20 ms·

RedBalloon – free speech job board

47 points by cspliego 5y ago

nacho2sweet 5y ago
$16/hr for a skilled trade welder position at a company that posts on this website? You Americans need a $15 minimum wage lol.
- woodruffw 5y ago
  Bum pay and racist coworkers are as American as baseball and apple pie!
  - throwaway894345 5y ago
    Surely you're aware that the median wage in the United States is higher and racism lower than virtually anywhere else in the world, right?
    - woodruffw 5y ago
      Tens of millions of people in the United States live below the median wage, by definition. It's a nonsense statistic in the context of a remark on any particular low-paying job, of which there seem to be plenty on this site. I don't know you (or anyone else) would evaluate racism being "lower" in the US. It also occurs to me that lower isn't the same thing as low, and that I don't have to fix other exceptionally racist countries before I remark about racism in my own.
      - throwaway894345 5y ago
        > Tens of millions of people in the United States live below the median wage, by definition. Right, but that's precisely the point--the same is true everywhere ("median" doesn't work differently when applied to Europe or Asia! (: ). > It's a nonsense statistic in the context of a remark on any particular low-paying job, of which there seem to be plenty on this site. You remarked that low paying jobs were quintessentially American. If that's the case, we would expect some majority of Americans to hold low-paying jobs when in fact the median American pay is quite high relative to other regions of the world. > I don't know you (or anyone else) would evaluate racism being "lower" in the US. It also occurs to me that lower isn't the same thing as low, and that I don't have to fix other exceptionally racist countries before I remark about racism in my own. I think you're being unduly defensive here. No one is saying you have to fix any other place before remarking about racism in your own country. I am saying that your heavy implication that the US has unusually high levels of racism seems factually incorrect. By all means, we can criticize our country, but let's strive to be factual.
        woodruffw 5y ago
        > You remarked that low paying jobs were quintessentially American. If that's the case, we would expect some majority of Americans to hold low-paying jobs when in fact the median American pay is quite high relative to other regions of the world. A country can be both profoundly wealthy on paper and have a massive indigent population. Statistics like median income don't account for the extraordinary individual debt, poor average healthcare outcomes, or the absence of basic social safety nets that Americans accept without blinking. Compare us to our development cohort on median wage alone and we look normal, but the median American goes home each day with more debt and fewer guardrails against poverty than nearly every other median citizen in the developed world. > I am saying that your heavy implication that the US has unusually high levels of racism seems factually incorrect. By all means, we can criticize our country, but let's strive to be factual. I'm not going to claim to know every developed country's constitution or founding documents, but I'm pretty sure most don't have a 3/5ths clause the way that ours does. The US is a deeply racist country, down to our founding principles. It might not look like the kind of racism that passes for normal in other countries, but it's a category error to conflate that difference in kind with a difference in severity or deep-rootedness.
- nitrogen 5y ago
  You can live on that just fine in many rural areas, where a lot of welding jobs might be found.
- kube-system 5y ago
  Well, it is Montana, it includes medical and dental insurance at 100% employee and 75% for dependents. The total comp is probably more comparable to other $22-25/hr jobs with minimal benefits for someone with a family.
- throwaway894345 5y ago
  Contrary to the media depiction in your country, the United States is a bit bigger than New York and California, and many of those mysterious places in between are pretty affordable.
  - mikewhy 5y ago
    Doesn't change the fact that the US' minimum wage is incredibly low and has been for years.
    - throwaway894345 5y ago
