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Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

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Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#201

Post by tossAfterUsing »

paulgb wrote: post #137
jiofih wrote: post #12

This must feel harsh for those on the receiving end, but is the right thing to do. It is not effective to try and turn every company into a rights activism group just because it is a group of people. This may be a sign that it’s become increasingly hard to organize or take part in such activism outside of work. What happened?

> What happened? I'm partial to Aaron Levie's take on this[1]: > An alternative take on the importance of companies taking a stand on critical social issues that impact our employees and communities: when there's a vacuum of leadership from the government in dealing with these topics, businesses often need to lead more than ever. When we have had presidents who were willing to condemn white supremacy, we tended not t…

> When we have had presidents who were willing to condemn white supremacy, we tended not to call on CEOs to.

https://twitter.com/robsmithonline/status/131113297546835968...

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#202

Post by birracerveza »

ahpearce wrote: post #153
sneak wrote: post #76

The blog post he made, which was a whole lot of words to say "We're not going to say Black Lives Matter, so stop asking", was really something else. I see a lot of people praising the "not taking sides" thing. This presumes a false two-parties dichotomy that is endemic in the discussion of US social issues. Really though, you can choose the status quo of widespread human rights abuses in the US, or you can choose to…

This is exactly it. People in this thread are saying "I don't understand why it's so crazy to say 'I'm not taking sides'"... Well because it clearly communicates that you still think there are "two sides", and that they're equivalent. That is clearly not the case, and if someone thinks otherwise, I don't even know how to have a conversation with them.

Absolutely not. You're just not explicitly endorsing one side, potentially having people from "the other side" boycott your business because of that. Or simply because it has no relevance to what you're actually doing.

Why is it that you NEED to explicitly pick a side? Especially if you are a business. In that case, everyone knows that your only interest is increasing revenue. That's it. Everything else is PR stunts in order to increase revenue.

I prefer "taking no sides" rather than plastering BLM or LGBT sponsors for the sole purpose to appeal to that crowd.

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#203

Post by chrischattin »

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #131
nilkn wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to say most companies I’ve worked for have subscribed to the policies in Armstrong’s blog post, and it has worked very well. But these companies were mostly outside the Bay Area. I suspect the Bay Area is extremely nondiverse and homogeneous, and folks there aren’t actually used to having to work with and get along with people who strongly disagree with them on politics. In that kind of monoculture, it’s easy…

> I suspect the Bay Area is extremely nondiverse and homogeneous, and folks there aren’t actually used to having to work with and get along with people who strongly disagree with them on politics This is extremely ironic given the hiring practices of Bay Area companies.

I think he’s referring to diversity of ideas, not superficial attributes like race/gender/sexual preference/etc. A group of people that look different but all have the same world view is not a diverse group, imo.

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#204

Post by aaronax »

monoideism wrote: post #142
nemo44x wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s generally a small but vocal group. And I wouldn’t call it politics so much as activism. A sort of religious zeal has made its way into our institutions like schools and universities. Some people have taken to it like a missionary would religion and believe it’s their duty to spread the word everywhere at all times. The Inquisition was no different in this regard. You just have to read what the activism says. It…

> It’s far beyond politics and more a religion than anything. I believe this is a result of the fact that Americans have turned away from organized religion in recent years (note: I'm not religious myself). There seems to be something deep inside of most people that requires a shared spiritual experience. Wokism has emerged to fill that need.

This article really fleshes out what this thread is discussing: https://www.devever.net/~hl/newchurch

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#206

Post by luckylion »

buro9 wrote: post #154
jpdb wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why is a company wanting to be apolitical is controversial? Because there's really no such thing as, "apolitical." If you offer web-hosting to a group of white nationalists, this is a political action. "Apolitical" is what people who are ok with the status quo use as a dog-whistle to avoid responsibility.

