5 ms·

Love that Armstrong did this at Coinbase. I want to work at work, not worry about the political opinions of my coworkers.

vkou 5y ago
It must be nice to have the privilege to not need to worry about the political opinions of your coworkers. I take it most people don't see your existence, as you are, as a political problem?
- imgabe 5y ago
  If any of your coworkers have threatened to stop you from existing you should call the police.
  - DoreenMichele 5y ago
    Marginalized peoples are often not threatened overtly. They often cannot prove their case to the satisfaction of the not marginalized. For some groups, calling the police is the last thing they would do.
    - imgabe 5y ago
      If you can’t prove something, there’s a strong possibility it’s not real. There’s a reason that we require proof when you accuse someone of wrongdoing.
      - DoreenMichele 5y ago
        That's one possibility. Sure. The fact that you feel comfortable stating it and implicitly dismissing the very real concerns of marginalized peoples is both part of the problem and ironic evidence that for some people it's not only useless to complain, it's actively counterproductive and will draw attacks against them.
        imgabe 5y ago
        I’m all for addressing concerns. But how is anyone supposed to address a concern like “there are vague imperceptible threats to my existence all around me which I can neither articulate nor provide evidence of”? What, exactly, are you proposing Coinbase or any or company should do, specifically?
        DoreenMichele 5y ago
        People are often well aware of what's going on and they dismiss it if you try to complain. And I wasn't talking about Coinbase. I was just backing up a random internet stranger's observation that "it must be nice... etc."
        throw_m239339 5y ago
        > I’m all for addressing concerns. But how is anyone supposed to address a concern like “there are vague imperceptible threats to my existence all around me which I can neither articulate nor provide evidence of”? What, exactly, are you proposing Coinbase or any or company should do, specifically? That's the whole idea behind "microaggressions", anything can be deemed a threat, it only depends on the alleged victim's perception, it's cunning, like every 'intersectional', it's full of sophism, doublespeak, newspeak, absurdity yet a lot of FAANG adopted this framework without thinking. Well now they have to deal with activist employees who are there just to betray or embarrass their very employer and harass other employees into ideological submission.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
- remarkEon 5y ago
  >I take it most people don't see your existence, as you are, as a political problem? I want to point out that this is a perfect example of how absolutely mind numbing and toxic it is to interact with a lot of these "woke" types. OP made an benign comment ("I want to work at work, not worry about the political opinions of my coworkers.") and its taken in the maximally worst way possible. There's no nuance, and no room for debate or discussion, where you immediately assume that the people you interact with want you dead or worse (your "existence").
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - plorg 5y ago
    If a trans person walked into my office their existence would be a political problem, because none of my coworkers or company leadership accept the legitimacy of trans identity. It isn't that the person's physical safety is in danger (necessarily), but merely being present makes them the subject of politics. And those politics are generally hostile. I have a trans friend who was qualified for an open position, and I asked her about it, but it was clear there was no way she would even be applying. Now, I'm thousands of miles away from Silicon Valley, in a much smaller town than most posters here. But I think this kind of thinking is toxic wherever you work. If you push out anyone who might challenge the structure (formal or informal) of your company without taking a good look at who that structure is serving, you're going to reject a lot of good people. And you're going to reinforce any existing biases already in the company.
