Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission • Hacker News Board

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

#341

Post by yunohn » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 2:18 PM UTC

disruptalot wrote: post #245

yunohn wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is on-point. Others here seem to be oblivious to reality: White guy at webhost: We took the white supremacists' money, so this is totally legal. Black colleague: Sure, but now they're using the website to display anti-black ideology and actively plan rallies to remove my rights. White guy: This is politics and I'm trying to be apolitical. Please lobby the courts if you have a problem.

That's exactly how it should work. > using the website to display anti-black ideology and actively plan rallies to remove my rights. When it's not a crime and it's completely based on your subjective view: you're kidding yourself if you think that process is going to be a just measure. Likely, it's just going to be a free for all, whoever gets offended at what. Let me add another colleague to your mix. Asian guy: I d…

Objectively speaking, it's your privilege that makes this issue seem subjective enough to dismiss it so.

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

#342

Post by thelock85 » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 2:18 PM UTC

This won’t end well. The moment Coinbase articulates anything remotely related to an underlying set of values or business ethics, the accusations of politicization (and hypocrisy) will come flying.

I believe that corporations are not governed or regulated to support activism writ large, but there has to be room for dissent (even if it ends in separation). How else do you arrive at a shared definition of “economic freedom”?

Is the next step amorality?

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

#343

Post by bredren » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 2:20 PM UTC

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…

I think this is the premise of of The Witcher series.

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

#344

Post by ukd1 » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 2:20 PM UTC

sdfqasdghj2 wrote: post #285

adamzapasnik wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it used to be like that? My dad taught me not to talk about politics nor religion in a workplace. I think it's for the best.

It's sad. We ought to be able to debate important topics without people getting upset and emotional and ruining each others lives.

I read the original post from Brian as; you can, but at work one should work. Coinbase isn't paying folks to debate politics, they're paying someone to further the company mission.

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

#345

Post by thinkloop » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 2:22 PM UTC

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…

When companies say they are being apolitical they mean more narrowly political - ignoring as much as possible the things that do not affect their core business. Does coinbase have to have a declared position for whether there should be a Mexico wall, or gun rights, or abortion - not really. What about BLM or gay rights? They probably have to have some minimal position like "we treat everyone equally", but that's also different than donating to the protests or conversely declaring support for the police union, etc.

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

#346

Post by koheripbal » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 2:23 PM UTC

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #3

I agreed with what Brian Armstrong said in his blog post and thought it was admirable to publicly take that position, but now I have even more respect for his dedication. I don't know if the severance package is good or not, but it seems generous and it gives employees who aren't aligned with the company an easy way out.

There is a lot of value in removing political activists from your company, and so it's worth paying them to leave.

Aside from the combative toxic environment they generate, they are also often the source of disgruntled rogue employees that will generally behave improperly, misrepresent coworkers, leak documents, raise alarms about operations they don't understand, and generally draw the company into litigation.

In a highly sensitive market like crypto, you don't want to gain unnecessary regulatory attention, and activists like this will be the first to testify against the company with their biased interpretation of internal operations.

They're just poison. In the best case scenario, they are just a huge distraction - and in the worst they will cost you 10x their salary in legal drama.

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

#347

Post by dangerface » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 2:27 PM UTC

happytoexplain wrote: post #227

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…

>Why is a company wanting to be apolitical is controversial? It depends on how extreme the politics of the society are. It only sounds like there's an obviously "right" answer to you because you're used to living your entire life in a society where politics aren't that extreme yet from your point of view. But for many other people, the line was crossed in recent years.

> It depends on how extreme the politics of the society are.

I live in Northern Ireland the politics of my society are very extreme when its allowed in the workplace, group A kills group B and vice versa.

Calling out the extremists and forcing them to apolitical in the work place is necessary to stop them from killing every one.

You can argue that this is a call for centrism and the status quo and it is, but it makes sense for this to be the status quo simply because extremists like to kill anyone that doesn't agree with their politics, this is true across history, country and race.

There is an obvious right answer because I have seen what happens when extremism is made the status quo.

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

#348

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 2:28 PM UTC

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…

[deleted]

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

#349

Post by voxl » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 2:28 PM UTC

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…

Yikes, talk about MAGA propaganda. Trump is a proto fascist, if Americans don't want to be apart of the new axis of evil they better be activists. This has nothing to do with calling everything racist or sexist, the fact that you think so has me suspicious of your views on the world.

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

#350

Post by SpicyLemonZest » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 2:31 PM UTC

solidasparagus wrote: post #301

helen___keller wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My 2c: * Companies, like the rest of the world, are now hyperconnected. We have slack and email and so on. This makes it a lot easier for similar interests to connect across a massive organization, which is a boon for special interest groups, like anime, or magic the gathering. Or politics. * Companies muscle in on workers' identity. Workers respond to work over email/slack during their off hours. Workers pop open th…

> You are looking to hire a young, 25 year old computer scientist living in a big blue city who graduated from PresigiousUniversity. What politics do you think this person likely subscribes to? I think people too readily assume that these people are blue, but you have to remember that academia (and tech in general) tends to have strong social pressure to either be blue or hide your political beliefs. There is likely…

And we have to remember that even the categories here are highly artificial; even people who'd never describe themselves as closet Republicans don't necessarily agree with whatever specific aspect of politics a company might try to target. There are a couple of California ballot propositions I have in mind where polling is very divergent from what you'd expect reading any kind of public discussion about them.