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If this isn’t parody, and I am guessing it’s not, then it’s still a perfect depiction of what changed in the American left in the 1960s. Politics became more ab

If this isn’t parody, and I am guessing it’s not, then it’s still a perfect depiction of what changed in the American left in the 1960s. Politics became more about changing the orientation of one’s mind than the orientation of one’s society. Walkouts are worthless.

tehjoker 5y ago
A walkout is worthwhile if it signals that the employees are ready to strike.
- 0xy 5y ago
  Which they aren't. The attempts to unionize Google employees have been a total failure. The union is extremely unpopular. Without collective support, there is no strike.
ecshafer 5y ago
American Left went from solidarity, going against the corporates, and better salaries and conditions to supporting whatever the latest hot political stand is.
- matheusmoreira 5y ago
  Not sure why this is downvoted. Politics has been de-economized and the economy has been de-politicized. Not surprising given how dangerous this sort of organization is to the big corporations. Better to have people fight over gender politics than better working conditions and compensation.
  - MattRix 5y ago
    People clearly care deeply about about both these things. It’s possible for the left to fight over gender politics AND working conditions.
    - emptysongglass 5y ago
      The issue is that identity politics are a race to the bottom of purity politics. The amount of black you can be or whether you're LGBTQ+ enough is a spectrum that lends itself to eating your own young. Conversely, all of us are workers. We are united in the blood and sweat we offer to the increasingly well-to-do. Consuming ourselves in intra-labor factionalism while the wealthy elites feed anti-union propaganda does everything to reduce our bargaining power and our feeling of love and respect for our fellow human beings. Because at the end of the day it's not how much melanin you have in your skin or how female you feel or what terms you're using at your workplace, it's your humanity and your labor that unites us. Buddhism, which I often reference, makes much to do over the uselessness and continued suffering we bind ourselves to by the reification of concepts. We need to stop reifying those ideas which divide us and find the common in which to celebrate our closeness. There is a stark difference between lifting up and listening to women (which I am strongly for) because they are our fellow human beings in labor not because their state of being will never be understood by their male counterparts, which is often the refrain of the new far left. Class politics not identity politics.
    - matheusmoreira 5y ago
      Sure, and that's exactly what the rich corporations want. They'd rather see people fighting each other over gendered pronouns than threatening to burn the factory down due to rampant exploitation of workers.
drdeadringer 5y ago
Not parody. It's what happened as I did it.
ryandrake 5y ago
You’re absolutely right. Political action is impotent if it doesn’t actually move you towards your goal. Walkouts for a day and then you just go back to work, do not affect a company’s policy. Protests don’t magically bring social justice. Storming the Capitol doesn’t stop the election. So much political actions today don’t actually force change, they just “raise awareness” and make participants feel good for visibly being on the right team.
baron_harkonnen 5y ago
I've participated in a walkout as well, and while I very strongly agree with your overall criticism about the inefficacy of walk outs and the reduction of the American "left" what I feel is essentially a life style brand. When I did the walk I did it for one reason and it was for other people. I don't want to give away personal info on this account, but the issue was related to treatment of minorities. At this company I was in a management position in a technical role which put me above the vast majority of employees in both pay and autonomy. I decided to do the walk out because I'm sure there were people who worked at this company who did not feel comfortable expressing their views publicly because they made just enough to get by and couldn't get a new job in two weeks if they wanted. I want these people to see that there was someone in a management role that at least gives enough of a shit to visibly make their unhappiness with the decisions and actions of senior management known. Maybe it's a meaningless gesture politically, it certainly didn't change anything at the company, but for me it was like lighting a candle and placing in with others in honor of someone who has passed. It won't change anything but it helps those who are struggling and grieving feel a bit less isolated. Its nothing to be proud of, it doesn't change the world, but for me it was better than sitting at my desk for a few hours completing ignoring a problem that didn't personally impact me.
dang 5y ago
Could you please stop creating accounts for every few comments you post? We ban accounts that do that. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. You needn't use your real name, of course, but for HN to be a community, users need some identity for other users to relate to. Otherwise we may as well have no usernames and no community, and that would be a different kind of forum. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=community%20identity%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

tehjoker 5y ago

A walkout is worthwhile if it signals that the employees are ready to strike.