      That wasn't the original claim, and anyway I'm skeptical. Certainly the US minimum wage is very high if we look at it naively (in most of the world $13.50/hr is a whole lot of money, especially considering the significantly improved worker protections). You'd need to account for purchasing power and cost of living, and I don't have the data handy. But it hardly matters, we can campaign for a higher minimum wage without arguing that the US is a terrible place. And I'll go a bit further--not only is the wild hyperbole unnecessary, it's actively harmful to the campaign for a higher minimum wage because people associate the issue with liars.
      - mikewhy 5y ago
        > That wasn't the original claim The original claim was that the US needed a higher minimum wage. > $13.50/hr Where is this number from? The US federal minimum wage is $7.25/hr, unchanged since 2009. The only states with numbers like you've quoted are the ones you're also telling people to look beyond. > arguing that the US is a terrible place Neither I, you, nor nacho2sweet are saying that so I'm not sure why you're bringing that into this.
  - antifa 5y ago
    They would be affordable if they had jobs.
c0nsumer 5y ago
> We envision a world beyond cancel culture, where employees are free to work... without fear that they will find themselves on the wrong side of their employer’s politics. > That’s it. No agendas, politics, or drama. Just work. Interested? Let’s create that world together. One of these things is not like the other...
willcipriano 5y ago
I imagine it's a sample size thing, but if this board is any indication of the market expect to make less than $20 a hour if you hold non majority opinions and want to publicly voice them. If represenative, it may be that the blue collar world is a lot more tolerant of dissenting opinions in a strange reversal of fortune from a few decades ago where it seemed the other way around.
- happytoexplain 5y ago
  "Non majority opinion" is a hell of a loaded phrase.
  - willcipriano 5y ago
    Yeah, they could think covid probably came from a lab or that Hunter Bidens laptop was neither Russian in origin or misinformation.
    - cool_dude85 5y ago
      Or maybe they're loud, public advocates for eliminating age of consent laws or bringing back chattel slavery.
      - CrazyPyroLinux 5y ago
        Or maybe they're strawmen!
        cool_dude85 5y ago
        Are you saying a company devoted to free speech would refuse to hire such people?
        CrazyPyroLinux 5y ago
        Although I was originally thinking those aren't great examples because of their fringe nature (vs the more common mundane stuff that people can get cancelled over), that might make them good examples. Neither (by themselves) are illegal opinions (yet), so as long as they keep it out of the workplace it should not be part of the employment decision.
standardUser 5y ago
So if an employee has an active Twitter account where they regularly post overtly racist content, these are companies that will promise to keep them employed, regardless of, for example, complaints from other employees who are people of color? Sounds like a train wreck waiting to happen. Also, who wants to work for a company that is essentially reaching out to hire more racists?
- imwillofficial 5y ago
  People like you are why that site exists. The endlessly increasing list called “racist” is getting tiresome for those who want to simply speak their truth.
  - fxbe12 5y ago
    Word
    - seanw444 5y ago
      Went to reply to the parent comment, and it got flagged. Jeez. Wasn't even advocating for racism. Hacker News is becoming tech nerd Twitter.
  - dang 5y ago
    Personal attacks are not allowed here, regardless of how wrong someone else is or you feel they are. Please review the rules and stick to them: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. Edit: we've warned you many times about breaking the site guidelines and your recent comments have mostly (exclusively?) been flamebait and/or unsubstantive. If you continue like that we're going to have to ban you, so please fix this.
    - monkey_monkey 5y ago
      It's curious that you've given this person so many chances when others seem to get banned almost immediately.
BryantD 5y ago
Out of curiosity, would Coinbase be allowed to post jobs on this site? Their policy as I understand it is “no political discussions at work,” which seems like it’s not a free speech stance.
- jimbob45 5y ago
