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I am not sure that is the intent of this memo. > Williams wrote that while counterperspectives and unpopular opinions are “always encouraged” to help make deci
by ppf 5y ago
I am not sure that is the intent of this memo.
> Williams wrote that while counterperspectives and unpopular opinions are “always encouraged” to help make decisions, “repeated interactions that are nonconstructive, cast doubt, assume bad intent, make unsubstantiated accusations, or otherwise do not contribute to a positive environment have a massive negative impact on the team and working environment.”
>He added: “These behaviors are not tolerated.”
That doesn't sound like an unbiased removal of politics from the workplace to me. I think I would be out of the door, too.
- goatinaboat 5y agoThat doesn't sound like an unbiased removal of politics from the workplace to me. I think I would be out of the door, too. Why, do you "assume bad intent" and "make unsubstantiated accusations"? Do you want to, or do you want to work with people that do? I don't think anyone who quits because those "behaviours are not tolerated" will be missed by their former colleagues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_No_Asshole_Rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_No_Asshole_Rule
- ppf 5y agoYou have just perfectly demonstrated how these new rules can be used to crush even a hint of dissent. I'm out.
- bordercases 5y agoThe rules work!
- wearywanderer 5y agoIn what sense were you crushed by goatinaboat? If somebody publicly disagrees with you, does that mean they have crushed you?
- chevill 5y agoI think a few of the things from the quote are troubling because they were phrased so ambiguously the management could interpret them in disingenuous ways that mean you could theoretically push anyone you wanted out of a company. But at this point isn't it just a memo from the CEO and not a formalized SOP? I would hope the SOP would clarify more. However, I think lots of people wondered why in the quote you included a few things that don't seem to be anything aside from objectively bad, such as "assuming bad intent" and "making unsubstantiated accusations." How did someone simply asking you about it "crush" you into silence?
- ppf 5y agoThat person used my very questioning of it as an example of something that "assumed bad intent", etc etc, as the memo said, "will not be tolerated". Scale that up to a workplace, and I can see how that could go sideways.
- rayiner 5y ago> Why, do you "assume bad intent" and "make unsubstantiated accusations"? Yes: https://offices.depaul.edu/diversity/education/presidents-book-club/PublishingImages/Pages/default/Kendi's%20Main%20Points.pdf https://offices.depaul.edu/diversity/education/presidents-bo... > Attributes of a successful antiracist > 1. Stop saying, “I am not racist.” > 2. Admit racism exists and is ascribed to you.
- goatinaboat 5y agoAdmit racism exists and is ascribed to you. You are clearly a racist then, admit it
- bordercases 5y agoThat logic exists mainly to paint a target on your back and to internalize guilt and disempowerment. It's missing the hidden condition that distinguishes someone claiming to be anti-racist, admitting that they are racist, and acknowledging that other people are calling them racist: they are meant to feel shame and be put into an inverted power situation favoring the person doing the accusing. Else every troll on Twitter would be antiracist in all but name.
- redis_mlc 5y agoFor HN readers who can't translate English into Marxist rhetoric: bad intent = Critical Race Theory (CRT) - there's always an oppressor and an oppressed, and the oppressor (mgmt.) always has bad intent towards the oppressed (vocal employees promoting intersectionalism)
- spoonjim 5y agoIt’s not an unbiased removal — the text of the memo specifically targets the screechiest voices. If you want to put BlackLivesMatter in your Slack status I think you’ll find few complaints but if you present a list of demands starting with “The Company must take a public position in support of reparations” then they’re saying you will be shown the door.
- ppf 5y agoIt depends how you interpret it. Someone gets to decide what a "positive workplace" is, and exactly what "casting doubt" and "nonconstructive" mean, and then they are free to be intolerant of those who go against them.