soviet Man (or some other fictional relative thereof), everything that's meaningful is, indeed, political. You can draw a contrast between personal politics and organizational politics. An organization can be explicit that it engages in organizational politics, but bars personal politics. That is what Coinbase is currently doing[1]. That's the CEO's, and the board's prerogative. [1] It does, however, falsely claim that its organizational political activity is somehow apolitical. It's not.
tshaddox 6y ago
What meaning are you using then? Even the most basic dictionary definition of "politics" is something like "all the activities involved in determining the policies and actions of an organization or government."
- luckylion 6y ago
  If everything is political, including building a table ("because people can sit at a table") or breathing ("it's literally a life and death situation"), then "it's political" has no useful meaning. If a descriptive term doesn't serve as a means of distinguishing things, it's not a descriptive term.
  - Nullabillity 6y ago
    Building a table does imply a bunch of politically charged decisions: 1. Deciding that a new table is a worthwhile use of resources (vs reuse, for example) 2. Deciding who to sell it to (if it's not for your own use) 3. Deciding what to make it out of (resource cost, ethical implications of the supply chain, concern about wood glue toxicity, ...) And so on, and so forth. You might not consciously think about these as political, but.. that's also a political opinion. > then "it's political" has no useful meaning. Exactly.
- knorker 6y ago
  And everything determines the policies and actions of an organization or government? That's like saying every conversation is about syntax and semantics.
- fastball 6y ago
  In this conversation I think it is fairly clear we're talking about government politics. And I would say the majority of things you do in your life do not (and should not) involve government politics. Obviously "apolitical" in this context does not mean Coinbase will lack "office politics".

That's an uncharitably pedantic way of looking at it. I think the parent meant that (almost) every endeavor will have some element of politics in it. That doesn't mean the word "politics" has no meaning.

samatman 6y ago
That's an uncharitable way of looking at it. I think the parent meant that the more you use the term "political" to refer to everything, the less meaning "political" has. That only means the word "politics" has no meaning at the limit.
throwaway894345 6y ago
> I think the parent meant that (almost) every endeavor will have some element of politics in it This is textbook pedantry. Obviously "don't discuss politics in the workplace" means "don't discuss divisive topics, especially when they're not particularly relevant to your work". Of course everything is "technically political", but that's not how anyone uses "political" except when they're trying to argue in bad faith (specifically engaging in tautology).
- bcrosby95 6y ago
  Gay marriage is a divisive topic in the USA. A gay man talking about his wedding around the water cooler is political. A straight man talking about his wedding around the water cooler is not political. The only non-political choice is not allowing either to occur. Because if you allow both, that is a political statement. If you only allow one, that is too. The funny thing about politics is: a company doesn't get to choose what topics are divisive. People do. All it takes is one person to strongly hold a belief in the office to make it political.
  - knorker 6y ago
    > A gay man talking about his wedding around the water cooler is political Not like "we need to put gay marriage banners on our home page" is political. I really think people should start respecting the difference. > All it takes is one person to strongly hold a belief in the office to make it political. No. It requires them to act on it. To engage in political activity. It's not political to be a communist at work. It's political to use this belief to steer how the job is done or how the company should perform its mission, or indeed to try to change its mission.
  - throwaway894345 6y ago
    > Gay marriage is a divisive topic in the USA. A gay man talking about his wedding around the water cooler is political. A straight man talking about his wedding around the water cooler is not political. Talking about one's wedding around the water cooler is not political, irrespective of the speaker's orientation OR the audience's opinions about gay marriage. Similarly, an argument in favoring or opposing gay marriage would be political irrespective of the speaker's sexuality or the audience's opinions. This seems perfectly straightforward to me. It seems like you're trying to make a problem where none exists.
    - joshuamorton 6y ago
      While that's true now, it wasn't true 10 (or even 5 in some places) years ago. It's arguably not even true in some places today. Just this week, the Supreme Court denied cert on a lawsuit about same sex marriage (Kim Davis).
      - throwaway894345 6y ago
        You’re confusing “controversial” with “political”. Someone’s marriage may be controversial to someone, but talking about it isn’t political (at least not in the sense we’re discussing here). It becomes political when someone is arguing for or against gay marriage.
        6y ago

vkou 6y ago

Politics is the process of determining the allocation and distribution of scarce resources, status, and power. Unless you are living in a post-scarcity, post-status, post-power anarchist society, populated entirely by The New Soviet Man (or some other fictional relative thereof), everything that's meaningful is, indeed, political. You can draw a contrast between personal politics and organizational politics. An organization can be explicit that it engages in organizational politics, but bars personal politics. That is what Coinbase is currently doing[1]. That's the CEO's, and the board's prerogative. [1] It does, however, falsely claim that its organizational political activity is somehow apolitical. It's not.

tshaddox 6y ago

What meaning are you using then? Even the most basic dictionary definition of "politics" is something like "all the activities involved in determining the policies and actions of an organization or government."

luckylion 6y ago
If everything is political, including building a table ("because people can sit at a table") or breathing ("it's literally a life and death situation"), then "it's political" has no useful meaning. If a descriptive term doesn't serve as a means of distinguishing things, it's not a descriptive term.
- Nullabillity 6y ago
  Building a table does imply a bunch of politically charged decisions: 1. Deciding that a new table is a worthwhile use of resources (vs reuse, for example) 2. Deciding who to sell it to (if it's not for your own use) 3. Deciding what to make it out of (resource cost, ethical implications of the supply chain, concern about wood glue toxicity, ...) And so on, and so forth. You might not consciously think about these as political, but.. that's also a political opinion. > then "it's political" has no useful meaning. Exactly.
knorker 6y ago
And everything determines the policies and actions of an organization or government? That's like saying every conversation is about syntax and semantics.
fastball 6y ago
In this conversation I think it is fairly clear we're talking about government politics. And I would say the majority of things you do in your life do not (and should not) involve government politics. Obviously "apolitical" in this context does not mean Coinbase will lack "office politics".