4 ms·
Stickers themselves can be fun and quirky, but I for the life of me can't figure out why people would put such extremely divisive and workplace-unnecessary mess
by maxlin 11mo ago
Stickers themselves can be fun and quirky, but I for the life of me can't figure out why people would put such extremely divisive and workplace-unnecessary messaging on their MAIN WORK DEVICE as many of these have.
The kind of lack to integrate to a team having your pride flags, literal death threats to perceived enemies, furries, loli anime, etc on a thing you intend to bring to the workplace to do all your work on isn't good for your career and sure as hell won't not be noticed by people whose responsibility is to judge risk and liabilities for example.
Tech stacks, not party flags.
- wahnfrieden 11mo agoWhat's wrong with a pride flag? People commonly display their hetero marriages etc. at workplaces too. If either of those cause division in a workplace, that's a matter for HR or legal to resolve (if it is indeed a disruption). Anyway it's unclear which of these are brought into offices.
- maxlin 11mo ago[flagged]
- wahnfrieden 11mo agoShowing a pride flag at work isn't bringing an issue (just like having a photo of a husband and wife on a desk is not). Someone else having a problem with that and causing a disruption over it, is sowing discord and bringing an issue to work.
- tryauuum 11mo agoI'm stealing this thread because I wanted to describe my feelings, it's not related to laptops or work When I lived in Russia I respected the rare people I saw wearing lgbt flags/pins. Because it's really a statement, it's a middle finger to the government. People knew the police can waste their time or even jail them. Now that I live in a european country and I see more people wearing lgbt stuff, I don't feel such respect. I'm a little puzzled what's the point, you are wearing it in a country where you can hold hands, where government protects people from discrimination... It's not that you shouldn't do it, I just don't understand. Is it like a friend-or-foe id system? Worst of all (now I'm switching from people to companies) when a company post a pride flag it feels 100% insincere. Because I know companies are motivated by profit so they only do things which don't hurt profit, they don't hold any principles.
- wahnfrieden 11mo agoask them
- tryauuum 11mo agosounds like a reasonable approach
- maxlin 11mo agoCrazy trying to equate having a picture of one's spouse or children to having a logo of an increasingly extreme politicized movement. >Someone else having a problem with that is sowing discord Listen to yourself man
- mjhagen 11mo agoI for the life of me can’t figure out why anyone would post such an extremely divisive comment.
- GaryBluto 11mo agoBecause on HN, people are allowed to express things you disagree with.
- vineyardmike 11mo agoThanks for the reminder to put a pride flag on my new work computer. Can't for the life of me figure out why it'd be divisive though. Also, why do you assume these aren't people's personal computers? Many people surely own computers personally, and of course people can express themselves on personal property.
- marcosscriven 11mo agoI’m struggling to understand how you’ve put pride flags and death threats in the same category of “extremely divisive”. I see others have asked the same question, but you don’t seem to have the courage to respond. What’s divisive about a pride flag?
- heavensteeth 11mo agoI struggle to believe you don't understand what they mean. There is many a homophobe in the world. GP isn't saying homophobia is good, simply that espousing a pro-LGBT viewpoint may upset people. Maybe they deserve to be upset, but that doesn't change that it may become your problem.
- nicbou 11mo agoI think that normalising LGBT and its symbols was a necessary step towards acceptance. If it's still a controversial idea to some, it's on them.
- marcosscriven 11mo agoIn the same breath/sentence as “death threats”? You think that’s remotely the same?
- rsynnott 11mo ago> simply that espousing a pro-LGBT viewpoint may upset people. Y'know, I'm pretty much fine with upsetting bigots. I'd assume that people inclined to be upset by a scary pride flag are also upset by my _existence_, so, y'know, I don't see a strong reason to moderate my stickers to protect the delicate feelings of idiots. If they're a homophobe they'll have a problem with me _anyway_.
- boomlinde 11mo agoPeople can become upset for a great variety of reasons. I think it's better to accept to some extent that it happens than to design your life around not upsetting anyone.
- maxlin 11mo ago
- rsynnott 11mo agoWell, for a start, you don't know that these are MAIN WORK DEVICEs. Some of them may be personal devices seen at cons and so on. That said, I'm not _that_ worried about people noticing that the scary gay has a rainbow sticker on his laptop. If someone at work has an issue with me being gay, well, they'll probably have that issue with me regardless of what is on my laptop, and that is very much their problem. You can't spend your whole life pandering to bigots.
- maxlin 11mo ago>Well, for a start, you don't know It's a reasonable assumption and surely true for a lot of cases, the stickers have a history of signaling tech stacks and other actually professional things and people are more attached to these customized devices which strengthens my that point. Don't be arrogant. >You can't spend your whole life pandering Don't be arrogant again. Obviously with that kind of language you have more chance of being the source of problems than solutions. >issue with me being gay Don't try to slide. Supporting extremely politicized movements is not in any way comparable to just _being_ oneself. The kind of language "if you don't support my extreme signaling you're against me and human rights and and and ..." is truly a scourge against intellectual society today.
- rsynnott 11mo ago> Don’t be arrogant I mean, you’re the one getting pissy over laptop stickers. Fundamentally, life is too short to worry about bigots being offended by rainbow stickers.