We live in a different world now.
Today, apolitical pretty much means “I’m white. And probably male. But definitely white.”
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
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
You could... not talk about it at work?
In what world is your work not impacted by climate change? How you use energy, what supplier you use, your carbon impact, the raw materials you use to make your products, etc.. This is all part of it. Even if you don't believe in it, the fact that you don't believe in it while other companies do will impact you! You can't just ignore all those things and pretend they don't exist, as a business owner it's just entirel…
That doesn't really come up in general conversation though, does it?
I'm not talking about policy decisions by a business owner, I'm talking about when people have day to day discussions with other employees.
Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission
#213Earlier 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.
They’re only superficially diverse, perhaps due to the homogeinity of the Bay Area.
Basically the companies only look at skin color and what’s between your legs. As long as you have an American middle class/upper class upbringing or at the minimum had your education in certain American universities. So culturally they are pretty much identical.
From this point of view a white, black and asian American middleclass teenagers that have had identical education are wildly different and bring diverse viewpoints. Whereas a French, Italian and a Polish person would be non diverse. Even though the latter group has massively different cultural background compared to the first group.
Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> you can’t truly be apolitical; that's one of those "you're either with us or against us" type of deal - which is not the right way to deal with anything imho. You _can_ be apolitical - as in, you do not let your political views affect what you do. You keep your political views private. You do not try to change anyone else's political views as part of your job.
You can be apolitical in that you are not interested in politics.
But:
1. Doing so is a political decision. 2. Your views shape your perspective and there will be actions and omissions that you take that impact politics in ways that you are unaware of.
Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission
#215Why 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…
> Politics is ultimately about how we engage and collaborate with each other as a society,
It is so sad that people increasingly have this view. Politics was never how “we engaged and collaborated in society”.
Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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
I think it has more cult dynamics than a church per-se. Seeing people end friendships and relationships with family members. “Unlearning” things, otherwise known as reprogramming. Seminars (that are expensive) and “required reading”. Obsessive recruitment of new people to initiate. And then of course if you question things you’ll be ostracized and exiled.
Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission
#217[deleted]
Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're trying to demonstrate just how ridiculous political polarization in the US has become, you're doing a pretty great job.
Human rights aren't a partisan issue.
Very few people are against "human rights".
There is, however, very real controversy about whether and the extent to which various rights are included in the bundle of human rights; and some of those divide along US partisan lines.
Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission
#219As a non-American, I find it truly bizarre (and sad) that's it's now controversial to publicly state that you're not taking sides.
Something I've found about recent "activism" (not sure if that's the best word) is that the supporters act like it's not enough to acknowledge and agree with the activists aims, but that these aims must in fact be the most important issue the world faces, and if you're not 100% committed you are against them. I think this 'My cause is "the" cause' has arisen as an escalation in the fight for attention. And I think it…
Thanks – this explanation ("the attention economy causes aggressive activism") resonates and somehow makes me feel better about the situation.
It can be disheartening to see friends and movements I agree with turn to aggressive rhetoric and evangelism. But the fact that it's yet another symptom of a broken (social) media environment is a nice reminder that it's not their fault so much as it is an expected result of a bad system.
Of course, it's equally sad/disheartening that our modes of societal discourse and decision-making have gotten this bad, but it's a theoretically solvable problem (eg; legislation and a good facebook competitor) and it doesn't involve me feeling bad about people I like.
Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
> you can’t truly be apolitical; that's one of those "you're either with us or against us" type of deal - which is not the right way to deal with anything imho. You _can_ be apolitical - as in, you do not let your political views affect what you do. You keep your political views private. You do not try to change anyone else's political views as part of your job.
IMHO it's job-dependent. For example, can you be a gun shop owner without being pro-gun? Some would say actions speak louder than words. On the other hand, if you own a bakery being apolitical is a lot simpler. Avoid the Masterpiece Cakeshop case and there's as little politics as you'll find anywhere.
This is a bit off topic from the original discussion, but I think you definitely can be a gun shop owner and be against guns at the same time, albeit still in a political sense. Having a gun shop provides you with the best possible venue for educating your customers about guns "from the inside", hence being able to push your agenda in the long term.
That being said, running a gun shop is definitely a political statement. I guess you could control what you sell as well, like "I only sell hunting rifles - for hunting" and refusing to sell hand guns or automatic rifles. Sorry for the example of guns, I'm swedish and have no insight in what is commonplace in US gun stores.