  "No political discussions at work" seems like it solves the problem right there. If anyone decides to break that rule, they can be reported immediately and if two people consent to breaking that rule (consent between each other), then the company doesn't have to get involved until one or the other reports the conversation at which point it's a simple write-up. That was always the policy in school growing up too. I really don't know why we ever strayed from that rule.
  - cool_dude85 5y ago
    Is it a free speech job board if the companies are going to fire me based on what I post on my twitter account? They say no cancel culture right on the front page.
  - seanw444 5y ago
    "Free speech until one reports the other." Mmmm, freedom.
  - BryantD 5y ago
    Well, that’s a different proposed solution than why RedBalloon seems to be advocating. If I’m reading them correctly, they’re saying that you should be able to say whatever you want at work. I’m interested in whether or not my interpretation is correct.
    - jimbob45 5y ago
      Yeah I'm specifically talking about CoinBase's approach. You're right that RedBalloon would seem not to be in favor of the "No political discussion at work" policy.
happytoexplain 5y ago
The implication that being explicitly anti-cancel-culture is an apolitical stance is somewhat amazing. This seems to be pretty obviously courting people with a particular political lean, not simply people who don't want to talk about politics.
- imwillofficial 5y ago
  Those on the right and left are concerned with cancel culture.
  - cool_dude85 5y ago
    That doesn't mean it's not a political stance.
    - throwaway894345 5y ago
      Presumably the parent was rebutting this claim: > This seems to be pretty obviously courting people with a particular political lean
  - mbesto 5y ago
    1) Cancel culture has always existed, it's just been branded in the last decade as a political wedge. 2) People (especially political pundits and libertarian minded tech people) have been crying for more free market principles to exist. Don't like Facebook is sharing your pictures? Good, stop using the service then. Is that the free market at work or is it cancel culture? 3) Whether an organization deems employees actions political or not doesn't matter - the only thing that matters is what the audience deems political. If an employee gets "canceled" and you refuse to fire the person resulting in an impact to your financials, you better have a good reason to tell your board why you suffered economic loss. I have first hand experience with cancel culture in the workplace. At a former company, we had an employee (one of ~60) who tweeted something critical about Trump during his presidency that was drug out into the spotlight (it got Fox News coverage) by Trump Jr. Our management team received scathing emails from clients and potential clients that said "fire this person or never work in this industry again" (mind you some of these came from billionaires and CxO's of Private Equity funds). When your revenue is on the line you don't have a choice in this matter. So, to the parent's point, pretending to take this stance isn't not be apolitical.
MattyMc 5y ago
Yup this will attract the right people.
- Ekaros 5y ago
  And probably keep away the wrong people. So win-win?
maxehmookau 5y ago
Cool. A job board of companies I don't want to work for.
egypturnash 5y ago
Looks like a good place to check for companies to call for boycotts of. Just exercising my free speech, y'all. Though I suppose that's why "Anonymous Balloon" exists: https://redballoon.work/anonymous-balloon/ https://redballoon.work/anonymous-balloon/
eigengrau5150 5y ago
Unless you go and get yourself indicted for a crime, what you do outside the workplace should be none of your employer's business. Even if your biggest hobby is shitposting on Twitter and getting other people butthurt because somebody was mean to them on the internet.
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  I struggle to agree with that. If someone publicly shit-talks their colleagues on social media, even outside of work hours, that will create a toxic environment. Same as if they make comments comparing black people to apes, rant about how much you hate gays, or (yes!) share your thoughts about how you wish white people would disappear.
  - eigengrau5150 5y ago
    Right, and if we punish people for speaking their minds we just drive them underground where this kind of thinking festers and becomes even more extreme. People need to accept that the internet isn't safe and neither can nor should be made safe.
bm3719 5y ago
