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Leaked Amazon memo details plan to smear fired warehouse organizer

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Re: Leaked Amazon memo details plan to smear fired warehouse organizer

#31

Post by claudeganon »

tw04 wrote: post #29
claudeganon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Carney stanning for a company trying to frame a black labor organizer with the “not articulate” dog whistle does enough of that work by itself. I don’t think they need any help from the “far left.”

Except Carney didn't say that. >“He’s not smart, or articulate, and to the extent the press wants to focus on us versus him, we will be in a much stronger PR position than simply explaining for the umpteenth time how we’re trying to protect workers,” wrote Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky in notes from the meeting forwarded widely in the company.

Never said he said it. I said he’s defending a company whose taking this line to discredit Smalls. Go read my post again and Carney’s Twitter feed if you need further clarification.

Re: Leaked Amazon memo details plan to smear fired warehouse organizer

#32

Post by m0zg »

notJim wrote: post #22
tw04 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's an SVP at Amazon... what does being an "Obama-era staffer" have to do with him supporting the company currently paying his paycheck? Not to mention he was Press Secretary for Obama, played literally no role in policy.

The democrats are/were historically the pro-worker party. Yet here we have a major player from a recent administration managing a PR strategy opposing worker organizing efforts. It should make one question whether that party is still run by people who support workers.

They haven't been a pro-worker party for a couple of decades now. As exemplified by their stance towards globalization, protectionism, and illegal immigration. Their poorest, most pro-worker presidential candidate is a geriatric multi-millionaire with three houses, and the party perfers someone with dementia and deep ties to China even to him.

Re: Leaked Amazon memo details plan to smear fired warehouse organizer

#34

Post by DubiousPusher »

throwawaysea wrote: post #24
choward wrote: post #23

All I wanted to do was read the memo and I couldn't find the link. I'm not sure if I missed it or what but this is a common problem I run into on "news" sites. They quote (often out of context) parts of something but give no links to the actual source.

That's very much by design, in order to paint a certain picture, generate outrage, and ultimately clicks. Recall when the James Damore story was breaking? Many outlets like Motherboard (owned by Vice, authors of this story) circulated quotes and even modified documents that didn't show the full list of research references quoted by Damore, in an attempt to paint a certain picture. Unfortunately this is the low bar se…

> Unfortunately this is the low bar set by a lot of modern journalism. We need a way out of it back to neutral, factual reporting.

Creating fact focused journalism is a laudible goal but I'd be curious of what specific time in history you think that this was generally the case?

Re: Leaked Amazon memo details plan to smear fired warehouse organizer

#35

Post by _2d30 »

claudeganon wrote: post #18
_2d30 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's part of the strategy of the far left to help push the Democratic Party further left by vilifying anything and everything associated with its party's center. EDIT: Adding that I really can't see, otherwise, how it's relevant.

Carney stanning for a company trying to frame a black labor organizer with the “not articulate” dog whistle does enough of that work by itself. I don’t think they need any help from the “far left.”

Again, though, it's not really relevant that he worked as Obama's PR guy, right? I have no idea if he's dumb, this interview doesn't suggest so, but here's an interview[0] of him and he's definitely not particularly articulate in it. The concept of the "dog whistle" is pretty ridiculous. It makes it so that you literally can never have a black person be described as inarticulate regardless of reality. It's just another way to control speech.

0: https://youtu.be/15HUGc7R8hw?t=107

Re: Leaked Amazon memo details plan to smear fired warehouse organizer

#36

Post by luckylion »

TechBro8615 wrote: post #9
Mizza wrote: post #4

A really disgusting but predictable thing to fall out of this whole fiasco is to watch Obama-era staffers aggressively side with management against labour: https://twitter.com/JayCarney/status/1245474780746330119

At the risk of making a generalization, it's interesting that political PR firms and/or workers from them tend to get companies in trouble. Recall that Facebook retained a republican PR firm that pushed anti-Soros conspiracies, for example. Maybe the lesson here is that people who worked in politics/lobbying are not trustworthy and can be a liability to the integrity of your company if you hire them.

> Maybe the lesson here is that people who worked in politics/lobbying are not trustworthy and can be a liability to the integrity of your company if you hire them.

Well, if you give them very high paying jobs at weird companies you control through a few layers of obfuscation, it will look even more like you're paying them for services rendered.

Re: Leaked Amazon memo details plan to smear fired warehouse organizer

#37

Post by binarymax »

j4nt4b wrote: post #2

What are the legal implications for Amazon from these revelations? I already know it's illegal to discourage union activity, but I'm curious about how this evidence affects the situation.

If admissible, this may be evidence in a wider case for a labor law violation. The NY Atty General was notably unhappy about what had transpired: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/31/824423595/new-york-attorney-g...

...Until events unfold more, we cannot speculate as to the charges (if any) will be brought against Amazon.

Re: Leaked Amazon memo details plan to smear fired warehouse organizer

#39

Post by _9vpl »

throwawaysea wrote: post #24
choward wrote: post #23

All I wanted to do was read the memo and I couldn't find the link. I'm not sure if I missed it or what but this is a common problem I run into on "news" sites. They quote (often out of context) parts of something but give no links to the actual source.

That's very much by design, in order to paint a certain picture, generate outrage, and ultimately clicks. Recall when the James Damore story was breaking? Many outlets like Motherboard (owned by Vice, authors of this story) circulated quotes and even modified documents that didn't show the full list of research references quoted by Damore, in an attempt to paint a certain picture. Unfortunately this is the low bar se…

I don't know why you're getting down-voted. Must be people that've never read about mass media in Manufacturing Consent.

Re: Leaked Amazon memo details plan to smear fired warehouse organizer

#40

Post by throwawaysea »

DubiousPusher wrote: post #34
throwawaysea wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's very much by design, in order to paint a certain picture, generate outrage, and ultimately clicks. Recall when the James Damore story was breaking? Many outlets like Motherboard (owned by Vice, authors of this story) circulated quotes and even modified documents that didn't show the full list of research references quoted by Damore, in an attempt to paint a certain picture. Unfortunately this is the low bar se…

> Unfortunately this is the low bar set by a lot of modern journalism. We need a way out of it back to neutral, factual reporting. Creating fact focused journalism is a laudible goal but I'd be curious of what specific time in history you think that this was generally the case?

That's a good point. I can't say whether we've ever hit the mark on that generally. However, old news broadcasts (you can find them on Youtube) do seem a lot less emotional and more neutral. They probably still had their biases; I am unsure. However, I feel like HN is often sources from outlets like Vox and Vice, both of which are recognized as having a strong bias (see https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-ratings). We can at least do better, even if we can't be perfect.
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