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

#761

Post by beambot » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 8:28 PM UTC

frankish wrote: post #745

simias wrote: post #527

Reading these comments I feel like the root of the issue is the collapse of American democracy. It's a bit grandiloquent but that's definitely how it looks like. If workers trust that "We, the people" are still in charge on the big picture then it doesn't make sense to bring politics at work. Just vote. Now if you feel like your power as a citizen has dwindled and you can't meaningfully enact change through democrati…

This is why I'm frustrated with the idea that we need to enact change and policies at the federal level. The federal government should just exist to protect our liberties and organize national defense. Everything else should be organized more locally at the community level where voters actually have some skin in the game. It's the same idea as how modern agile companies run, small teams that work in the same environm…

“I am, at the Fed level, libertarian;

at the state level, Republican;

at the local level, Democrat;

and at the family and friends level, a socialist.

If that saying doesn’t convince you of the fatuousness of left vs. right labels, nothing will.”

- Nassim Taleb, Skin in the game

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

#762

Post by eli » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 8:32 PM UTC

drstewart wrote: post #732

eli wrote: post #600

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry. Your work is political whether you choose to acknowledge that or not.

I notice that Industry Dive doesn't have a message supporting BLM on its website. Can you share why you've failed to support this social cause on your front page? Silence is violence, and Industry Dive has clearly taken the stance that it does not support BLM.

This seems like a disingenuous question. If there was a big BLM banner on the front page would you instead be accusing me of "performative wokeness" right now?

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

#763

Post by mardifoufs » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 8:32 PM UTC

tlogan wrote: post #698

mardifoufs wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's completely detached from reality and pretty much signals that you probably don't interact with minorities much. As a non white immigrant, I can tell you that in my experience most PoC are apolitical. Much more so than white males as you say. And that's not only true for first generation immigrants, but also for most of their children. Afro-americans are the only minority group I can think of that are actually…

I guess I hang out with ‘wrong’ minorities. My group are parents with kids in sf unified (I would say 80% non white). I probably live in my own bubble.

I think SF in general is a bubble, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It also depends also on the the economic class you belong to. In SF, and in tech especially, I'd say people are much more financially comfortable than the average. That means less urgent things to worry about, less work and more time for activism and that's regardless of race. There's a reason why historically the petit bourgeois were the vectors of revolution, radicalism, etc. Remember, first generation immigrants have chosen and often sacrified so much to be able to get here, of course they don't have as much things that they dislike than white people who have almost no other experience to compare things with. That inherent satisfaction directly means less interest in politics.

So upper class second or third gen immigrants are much more into politics because... they are upper class. Not really because they aren't white. Because even then, I would still bet upper class white people are more politicized than PoC of the same economic class. Also, since I'd guess you are into politics, you are more likely to meet and bond with people who are into them too.

If anything most of what I'm seeing these days is white people ,with huge white savior complexes & using minorities to score points, calling out other white people for not doing the same. Imo, I'd much, much rather be around an apolitical white friend who is just chill all around rather than be around someone who constantly thinks of me, my person & my identity as being political things because he's "on my side". I'm not saying that what you are doint at all, what I'm saying is that politics can dehumanize even people you think you are on the side of. ;)

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

#764

Post by vaccinator » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 8:36 PM UTC

vaccinator wrote: post #134

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…

https://us.123rf.com/450wm/robson309/robson3092002/robson309...

The separation between government and church in the US is about 0.001inch or basically no centimeter... You'd be lucky if the president doesnt talk about god daily

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

#765

Post by dtoma » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 8:37 PM UTC

subsubzero wrote: post #503

Barrin92 wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>All I want is to just focus on engineering and ship features/improvements. Yeah if there wasn't the pesky world around all the engineering and we could all just stare at our stock options while we sit in our gentrified neighbourhoods and pretend the world doesn't exist. You can ignore politics but politics doesn't ignore you. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil is an unworthy attitude for a democratic citizen.…

Your strawman argument is invalid to what I said. I spend an inordinate amount of time researching each candidates views and each propositions pros and cons. Before election day I usually set aside a day or two to deep dive into every choice I make. I take voting very seriously as people have died to give me the luxury to vote. These actions all occur outside of the office where they belong. That being said leave pol…

> "an inordinate amount of time researching [...] I usually set aside a day or two"

English isn't my native language but doesn't this make it sound like you only spend "a day or two" researching? Or are these two sentences unrelated?