Glad to see this. If nothing else, it's worth it if you want to hedge against a certain kind of situation that we see articles about here every week. At this point in the culture war, I'd probably rather work for a small Christian company than some of the BigTech corps, all other things being equal. And I'm an atheist. Never thought I'd say something like that, but here we are.
nitrogen 5y ago
There are, nonexclusively, three major things required for a democracy to function in a heterogenous society: - A secular, pluralistic public forum, - A professional respect for the opposition, and - The ability to disagree in one area without affecting other areas of a relationship. Right now this comment section is failing on all three, and proving why, despite whatever one's personal views are, job boards like this are necessary to prevent the destruction of the respectful opposition that allows democracy to thrive. Just remember, when clamoring for censorship and destroying someone's career because of their beliefs, that every weapon we create can be used against us. Turnabout is fair play, as they say. Today it's ostensibly truth beating hoax when the left is suppressing anti-scientific fringe views about pandemics or climate change, but yesterday it was also ostensibly truth beating lies when the right was suppressing gay rights, and tomorrow the pendulum can swing somewhere completely unexpected once again. So let's all be more tolerant of one another, because reasoned, respectful disagreement is the fundamental force that allows democracy to exist.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
zestyping 5y ago
I don't even understand what they are doing here. Do they vet companies? Is there anything about this job board that actually promotes free speech, or is it just another job board with some branding?
riccardomc 5y ago
Is this a job board for conservative developers? It's becoming exhausting being a non-US netizen. It takes effort to constantly be vigilant and switch context and detect US political double speak. I am really not sure I am doing this right and I am tired...
- MrWiffles 5y ago
  Can't blame you dude. I'm a US netizen and I'm exhausted with all this shit too. I'm just...too tired to care anymore.
- egypturnash 5y ago
  Very probably. Here are some of the things that make me read it as such; perhaps this will make it a little easier for you to deal with our stupid culture wars in the future: * prominent use of red - the color used to signify Republicans in electoral maps since around 2000 * complaining about "cancel culture" * a lot of companies listed on the front have descriptions that make reference to Christianity; while Americans who identify as "Christian" are actually pretty evenly split as to party affiliation(1), Democratic Christians are generally pretty quiet about their beliefs, while Republican Christians are often very loud about them and their desire to make everyone conform to them regardless of religion. * talking about employees who "value freedom", Republicans love to talk about "freedom" and how it is being impinged by things like "people calling them assholes". 1: https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/christians/christian/#party-affiliation https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/christian...
felixgallo 5y ago
Every job board is a free speech job board. Maybe what you’re looking for is a no consequences job board.
bitwize 5y ago
"Free speech" is dogwhistle for fash. Americans haven't yet understood something that Europeans have practically internalized: when it comes to speech, the privileged are inherently much louder than the marginalized; therefore, greater restriction of their speech is legitimate. The conceptualization of the First Amendment that orevails today ever since Brandenburg v. Ohio in 1969 basically gives license to the right to foment hate. And so here we are: a job board to help the far right dodge consequences for their hate speech.
alphabettsy 5y ago
This is actually really useful for screening out a potentially toxic workplace. While the idea of being “pro-freespeech” I agree with, in practice the people I've encountered who frequently express sentiments like what's featured on their page are uncomfortable to be around or discuss most anything that's not specifically work related with.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
ABoredBirb 5y ago
Ironically the top job posting: "Applicants must be conservative and must have a desire to support and defend US Constitutional rights." Its a reasonable requirement for a campaign worker, but what is this doing on this "free-speech" board?