> Because there's really no such thing as, "apolitical." This a thousand times. I've tried to be apolitical in a "least damage" way, but it is not possible. You are supporting someone who is doing something abhorrent either explicitly or implicitly. In tech we are huge enablers, and when we support implicitly we need to accept that we are enabling behaviour that all employees would find unacceptable. Whether it is in…

> You are supporting someone who is doing something abhorrent either explicitly or implicitly.

This comment might make somebody have an idea which will then change the world for the worse. Have you supported that idea implicitly? I'd argue no, but if you look at it purely from an consequentialist perspective, then sure, you did.

> That employees are left to fight this

But they aren't "left to fight" anything. They're asked not to try to use the company to further their personal political goals.

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#207

Post by 9HZZRfNlpR »

nemo44x wrote: post #118
kkhire wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s there to admire? This is common sense and he should have set these expectations from the start. why are people discussing politics at work?

It’s generally a small but vocal group. And I wouldn’t call it politics so much as activism. A sort of religious zeal has made its way into our institutions like schools and universities. Some people have taken to it like a missionary would religion and believe it’s their duty to spread the word everywhere at all times. The Inquisition was no different in this regard. You just have to read what the activism says. It…

It just filled the gap of religion disappearing, people want to belong in groups. Maybe broad categorization but this religious activism seems to be more of an American thing, Europe is definetly more diverse when it comes to different issues.

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#208

Post by cblconfederate »

wwright wrote: post #127
Zenbit_UX wrote: post #120

Why is a company wanting to be apolitical is controversial? That should be the default, is this an American thing like how masks and healthcare are controversial? I would expect a government to have proper separation from church and state, so why is it weird to want a company to separate politics and mission? I can't see any good coming from being in a work environment where the company supports a political issue I'm…

I (and many others) are of the opinion that you can’t truly be apolitical; claiming to be so is its own form of politics (and generally one that supports the status quo). Politics is ultimately about how we engage and collaborate with each other as a society, not just which “party” you like. The very act of being a company is very relative to the laws and regulations your country has, which are of course determined b…

it's correct that crypto is against all politics, and thus coinbase is de facto far-libertarian, or anarchocapitalist. That doesn't prevent it from creating "an apolitical culture" in their workplace. Just like how , today , a libertarian might work for the Fed or something. I thought their point is that the politics of individual workers won't distract from the company's "mission" (whatever that is, i assume it's the product).

that said i think it's wrong to ascribe political motives to every move and claim that nobody can be a-political in public. Political belongs to the public sphere and not everyone wants to live in there.

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#209

Post by zajio1am »

sammex wrote: post #162
chii wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you offer web-hosting to a group of white nationalists, this is a political action. no it's not - you're just offering a service for a fee. As long as the service is not illegal, and you're not under-charging (which can be considered a political donation), then it's apolitical. Deliberately choosing not to conduct business with a certain group because of their political ideology, on the other hand, _is_ a politi…

I don't agree. Selling a gun to a hunter is not the same as selling a gun to a known child murderer. Both is "just" selling a gun but they are very different in practice.

If seller offers guns to general public (e.g. gun shop) and child murderer does not have restriction on gun ownership as a part of their sentence, then not selling gun is not a political action, it is an extra-judicial punishment.

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#210

Post by adambyrtek »

claudeganon wrote: post #197
Zenbit_UX wrote: post #120

Why is a company wanting to be apolitical is controversial? That should be the default, is this an American thing like how masks and healthcare are controversial? I would expect a government to have proper separation from church and state, so why is it weird to want a company to separate politics and mission? I can't see any good coming from being in a work environment where the company supports a political issue I'm…

> I would expect a government to have proper separation from church and state, so why is it weird to want a company to separate politics and mission Because this is a non sequitur? You’re making appeals to protections enshrined in law to prevent the government from limiting the freedom and rights of individuals, when almost no such protections exist in the workplace. Why do people organize in their workplace? Because…

> A better question would be why America has a two-track system of rights, where one must constantly defend their violation from the government, but also completely abandon them the moment they walk into their workplace.

One argument could be that it's much easier to change jobs than to change citizenship.

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