0xy 5y ago
Which they aren't. The attempts to unionize Google employees have been a total failure. The union is extremely unpopular. Without collective support, there is no strike.

ecshafer 5y ago

American Left went from solidarity, going against the corporates, and better salaries and conditions to supporting whatever the latest hot political stand is.

matheusmoreira 5y ago
Not sure why this is downvoted. Politics has been de-economized and the economy has been de-politicized. Not surprising given how dangerous this sort of organization is to the big corporations. Better to have people fight over gender politics than better working conditions and compensation.
- MattRix 5y ago
  People clearly care deeply about about both these things. It’s possible for the left to fight over gender politics AND working conditions.
  - emptysongglass 5y ago
    The issue is that identity politics are a race to the bottom of purity politics. The amount of black you can be or whether you're LGBTQ+ enough is a spectrum that lends itself to eating your own young. Conversely, all of us are workers. We are united in the blood and sweat we offer to the increasingly well-to-do. Consuming ourselves in intra-labor factionalism while the wealthy elites feed anti-union propaganda does everything to reduce our bargaining power and our feeling of love and respect for our fellow human beings. Because at the end of the day it's not how much melanin you have in your skin or how female you feel or what terms you're using at your workplace, it's your humanity and your labor that unites us. Buddhism, which I often reference, makes much to do over the uselessness and continued suffering we bind ourselves to by the reification of concepts. We need to stop reifying those ideas which divide us and find the common in which to celebrate our closeness. There is a stark difference between lifting up and listening to women (which I am strongly for) because they are our fellow human beings in labor not because their state of being will never be understood by their male counterparts, which is often the refrain of the new far left. Class politics not identity politics.
  - matheusmoreira 5y ago
    Sure, and that's exactly what the rich corporations want. They'd rather see people fighting each other over gendered pronouns than threatening to burn the factory down due to rampant exploitation of workers.

drdeadringer 5y ago

Not parody. It's what happened as I did it.

ryandrake 5y ago

You’re absolutely right. Political action is impotent if it doesn’t actually move you towards your goal. Walkouts for a day and then you just go back to work, do not affect a company’s policy. Protests don’t magically bring social justice. Storming the Capitol doesn’t stop the election. So much political actions today don’t actually force change, they just “raise awareness” and make participants feel good for visibly being on the right team.

baron_harkonnen 5y ago

I've participated in a walkout as well, and while I very strongly agree with your overall criticism about the inefficacy of walk outs and the reduction of the American "left" what I feel is essentially a life style brand. When I did the walk I did it for one reason and it was for other people. I don't want to give away personal info on this account, but the issue was related to treatment of minorities. At this company I was in a management position in a technical role which put me above the vast majority of employees in both pay and autonomy. I decided to do the walk out because I'm sure there were people who worked at this company who did not feel comfortable expressing their views publicly because they made just enough to get by and couldn't get a new job in two weeks if they wanted. I want these people to see that there was someone in a management role that at least gives enough of a shit to visibly make their unhappiness with the decisions and actions of senior management known. Maybe it's a meaningless gesture politically, it certainly didn't change anything at the company, but for me it was like lighting a candle and placing in with others in honor of someone who has passed. It won't change anything but it helps those who are struggling and grieving feel a bit less isolated. Its nothing to be proud of, it doesn't change the world, but for me it was better than sitting at my desk for a few hours completing ignoring a problem that didn't personally impact me.

dang 5y ago

Could you please stop creating accounts for every few comments you post? We ban accounts that do that. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. You needn't use your real name, of course, but for HN to be a community, users need some identity for other users to relate to. Otherwise we may as well have no usernames and no community, and that would be a different kind of forum. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=community%20identity%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...