47 points by cspliego 5y ago

$16/hr for a skilled trade welder position at a company that posts on this website? You Americans need a $15 minimum wage lol.

woodruffw 5y ago
Bum pay and racist coworkers are as American as baseball and apple pie!
- throwaway894345 5y ago
  Surely you're aware that the median wage in the United States is higher and racism lower than virtually anywhere else in the world, right?
  - woodruffw 5y ago
    Tens of millions of people in the United States live below the median wage, by definition. It's a nonsense statistic in the context of a remark on any particular low-paying job, of which there seem to be plenty on this site. I don't know you (or anyone else) would evaluate racism being "lower" in the US. It also occurs to me that lower isn't the same thing as low, and that I don't have to fix other exceptionally racist countries before I remark about racism in my own.
    - throwaway894345 5y ago
      > Tens of millions of people in the United States live below the median wage, by definition. Right, but that's precisely the point--the same is true everywhere ("median" doesn't work differently when applied to Europe or Asia! (: ). > It's a nonsense statistic in the context of a remark on any particular low-paying job, of which there seem to be plenty on this site. You remarked that low paying jobs were quintessentially American. If that's the case, we would expect some majority of Americans to hold low-paying jobs when in fact the median American pay is quite high relative to other regions of the world. > I don't know you (or anyone else) would evaluate racism being "lower" in the US. It also occurs to me that lower isn't the same thing as low, and that I don't have to fix other exceptionally racist countries before I remark about racism in my own. I think you're being unduly defensive here. No one is saying you have to fix any other place before remarking about racism in your own country. I am saying that your heavy implication that the US has unusually high levels of racism seems factually incorrect. By all means, we can criticize our country, but let's strive to be factual.
      - woodruffw 5y ago
        > You remarked that low paying jobs were quintessentially American. If that's the case, we would expect some majority of Americans to hold low-paying jobs when in fact the median American pay is quite high relative to other regions of the world. A country can be both profoundly wealthy on paper and have a massive indigent population. Statistics like median income don't account for the extraordinary individual debt, poor average healthcare outcomes, or the absence of basic social safety nets that Americans accept without blinking. Compare us to our development cohort on median wage alone and we look normal, but the median American goes home each day with more debt and fewer guardrails against poverty than nearly every other median citizen in the developed world. > I am saying that your heavy implication that the US has unusually high levels of racism seems factually incorrect. By all means, we can criticize our country, but let's strive to be factual. I'm not going to claim to know every developed country's constitution or founding documents, but I'm pretty sure most don't have a 3/5ths clause the way that ours does. The US is a deeply racist country, down to our founding principles. It might not look like the kind of racism that passes for normal in other countries, but it's a category error to conflate that difference in kind with a difference in severity or deep-rootedness.
nitrogen 5y ago
You can live on that just fine in many rural areas, where a lot of welding jobs might be found.
kube-system 5y ago
Well, it is Montana, it includes medical and dental insurance at 100% employee and 75% for dependents. The total comp is probably more comparable to other $22-25/hr jobs with minimal benefits for someone with a family.
throwaway894345 5y ago
Contrary to the media depiction in your country, the United States is a bit bigger than New York and California, and many of those mysterious places in between are pretty affordable.
- mikewhy 5y ago
  Doesn't change the fact that the US' minimum wage is incredibly low and has been for years.
  - throwaway894345 5y ago
    That wasn't the original claim, and anyway I'm skeptical. Certainly the US minimum wage is very high if we look at it naively (in most of the world $13.50/hr is a whole lot of money, especially considering the significantly improved worker protections). You'd need to account for purchasing power and cost of living, and I don't have the data handy. But it hardly matters, we can campaign for a higher minimum wage without arguing that the US is a terrible place. And I'll go a bit further--not only is the wild hyperbole unnecessary, it's actively harmful to the campaign for a higher minimum wage because people associate the issue with liars.
    - mikewhy 5y ago
      > That wasn't the original claim The original claim was that the US needed a higher minimum wage. > $13.50/hr Where is this number from? The US federal minimum wage is $7.25/hr, unchanged since 2009. The only states with numbers like you've quoted are the ones you're also telling people to look beyond. > arguing that the US is a terrible place Neither I, you, nor nacho2sweet are saying that so I'm not sure why you're bringing that into this.
- antifa 5y ago
  They would be affordable if they had jobs.

c0nsumer 5y ago

> We envision a world beyond cancel culture, where employees are free to work... without fear that they will find themselves on the wrong side of their employer’s politics. > That’s it. No agendas, politics, or drama. Just work. Interested? Let’s create that world together. One of these things is not like the other...

willcipriano 5y ago

I imagine it's a sample size thing, but if this board is any indication of the market expect to make less than $20 a hour if you hold non majority opinions and want to publicly voice them. If represenative, it may be that the blue collar world is a lot more tolerant of dissenting opinions in a strange reversal of fortune from a few decades ago where it seemed the other way around.

happytoexplain 5y ago
"Non majority opinion" is a hell of a loaded phrase.
- willcipriano 5y ago
  Yeah, they could think covid probably came from a lab or that Hunter Bidens laptop was neither Russian in origin or misinformation.
  - cool_dude85 5y ago
    Or maybe they're loud, public advocates for eliminating age of consent laws or bringing back chattel slavery.
    - CrazyPyroLinux 5y ago
      Or maybe they're strawmen!
      - cool_dude85 5y ago
        Are you saying a company devoted to free speech would refuse to hire such people?
        CrazyPyroLinux 5y ago
        Although I was originally thinking those aren't great examples because of their fringe nature (vs the more common mundane stuff that people can get cancelled over), that might make them good examples. Neither (by themselves) are illegal opinions (yet), so as long as they keep it out of the workplace it should not be part of the employment decision.

standardUser 5y ago

So if an employee has an active Twitter account where they regularly post overtly racist content, these are companies that will promise to keep them employed, regardless of, for example, complaints from other employees who are people of color? Sounds like a train wreck waiting to happen. Also, who wants to work for a company that is essentially reaching out to hire more racists?

