Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#141

Post by nailer » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 4:52 PM UTC

gwbas1c wrote: post #92

Ever since the infamous "diversity memo," (which I disagree with,) I've gotten the impression that political discussions at Google turned toxic. A well run company includes people with diverse political views points. A workplace that's hostile to anyone who leans right or leans left ultimately hurts diversity.

Most of the memo was citations of studies of sex differences. People can either agree with the studies or disagree with the research used (it's totally cool with me if you do disagree with the research), but the idea that someone should be punished for talking about research at a company that extols "data driven decision making" as one of it's principles baffles me.

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#142

Post by big_chungus » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 4:52 PM UTC

tomatofan wrote: post #93

lostgame wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I am transgender, lesbian, asexual and polyromantic, and none of these things have I ever had so much as a discussion about at my office, nor have they sparked any 'political' discussion. (I work at one of the major 5 banks in Canada).

Are you saying it's possible to be gainfully employed somewhere where the wokeness level isn't cranked to 11 and not be persecuted by cis-gen whitemale Christian bigots? Who knew?

I wish more people realized this. I think many perceive more issues where there are simply usually not, because of increased access to information. Most people don't really care what you are or who you vote for as long as you show up, are pleasant, and do your job well. Capitalism is, in many ways, the great equalizer: money is green no matter who holds it.

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#143

Post by paulhodge » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 4:52 PM UTC

One of the their core values is "don't be evil", isn't that statement inherently political? I think a lot of people chose to work at Google (instead of say Oracle or etc) because of those ideals. Kinda disingenuous to advertise that reputation and then switch to a policy of "actually shut up and do the work".

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#144

Post by malka » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 4:52 PM UTC

Koshkin wrote: post #117

malka wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything is political. So Google is obviously banning a subset of politic.

> Everything is political. Math is not political.

everything involving human if you prefer.

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#145

Post by sgspace » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 4:52 PM UTC

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #50

Talk about work at work. If you meet someone at work who you think you want to be friends with, invite them for coffee before work and talk about non-work stuff then. But at work, just talk about work.

Perhaps it’s googles culture of making work feel like a second home that makes googlers feel entitled to share their political opinions at work.

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#146

Post by fernandotakai » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 4:52 PM UTC

Dobbs wrote: post #21

scarface74 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In most professional settings, it’s considered a norm not to talk about sex, politics, and religion unless your business is dealing with one of those areas specifically.

This is wonderful when your very existence isn’t political. So cis het white men. For the rest of us we don’t have this luxury. This is the pinnacle example of white and male privilege.

i was born and raised in a 3rd world country in south america. i don't talk politics (or sex, or religion) -- that's not what i'm paid for.

i'm paid to be professional and do my job. there's nothing to do with being male or white.

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#147

Post by anewguy9000 » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 4:53 PM UTC

dunkelheit wrote: post #87

ceejayoz wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an example: https://twitter.com/Pinboard/status/1120320958382755840 @Pinboard has collected a bunch of these. https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Apinboard%20PAC

The sums in question are for some reason ridiculously small. Seriously, $2500 donation? That is some serious political spending from Google!

afaik the limit is $5,000 per election, or x2 $2500 payments. the total political spending from google is closer to several hundred thousand:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_in_the_United...

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#148

Post by wtdata » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 4:53 PM UTC

arcticbull wrote: post #20

I think they just overestimated the ability of their employees to respect each other when they hold differing world views. That's kinda natural once you reach a certain size and your colleagues may as well be randos on the street. To be fair, that's a learning most businesses stumbled upon decades ago, it's the new generation of "re-invent management" companies that are speedrunning HR policy.

> I think they just overestimated the ability of their employees to respect each other when they hold differing world views. That's kinda natural once you reach a certain size and your colleagues may as well be randos on the street.

I think it is not so much due to size, but due to the extreme ideological polarization of American society during the last decade.

When before it was normal to hear and accept - and god forbid, even stay friends- with people that had different political opinions from yours, as of late, that has become quite difficult.

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#149

Post by azffz » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 4:53 PM UTC

sp332 wrote: post #60

theplague42 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which politicians?

@Pinboard (yes the pinboard.com guy) has been keeping track of political donations from big tech companies. https://twitter.com/Pinboard/status/1141838179936243714

What are the chances he has only been tracking donations made to right-wing groups? :')

Edit: very high, it seems https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Apinboard%20PAC

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#150

Post by Retric » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 4:53 PM UTC

nailer wrote: post #102

SkyBelow wrote: post #64

>I think they just overestimated the ability of their employees to respect each other when they hold differing world views. I think this can be quite difficult to do just because of the political views involved. For example, how should a gay man respect a colleague who honestly thinks that homosexuality should be punished with death. In such a case, I would say that even asking the first individual to tolerate, much…

> For example, how should a gay man respect a colleague who honestly thinks that homosexuality should be punished with death. Do you think that's a good example of the kind of things Google staff debate about?

When discussing politics in the abstract it’s useful not to talk about specifics to avoid a derail.

Personally I would have gone with. Someone suggesting a person in group X should subsidized by group Y. When the person speaking in in group X and the listener is in group Y.

Actually listing the groups as say income level, farmers, parents, elderly, ev drivers, or whatever is not actually helpful. That said you might have a reasonable debate on taxes, but that’s much harder when someone wants to send some group to prison etc.