Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

361–370 of 728 posts

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

#361

Post by _iyig »

postnihilism wrote: post #295
_iyig wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The original point of argument was “Criticism of Islam's human rights record.“ Not “railing against Islam.” Was anything unclear about this?

How does this play out at work? You saddle up to a co-worker at the water cooler. Hi Yasir (he's from the Bay Area), you know your religion has a terrible record of human rights? Yeah? Cool, see you at the standup in 30 minutes.

I think we both agree that's a ridiculous and unrealistic example.

I'm not the type to raise political or religious issues at work, unless it relates to the decision or task at hand. If my company were to consider donating to a conservative Islamic charity for International Women's Day, for example, then I might offer my perspective. Otherwise, why start workplace conversations that are likely to be divisive, distracting, and unproductive?

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

#362

Post by Chris_Chambers »

mcphage wrote: post #328
_8j50 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You only say that because it's convenient for you. You would not like it one bit at the conservative places I worked at. It really is a two way street and u-turns are allowed.

> You would not like it one bit at the conservative places I worked at. So the commenter says that he looks forward to the next generation of developers not experiencing the hate that he has experienced. You say, he’d be unhappy at conservative places, presumably because he’d still experience that hate. So then why do you wonder why he pushes for politics in the workforce? His goal—hell, it should be all of our goal—…

[dead]

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

#363

Post by userbinator »

antt wrote: post #300
userbinator wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason Facebook is so politicised and stuff like this comes up is because it hosts user-generated content, and has explicitly chosen to decide what it deems allowable beyond actual law. That makes it nearly impossible to keep the politics out of it. In contrast, something like a machine shop (random example) won't be politicised much if at all, because the work doesn't revolve around making political decisions.

Have you worked at a machine shop? During machine down time I've heard some of the most radical Stalinist politics coming from people who you would think are only interested in football and beer while trying to fix the lathe for an order that's due in 3 hours. By the same token I've heard some of the most extreme fascist views too.

I have no doubt that political conversations do come up, but they don't really factor into the actual work that takes place --- probably because, as someone who lead me through one warned, "the machines don't care who you are or what you think. Get yourself in the wrong place and they'll eat you alive."

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

#364

Post by mlevental »

ericdykstra wrote: post #194
austinheap wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From Harvard Business Review: "Results from our experiment involving 118 undergraduate students showed that taking the perspective of LGBT individuals or racial minorities — by writing a few sentences imagining the distinct challenges a marginalized minority might face — can improve pro-diversity attitudes and behavioral intentions toward these groups." https://hbr.org/2017/07/two-types-of-diversity-training-that...

A small sample of students taking a survey isn't very convincing evidence.

you asked if there was any evidence and then when evidence was given you dismissed it. do you know what the word "any" means? also this is argument in bad faith (asking for evidence and then discounting validity).

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

#365

Post by state_less »

ralusek wrote: post #235

And it has been my experience that people who have politics "happen" to them from "the moment [they] wake up to the moment [they] sleep" in large part simply perceive that to be their existence. I have read countless articles and posts at this point claiming that "America doesn't care about black bodies" and that black people in America should "fear for their lives every day," all in regards to the perceived danger o…

You don't have to be shot to feel the bitter sting of being an outcast. Try getting a job with a foreign or black name, your chances of getting a callback are significantly diminished [1]

Being shot by a police officer is a symptom of the disease, but you can see the effects on a daily basis if you take time to notice.

[1] https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/minorities-who-whiten-job-resumes...

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

#367

Post by manfredo »

some1else wrote: post #309
fizwhiz wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

don't all endangered species matter though?

It's ridiculous to diminish the plight of whales because smallpox are also nearly extinct. Go for "smallpox matter" instead, and see what people really think.

"How about pangolins then? Or giraffes? I know, let's start a moment to protect all endagered species - including whales!" How is this "all endagered animals matter" a bad thing?

For what it's worth, I don't object to either "all species" or just whales. Regardless of whether someone is trying to protect all or focus their attention on one specific species, they're both working towards a good cause - though I do disapprove of the former trying to substitute the latter or vice versa.

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

#368

Post by leereeves »

arkades wrote: post #296
ralusek wrote: post #235

And it has been my experience that people who have politics "happen" to them from "the moment [they] wake up to the moment [they] sleep" in large part simply perceive that to be their existence. I have read countless articles and posts at this point claiming that "America doesn't care about black bodies" and that black people in America should "fear for their lives every day," all in regards to the perceived danger o…

In NY, in the Brownsville, BK area, 93 of every 100 residents was stopped by the NYPD under its stop and frisk policy in 2009. In 2011, the NYPD has more black male stop-and-frisks than there are black males living in NYC. That’s not a perception of disproportionate attention from the police, that’s an overbearing presence one must objectively acknowledge in ones life. When -those- are your daily experiences with the…

Is it relevant that Brownsville is one of Brooklyn's most dangerous neighborhoods?

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

#369

Post by casiotone »

yellowapple wrote: post #358
michaelmrose wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't have peace with people who want to kill and oppress a significant portion of the population.

Not with that attitude you can't. Racists aren't (usually) racists for the fun of it. Racists are racists because they feel threatened by or lack sufficient exposure to / understanding of other races. If your goal is to cure racism, then making racists feel even more threatened is probably the least productive way of going about it. Instead, the trick is to befriend them. Show them that there's nothing to fear. These…

> Instead, the trick is to befriend them. Show them that there's nothing to fear.

This doesn’t work[1]. Allowing parasitical ideology the space to express itself only emboldens it.

[1] All of recorded history

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

#370

Post by emddudley »

manfredo wrote: post #184
landryraccoon wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm genuinely curious what "All lives matter" stands for except for being opposed to the idea that "Black lives matter". There's a key difference here - "Black lives matter" attempts to point out that there is discrimination in law enforcement that seems to single out minorities. Correcting this discrimination would be good. What policy change does "All lives matter" advocate? Do those policy changes indeed benefit "…

One could argue that "black lives matter" is exclusory to all other races. "All lives matter" is often meant as a means to include the rest of the population (and thus, have better chances of creating change). It's viable to argue that sticking with the former is worth the exclusive rhetoric because Black people suffer disproportionately. But the notion of actually _firing_ someone over using "all lives matter" as th…

No, one could not argue that in any seriousness. All Lives Matter is being used primarily as an attempt to diminish Black Lives Matter.
Post reply on HN