imwillofficial 5y ago
People like you are why that site exists. The endlessly increasing list called “racist” is getting tiresome for those who want to simply speak their truth.
- fxbe12 5y ago
  Word
  - seanw444 5y ago
    Went to reply to the parent comment, and it got flagged. Jeez. Wasn't even advocating for racism. Hacker News is becoming tech nerd Twitter.
- dang 5y ago
  Personal attacks are not allowed here, regardless of how wrong someone else is or you feel they are. Please review the rules and stick to them: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. Edit: we've warned you many times about breaking the site guidelines and your recent comments have mostly (exclusively?) been flamebait and/or unsubstantive. If you continue like that we're going to have to ban you, so please fix this.
  - monkey_monkey 5y ago
    It's curious that you've given this person so many chances when others seem to get banned almost immediately.

BryantD 5y ago

Out of curiosity, would Coinbase be allowed to post jobs on this site? Their policy as I understand it is “no political discussions at work,” which seems like it’s not a free speech stance.

jimbob45 5y ago
"No political discussions at work" seems like it solves the problem right there. If anyone decides to break that rule, they can be reported immediately and if two people consent to breaking that rule (consent between each other), then the company doesn't have to get involved until one or the other reports the conversation at which point it's a simple write-up. That was always the policy in school growing up too. I really don't know why we ever strayed from that rule.
- cool_dude85 5y ago
  Is it a free speech job board if the companies are going to fire me based on what I post on my twitter account? They say no cancel culture right on the front page.
- seanw444 5y ago
  "Free speech until one reports the other." Mmmm, freedom.
- BryantD 5y ago
  Well, that’s a different proposed solution than why RedBalloon seems to be advocating. If I’m reading them correctly, they’re saying that you should be able to say whatever you want at work. I’m interested in whether or not my interpretation is correct.
  - jimbob45 5y ago
    Yeah I'm specifically talking about CoinBase's approach. You're right that RedBalloon would seem not to be in favor of the "No political discussion at work" policy.

happytoexplain 5y ago

The implication that being explicitly anti-cancel-culture is an apolitical stance is somewhat amazing. This seems to be pretty obviously courting people with a particular political lean, not simply people who don't want to talk about politics.

imwillofficial 5y ago
Those on the right and left are concerned with cancel culture.
- cool_dude85 5y ago
  That doesn't mean it's not a political stance.
  - throwaway894345 5y ago
    Presumably the parent was rebutting this claim: > This seems to be pretty obviously courting people with a particular political lean
- mbesto 5y ago
  1) Cancel culture has always existed, it's just been branded in the last decade as a political wedge. 2) People (especially political pundits and libertarian minded tech people) have been crying for more free market principles to exist. Don't like Facebook is sharing your pictures? Good, stop using the service then. Is that the free market at work or is it cancel culture? 3) Whether an organization deems employees actions political or not doesn't matter - the only thing that matters is what the audience deems political. If an employee gets "canceled" and you refuse to fire the person resulting in an impact to your financials, you better have a good reason to tell your board why you suffered economic loss. I have first hand experience with cancel culture in the workplace. At a former company, we had an employee (one of ~60) who tweeted something critical about Trump during his presidency that was drug out into the spotlight (it got Fox News coverage) by Trump Jr. Our management team received scathing emails from clients and potential clients that said "fire this person or never work in this industry again" (mind you some of these came from billionaires and CxO's of Private Equity funds). When your revenue is on the line you don't have a choice in this matter. So, to the parent's point, pretending to take this stance isn't not be apolitical.

MattyMc 5y ago

Yup this will attract the right people.

Ekaros 5y ago
And probably keep away the wrong people. So win-win?

maxehmookau 5y ago

Cool. A job board of companies I don't want to work for.

egypturnash 5y ago

Looks like a good place to check for companies to call for boycotts of. Just exercising my free speech, y'all. Though I suppose that's why "Anonymous Balloon" exists: https://redballoon.work/anonymous-balloon/ https://redballoon.work/anonymous-balloon/

eigengrau5150 5y ago

Unless you go and get yourself indicted for a crime, what you do outside the workplace should be none of your employer's business. Even if your biggest hobby is shitposting on Twitter and getting other people butthurt because somebody was mean to them on the internet.

