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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

#441

Post by mdpye »

Gormisdomai wrote: post #115
mountainb wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not true that "LGBT Rights" are value-free. Promoting LGBT rights also alienates members of the largest religious groups in the world, including those that are majority-non-European like Islam and Catholicism. Being a practicing L, G, B, or T or pro any of them is against sharia, the Catechism, and against the rules of many major Protestant sects like Mormons. Gay marriage is expressly against the rules of most…

Your high level point about universal tolerance stands - but you might like to challenge some of your object level assumptions about world religions and LGBT. Iranian theocratic leadership for example officially does not think that being trans is against sharia and the nation carries out more gender reassignment surgeries than any country except Thailand (not that their treatment of trans people is perfect by any mea…

From the article you link:

> They sanction funds for sex reassignment surgery in order to fit all of their citizens

> into the category of either male or female without any grey area for those who are homosexual

> or transgender.

So support the T specifically for the purposes of denying the L, G and B. Grandparent looks at least 3/4 correct to me...

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

#442

Post by seneca »

sdfqasdghj2 wrote: post #288
eli wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forbidding debate is taking an implicit stance in favor of the status quo.

I don't see this press release as forbidding debate. This is simply saying that the company won't be taking a stance. That shouldn't stop individual employees discussing political topics as long as they can act like adults and not create a hostile environment.

> I don't see this press release as forbidding debate.

It specifically does:

> We won’t: Debate causes or political candidates internally

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

#443

Post by Aunche »

philipov wrote: post #255
mc32 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politics is too personal and can only lead to discord among employees. There is little upside to politics being in the open in an established company. It may be useful in attracting talent at some point, but at another point it becomes a liability, unless your company is a PAC or something of the sort. If you serve a wide audience or have a wide workforce, it’s less headache if workers separate their politics from th…

Yes, and choosing to have such a policy about political discussion is a political act that supports the status quo by quashing dissent. Therefore, many people who are not happy with the status quo are upset by companies that do this.

The problem is that people can't have political discussion without taking things personally. Many people thought that the James Damore memo was objective, but other people found it offensive. In the end, neither side really "won" and in the end, it just made the work environment more toxic. Even if you believe that Damore is sexist, people like him are inevitably going to exist at a company of hundreds of thousands, so it's best if everyone stayed quiet.

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

#444

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#447

Post by winston_smith »

moultano wrote: post #363
chii wrote: post #140

Earlier 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.

In January 2017, several of my coworkers were banned from reentering the country to go home to their families, while they were on business trips to visit other offices. How is anyone supposed to be apolitical in that context? How are the people who can't ever come home supposed to pretend everything is fine? A functional definition of privilege is that politics doesn't matter that much to you. No matter how it turns…

> mentally compartmentalize it and go about the rest of your business. There are many people whose lives are not like that, and it's unreasonable to expect them to treat politics as a game separate from real life.

I bet the closeted gay folks in countries where that's a death sentence would MUCH rather have their coworkers compartmentalize their views.

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

#448

Post by BowBun »

baryphonic wrote: post #433
andymoe wrote: post #427

The cool thing is that while Coinbase gets to use its inherent power/leverage over workers to get a certain outcome (capital is a form of power btw) workers can use their inherent power (withholding labor, negotiating as a unit, building consensus etc) to get their desired outcome and behavior from the company. No one owes anyone anything and there are not really any rules here. Consequences and outcomes yes but no r…

They are free to leave. No one is essential at any job, no matter how much mom and dad and the college admissions department told her she that she was.

You're missing the point. By choosing not to leave the employees can wield influence over the company. The employees also don't need Coinbase; there are other companies paying the same and working on the same problems.

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

#450

Post by C1sc0cat »

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.

I suspect its only some activists that Mr Armstrong want's rid of.
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