Was this the guy that brought us XML?
Amazon VP Resigns, Calls Company ‘Chickenshit’ for Firing Protesting Workers
61–70 of 205 posts
Re: Amazon VP Resigns, Calls Company ‘Chickenshit’ for Firing Protesting Workers
#62The implication that race or gender is involved in the firings is pretty silly.
Genuine question: do you believe it's purely coincidence, then? I'm open to the possibility, but it seems kind of unlikely.
It's very obviously about class and material condition.
We live in a society, and that society has correlations of these things with race and gender.. but from Amazon's perspective, they hire the people who don't have a better option for that job, and the demographics are effectively a coincidence as far as they're concerned.
Re: Amazon VP Resigns, Calls Company ‘Chickenshit’ for Firing Protesting Workers
#63Why does big always become evil?
Why does everyone assume the actions of the little guy are always morally superior than the actions of the big corporation? I haven't delved into the details of this specific case but this reaction is typical regardless of the facts it seems. The big company is always the evil one and the employees are always little enslaved saints.
Edit: Whoops this comment could have been made less controversially - I wish everyone well.
Re: Amazon VP Resigns, Calls Company ‘Chickenshit’ for Firing Protesting Workers
#64If you are very idealistic I would recommend working for a smaller company that aligns with your values. It is naive to join a company like Amazon or Google and imagine it is some progressive utopia. These are mega corps, and in my imagination I see them like The Empire from Star Wars, and you will be a storm trooper on the death star - just one worker among many. You will be on the winning team, well compensated, an…
I read "your silly blog posts about unions won't stop them" in Chancellor Palpatine voice, fwiw. (Happy may 4th)
Re: Amazon VP Resigns, Calls Company ‘Chickenshit’ for Firing Protesting Workers
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nobody "fetishizes" small business. This sounds like big corporation mouthpiece rhetoric. Big business is responsible for wealth concentration and irresponsible economics that hurt everyone. The alternative? Small business. It's easy to see why people might prefer a reality where small businesses continue to exist. Not everyone likes the Orwell novel we're writing.
"fetishize" is probably the wrong word, but people are certainly a lot more sympathetic towards small businesses. in my city, people are donating tens of thousands of dollars to local businesses that are closed due to coronavirus. can you imagine someone donating money to keep walmart afloat? as an aside, I've read that jacobin article before and I find it to be a bit myopic. a large part of why small businesses offe…
That’s because companies like Walmart shouldn’t need those donations - bigger operations like them bring in much higher revenue. They also tend to work around tax laws and find loopholes, which a small business can’t do (and even if they did, it would be chump change compared to the behemoths). So it makes sense for the small guys to get that kind of “grassroots” support.
Re: Amazon VP Resigns, Calls Company ‘Chickenshit’ for Firing Protesting Workers
#66If you are very idealistic I would recommend working for a smaller company that aligns with your values. It is naive to join a company like Amazon or Google and imagine it is some progressive utopia. These are mega corps, and in my imagination I see them like The Empire from Star Wars, and you will be a storm trooper on the death star - just one worker among many. You will be on the winning team, well compensated, an…
Perhaps if there were more people like Tim Bray the Death Star might be a little more progressive and might not be the de facto “winning team”.
Just like with politics, those people have a way of letting their personal ethics select them out of the organization they were hoping to change.
Re: Amazon VP Resigns, Calls Company ‘Chickenshit’ for Firing Protesting Workers
#67Was this the guy that brought us XML?
He was a co-author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Bray#XML
Re: Amazon VP Resigns, Calls Company ‘Chickenshit’ for Firing Protesting Workers
#68In my opinion, it won’t do anyone any good for him to quit “in solidarity with” the fired workers. If he wants the situation to improve, he should remain VP and use his power to help make things better. Now he‘ll probably just be replaced with someone who is less sympathetic to the workers.
He was quite clear, he tried to use the leverage he had without quitting, but at some point you have to draw the line and say "I can't change things from the inside, so either I put up with it or I leave". If Amazon starts to lose top talent because they can't treat their employees with respect and dignity hopefully it will force them to change, and if it doesn't, hopefully it'll cause them to fail.
>If Amazon starts to lose top talent because they can't treat their employees with respect and dignity hopefully it will force them to change, and if it doesn't, hopefully it'll cause them to fail.
I personally think that's overly optimistic.
Modern corporate culture structures are toxic to society across the board. Some a bit less, some a bit more. The more leverage an entity feels they have (i.e. power), the more toxic they tend to grow against their own workers, consumers, etc.
This problem is absolutely not isolated to Amazon, they're just the current poster child of what's toxic and growing in corporate America. This pandemic has put a spotlight on these practices (for the better I argue) and illustrated almost in caricature the divergence between business goals and societies goals.
People are far to quick to defend these organizations' behaviors and give them the benefit of the doubt.
Re: Amazon VP Resigns, Calls Company ‘Chickenshit’ for Firing Protesting Workers
#69Credit is due to anyone willing to sacrifice, no matter how small, for the voiceless and underrepresented.
"When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.” -- Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison
Re: Amazon VP Resigns, Calls Company ‘Chickenshit’ for Firing Protesting Workers
#70Why does big always become evil?
Economies of scale. 1000 people who were wronged by small companies are all complaining about different companies and it isn't newsworthy. 100 people who were wronged by a huge company are all part of the same protest and can make a lot more noise.