AussieWog93 5y ago
I struggle to agree with that. If someone publicly shit-talks their colleagues on social media, even outside of work hours, that will create a toxic environment. Same as if they make comments comparing black people to apes, rant about how much you hate gays, or (yes!) share your thoughts about how you wish white people would disappear.
- eigengrau5150 5y ago
  Right, and if we punish people for speaking their minds we just drive them underground where this kind of thinking festers and becomes even more extreme. People need to accept that the internet isn't safe and neither can nor should be made safe.

bm3719 5y ago

Glad to see this. If nothing else, it's worth it if you want to hedge against a certain kind of situation that we see articles about here every week. At this point in the culture war, I'd probably rather work for a small Christian company than some of the BigTech corps, all other things being equal. And I'm an atheist. Never thought I'd say something like that, but here we are.

nitrogen 5y ago

There are, nonexclusively, three major things required for a democracy to function in a heterogenous society: - A secular, pluralistic public forum, - A professional respect for the opposition, and - The ability to disagree in one area without affecting other areas of a relationship. Right now this comment section is failing on all three, and proving why, despite whatever one's personal views are, job boards like this are necessary to prevent the destruction of the respectful opposition that allows democracy to thrive. Just remember, when clamoring for censorship and destroying someone's career because of their beliefs, that every weapon we create can be used against us. Turnabout is fair play, as they say. Today it's ostensibly truth beating hoax when the left is suppressing anti-scientific fringe views about pandemics or climate change, but yesterday it was also ostensibly truth beating lies when the right was suppressing gay rights, and tomorrow the pendulum can swing somewhere completely unexpected once again. So let's all be more tolerant of one another, because reasoned, respectful disagreement is the fundamental force that allows democracy to exist.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

zestyping 5y ago

I don't even understand what they are doing here. Do they vet companies? Is there anything about this job board that actually promotes free speech, or is it just another job board with some branding?

riccardomc 5y ago

Is this a job board for conservative developers? It's becoming exhausting being a non-US netizen. It takes effort to constantly be vigilant and switch context and detect US political double speak. I am really not sure I am doing this right and I am tired...

MrWiffles 5y ago
Can't blame you dude. I'm a US netizen and I'm exhausted with all this shit too. I'm just...too tired to care anymore.
egypturnash 5y ago
Very probably. Here are some of the things that make me read it as such; perhaps this will make it a little easier for you to deal with our stupid culture wars in the future: * prominent use of red - the color used to signify Republicans in electoral maps since around 2000 * complaining about "cancel culture" * a lot of companies listed on the front have descriptions that make reference to Christianity; while Americans who identify as "Christian" are actually pretty evenly split as to party affiliation(1), Democratic Christians are generally pretty quiet about their beliefs, while Republican Christians are often very loud about them and their desire to make everyone conform to them regardless of religion. * talking about employees who "value freedom", Republicans love to talk about "freedom" and how it is being impinged by things like "people calling them assholes". 1: https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/christians/christian/#party-affiliation https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/christian...

felixgallo 5y ago

Every job board is a free speech job board. Maybe what you’re looking for is a no consequences job board.

bitwize 5y ago

"Free speech" is dogwhistle for fash. Americans haven't yet understood something that Europeans have practically internalized: when it comes to speech, the privileged are inherently much louder than the marginalized; therefore, greater restriction of their speech is legitimate. The conceptualization of the First Amendment that orevails today ever since Brandenburg v. Ohio in 1969 basically gives license to the right to foment hate. And so here we are: a job board to help the far right dodge consequences for their hate speech.

alphabettsy 5y ago

This is actually really useful for screening out a potentially toxic workplace. While the idea of being “pro-freespeech” I agree with, in practice the people I've encountered who frequently express sentiments like what's featured on their page are uncomfortable to be around or discuss most anything that's not specifically work related with.

deleted 5y ago

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ABoredBirb 5y ago

Ironically the top job posting: "Applicants must be conservative and must have a desire to support and defend US Constitutional rights." Its a reasonable requirement for a campaign worker, but what is this doing on this "free-speech" board?