    - ravel-bar-foo 5y ago
      I'm in South Korea. We don't have many trans people here, the mainstream feminist movement is anti-trans, and most of the mainstream Christian movements are anti-LGBT. (My boss is Catholic.) Despite this, when we had a trans person visit my workplace ... absolutely nothing happened. They had lunch with us, nobody said anything about their gender, sexuality, or appearance, and they never mentioned it. Conversation was the same as for non-trans visitors. Now, I don't know if this is because the people in my workplace are especially tolerant, if they were afraid of confrontation, or if they lacked a lens through which to interpret the visitor, but something sounds really weird to me about your workplace. Are the people in your region so vocally political as a matter of course? Are you in the bible belt? What does it mean to acknowledge the existence of a trans person?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- civilized 5y ago
  Do you imagine that marginalized people go around worrying about what the political opinions of their coworkers might be? It sure isn't what I do. It sure isn't what my wife or her friends do. Each of us has a lot of woke white colleagues who are super concerned about everyone's political opinions, though. Super concerned that we know they have good ones, super concerned that everyone thinks the same as they do. A black woman at our institution took it upon herself to send a letter to her very white department explaining that their obsession with the hidden racism of "brown bag seminars" wasn't helping any actual black people. It hasn't made our woke white colleagues any less exhausting, but I appreciated her speaking out.
sneak 5y ago
Work, including who you work for, is an inherently political act. The set of coworkers you have is a result of their and your political opinions. He didn't simply ban politics at work, however: he just refused to acknowledge the Black Lives Matter movement. Prior to that Coinbase had Black History Month events they conducted; now they don't.
- asabjorn 5y ago
  > Work, including who you work for, is an inherently political act. Are you arguing that for instance working for a machine tooling company such as MAG is an inherently political act? If so, how? What about working on a farm. How is that political? What about working as a contractor for building homes. How is that political? > The set of coworkers you have is a result of their and your political opinions. I know many in silicon valley that disagree with critical social justice (CSJ) that work at companies that have been successfully taken over by critical social justice activists to push the CSJ doctrine. Are you arguing that those people work with their woke colleagues and a woke company for political reasons? If so, how? > He didn't simply ban politics at work, however: he just refused to acknowledge the Black Lives Matter movement. Prior to that Coinbase had Black History Month events they conducted; now they don't. A lot of enterprises are regulated by politicians, so of cause they have an interest in better regulations, but what we are referring to here is radical activism for a social revolution. Activist employees turning companies into vehicles for doing activism for a radical social revolution like critical social justice is rather new. Most agree that this is inappropriate and disruptive to the core company mission. Most of us are tired of our woke colleagues and their constant focus on politics over the company mission, always whining. I understand that you disagree with this.
  - sneak 5y ago
    > but what we are referring to here is radical activism for a social revolution. It's not radical any longer, and it's nowhere near a revolution that is being asked for. This is a straw man. Millions are in the streets for basic human rights. This isn't a fringe position ("radical") and it's not an unreasonable demand ("revolution").
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

