Live data from Hacker News

Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

nytimes.com

61–70 of 728 posts

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#61
The Republican Party has moved further and further right for the last 30+ years. When one side of an argument goes extreme it almost forces the other side to react severely. A similar stressor works on young adults. They’ve spent almost the entirety of their lives up until the point they move out or go to college at their parents’ discretion(s).

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#62

I guess sooner or later someone will link to these, so may as well be me :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance https://xkcd.com/1357/

If you're a social media platform that possesses such a vast, overwhelming monopoly as what Facebook has, then you are capable of censorship . Your status as a monopoly means the normal market rules no longer apply to you. That you comply with the first amendment should properly be a pass-through legal requirement as a condition of your status as a monopolist. If they resist cooperating with that designation, despite…

Sounds like an antitrust violation investigation may be in order.

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#63
Has Facebook ever had anything close to cultural principles? At least Google had "don't be evil" for a while.

This is such a clear mirror for what Facebook is going through itself. As a company it never stood for anything except for growth and engagement at all costs. When leadership doesn't stand for anything, it invites others to try to guide culture.

If Zuckerberg had come out to say either the product or the company's culture stands for something, it would put this all to rest...but he won't, because growth and engagement at all costs.

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#64
post #22

Good for them. The structural change needed in our industry is for labor (or, to use a term we're apparently more comfortable with, "talent") to reassert itself, and for tech giants to reconcile themselves to the fact that they're accountable not just to their shareholders but to their employees. I hope this gets nasty, and that these FB employees ultimately find recourse in the NLRA. We forget that this industry is…

The idea that a bunch of highly paid conservative software developers would unionize and get the NLRB involved is rich.

Who said they're all conservatives?

I'm a liberal and I'd join this group in a heartbeat.

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#65
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on who you ask. Saying something in public or doing something against some of the hot, left-leaning ideas of this time (feminism, or homosexualism) could very well get you fired. I'm sure you can think of examples... Problem is that some people want to lump, for example, "abortion is murder" and "burn all niggers" together so nobody can ever make the former point.

>hot, left-leaning ideas of this time >equal rights for women >equal rights for people regardless of their sexuality What is "this time"? The 1800s?

See, you're doing it too. You're assuming that ALL feminist ideas are morally invincible on the grounds that they are championing "equal rights for women" (whether that's actually true or not) and shaming GP for implying differently

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#66
post #63

Has Facebook ever had anything close to cultural principles? At least Google had "don't be evil" for a while. This is such a clear mirror for what Facebook is going through itself. As a company it never stood for anything except for growth and engagement at all costs. When leadership doesn't stand for anything, it invites others to try to guide culture. If Zuckerberg had come out to say either the product or the comp…

"Move fast and break things" seems to suggest an anarchic pragmatism towards life.

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#67
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that a bunch of highly paid conservative software developers would unionize and get the NLRB involved is rich.

Why? We're all generally well-paid (even with respect to the value we create). But this whole message board is practically dedicated to the ways in which our industry pisses us off, from confiscatory IP clauses to open offices to death march projects. Who's to say labor can't organize simply for a better shop to work in? That's not unprecedented.

Because conservatives are anti-union and anti-NLRB.

Edit: why the heck am I being downvoted? I'm literally just explaining what I assumed the GP was referring to.

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#68
It should be noted that many views espoused by what Americans call 'liberals' or 'left-leaning' people are in fact the mainstream in the EU (such as issues about abortion, gun control, death penalty, healthcare, and so on) and commonly accepted by almost all parties except what we'd call 'far-right' ones. So I'm wondering: when those articles pop up calling the tech world/the Valley/company X a 'liberal monoculture' or whatever, are they implying that it is also the case for the entirety of a continent? Or is it simply that, as in Europe, a minority of people with fringe and socially unacceptable views is wishing rather loudly that their views weren't so fringe and socially unacceptable?

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#69
post #5

Not all views deserve respect. Depending on what specific views they are talking about a lot of the ones circulating should not be tolerated.

The problem is who decides what views should or should not be tolerated? Some would say if you eat meat you should not be tolerated. Others might think pro-choice ideas should not be tolerated. That aside, we really need to figure out as a society how to fix a few notions. 1) You have some sort of right to not be offended. 2) You must get outraged at anything you disagree with. There once was a time when two people w…

The problem is who decides what views should or should not be tolerated?

It's not a who, it's a what: context. To the degree it's a who, you're talking about the ethics of everybody within earshot, including the speaker.

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#70
post #63

Has Facebook ever had anything close to cultural principles? At least Google had "don't be evil" for a while. This is such a clear mirror for what Facebook is going through itself. As a company it never stood for anything except for growth and engagement at all costs. When leadership doesn't stand for anything, it invites others to try to guide culture. If Zuckerberg had come out to say either the product or the comp…

I don’t buy that zuvkerberg is a liberal. He’s made it clear he doesn’t respect anyone’s privacy nor honor their trust. He seems highly manipulative wrapped in whatever phrasing works at the moment.
Post reply on HN