> Bringing politics to the office(thanks Google!)

How bad is it really? Have you ever been told something like "I won't review your PR because you don't vote for the same person I do"?

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

#766

Post by newobj » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 8:41 PM UTC

itsoktocry wrote: post #724

newobj wrote: post #653

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You ever wonder why "politics at work" has flared up so much in the last 4 years? Have you completely lost sight of the timeline of events, or do you refuse to acknowledge it? Do you think it's a reaction to something? Or did it just spontaneously instigate itself one day? Just uppity libs getting bored? People are speaking up because people feel existentially threatened. Because people are being existentially threat…

> You ever wonder why "politics at work" has flared up so much in the last 4 years? Have you completely lost sight of the timeline of events, or do you refuse to acknowledge it? No, please, fill me in. What has changed in the last 4 years that has suddenly made people existentially threatened at work? It sounds like you're trying to implicate 'Donald Trump' as the start of all of these issues, and yet I'm not sure ho…

Never said the workplace was threatening. I said people are being threatened at-large, and what you call "politics" is them responding to that threat, and it's harmful to the victim of such violence to suppress their ability to discuss it, in any environment, including work.

Now, please answer my question. Why do YOU think "politics at work" has flared up so much in the last 4 years?

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

#767

Post by 0df8dkdf » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 8:45 PM UTC

>Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong released a blog post this week saying the exchange intends to keep activism and politics separate from its business.

That is how it ought to be!!!!!! Activism and politics tends to divd people. Keep it out of work is a great thing!

There is no point to talk about anything like activism or politics.

Just do it!

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

#768

Post by frankish » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 8:48 PM UTC

beambot wrote: post #761

frankish wrote: post #745

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I'm frustrated with the idea that we need to enact change and policies at the federal level. The federal government should just exist to protect our liberties and organize national defense. Everything else should be organized more locally at the community level where voters actually have some skin in the game. It's the same idea as how modern agile companies run, small teams that work in the same environm…

“I am, at the Fed level, libertarian; at the state level, Republican; at the local level, Democrat; and at the family and friends level, a socialist. If that saying doesn’t convince you of the fatuousness of left vs. right labels, nothing will.” - Nassim Taleb, Skin in the game

You nailed it. Admittedly only listened to him on JRE, but I strongly agree with this concept.

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

#769

Post by prions » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 8:50 PM UTC

frankish wrote: post #745

simias wrote: post #527

Reading these comments I feel like the root of the issue is the collapse of American democracy. It's a bit grandiloquent but that's definitely how it looks like. If workers trust that "We, the people" are still in charge on the big picture then it doesn't make sense to bring politics at work. Just vote. Now if you feel like your power as a citizen has dwindled and you can't meaningfully enact change through democrati…

This is why I'm frustrated with the idea that we need to enact change and policies at the federal level. The federal government should just exist to protect our liberties and organize national defense. Everything else should be organized more locally at the community level where voters actually have some skin in the game. It's the same idea as how modern agile companies run, small teams that work in the same environm…

> This is why I'm frustrated with the idea that we need to enact change and policies at the federal level. The federal government should just exist to protect our liberties and organize national defense. Everything else should be organized more locally at the community level where voters actually have some skin in the game.

You'd think that after months of "locally led" covid responses in the US that this naive take would somehow become less popular.

Whether small-government enthusiasts like it or not, the US is highly interconnected on almost every level. There are certain things that absolutely require federal responses. Things like pollution and viruses absolutely need to be handled from a nation wide perspective. How would healthcare work as a piecemeal implementation across local lines? Its almost as if "letting localities decide" is a nice way of ensuring something will fail without forcing it outright.

Your argument is implying that the federal government is somehow ineffective, but given the federally led improvements across the last century - from roads to environmental regulations, public health and even the internet just shows that you're either ignorant of intentionally dishonest.

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

#770

Post by matmann2001 » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 8:51 PM UTC

0df8dkdf wrote: post #767

>Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong released a blog post this week saying the exchange intends to keep activism and politics separate from its business. That is how it ought to be!!!!!! Activism and politics tends to divd people. Keep it out of work is a great thing! There is no point to talk about anything like activism or politics. Just do it!

Being able to keep work and politics separate is a privilege of a successfully-functioning democracy.