vkou 5y ago

It must be nice to have the privilege to not need to worry about the political opinions of your coworkers. I take it most people don't see your existence, as you are, as a political problem?

imgabe 5y ago
If any of your coworkers have threatened to stop you from existing you should call the police.
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  Marginalized peoples are often not threatened overtly. They often cannot prove their case to the satisfaction of the not marginalized. For some groups, calling the police is the last thing they would do.
  - imgabe 5y ago
    If you can’t prove something, there’s a strong possibility it’s not real. There’s a reason that we require proof when you accuse someone of wrongdoing.
    - DoreenMichele 5y ago
      That's one possibility. Sure. The fact that you feel comfortable stating it and implicitly dismissing the very real concerns of marginalized peoples is both part of the problem and ironic evidence that for some people it's not only useless to complain, it's actively counterproductive and will draw attacks against them.
      - imgabe 5y ago
        I’m all for addressing concerns. But how is anyone supposed to address a concern like “there are vague imperceptible threats to my existence all around me which I can neither articulate nor provide evidence of”? What, exactly, are you proposing Coinbase or any or company should do, specifically?
        DoreenMichele 5y ago
        People are often well aware of what's going on and they dismiss it if you try to complain. And I wasn't talking about Coinbase. I was just backing up a random internet stranger's observation that "it must be nice... etc."
        throw_m239339 5y ago
        > I’m all for addressing concerns. But how is anyone supposed to address a concern like “there are vague imperceptible threats to my existence all around me which I can neither articulate nor provide evidence of”? What, exactly, are you proposing Coinbase or any or company should do, specifically? That's the whole idea behind "microaggressions", anything can be deemed a threat, it only depends on the alleged victim's perception, it's cunning, like every 'intersectional', it's full of sophism, doublespeak, newspeak, absurdity yet a lot of FAANG adopted this framework without thinking. Well now they have to deal with activist employees who are there just to betray or embarrass their very employer and harass other employees into ideological submission.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
remarkEon 5y ago
>I take it most people don't see your existence, as you are, as a political problem? I want to point out that this is a perfect example of how absolutely mind numbing and toxic it is to interact with a lot of these "woke" types. OP made an benign comment ("I want to work at work, not worry about the political opinions of my coworkers.") and its taken in the maximally worst way possible. There's no nuance, and no room for debate or discussion, where you immediately assume that the people you interact with want you dead or worse (your "existence").
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- plorg 5y ago
  If a trans person walked into my office their existence would be a political problem, because none of my coworkers or company leadership accept the legitimacy of trans identity. It isn't that the person's physical safety is in danger (necessarily), but merely being present makes them the subject of politics. And those politics are generally hostile. I have a trans friend who was qualified for an open position, and I asked her about it, but it was clear there was no way she would even be applying. Now, I'm thousands of miles away from Silicon Valley, in a much smaller town than most posters here. But I think this kind of thinking is toxic wherever you work. If you push out anyone who might challenge the structure (formal or informal) of your company without taking a good look at who that structure is serving, you're going to reject a lot of good people. And you're going to reinforce any existing biases already in the company.
  - ravel-bar-foo 5y ago
    I'm in South Korea. We don't have many trans people here, the mainstream feminist movement is anti-trans, and most of the mainstream Christian movements are anti-LGBT. (My boss is Catholic.) Despite this, when we had a trans person visit my workplace ... absolutely nothing happened. They had lunch with us, nobody said anything about their gender, sexuality, or appearance, and they never mentioned it. Conversation was the same as for non-trans visitors. Now, I don't know if this is because the people in my workplace are especially tolerant, if they were afraid of confrontation, or if they lacked a lens through which to interpret the visitor, but something sounds really weird to me about your workplace. Are the people in your region so vocally political as a matter of course? Are you in the bible belt? What does it mean to acknowledge the existence of a trans person?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
civilized 5y ago
Do you imagine that marginalized people go around worrying about what the political opinions of their coworkers might be? It sure isn't what I do. It sure isn't what my wife or her friends do. Each of us has a lot of woke white colleagues who are super concerned about everyone's political opinions, though. Super concerned that we know they have good ones, super concerned that everyone thinks the same as they do. A black woman at our institution took it upon herself to send a letter to her very white department explaining that their obsession with the hidden racism of "brown bag seminars" wasn't helping any actual black people. It hasn't made our woke white colleagues any less exhausting, but I appreciated her speaking out.

sneak 5y ago

Work, including who you work for, is an inherently political act. The set of coworkers you have is a result of their and your political opinions. He didn't simply ban politics at work, however: he just refused to acknowledge the Black Lives Matter movement. Prior to that Coinbase had Black History Month events they conducted; now they don't.

asabjorn 5y ago
> Work, including who you work for, is an inherently political act. Are you arguing that for instance working for a machine tooling company such as MAG is an inherently political act? If so, how? What about working on a farm. How is that political? What about working as a contractor for building homes. How is that political? > The set of coworkers you have is a result of their and your political opinions. I know many in silicon valley that disagree with critical social justice (CSJ) that work at companies that have been successfully taken over by critical social justice activists to push the CSJ doctrine. Are you arguing that those people work with their woke colleagues and a woke company for political reasons? If so, how? > He didn't simply ban politics at work, however: he just refused to acknowledge the Black Lives Matter movement. Prior to that Coinbase had Black History Month events they conducted; now they don't. A lot of enterprises are regulated by politicians, so of cause they have an interest in better regulations, but what we are referring to here is radical activism for a social revolution. Activist employees turning companies into vehicles for doing activism for a radical social revolution like critical social justice is rather new. Most agree that this is inappropriate and disruptive to the core company mission. Most of us are tired of our woke colleagues and their constant focus on politics over the company mission, always whining. I understand that you disagree with this.
- sneak 5y ago
  > but what we are referring to here is radical activism for a social revolution. It's not radical any longer, and it's nowhere near a revolution that is being asked for. This is a straw man. Millions are in the streets for basic human rights. This isn't a fringe position ("radical") and it's not an unreasonable demand ("revolution").

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]