A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company • Hacker News Board

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#331

Post by int_19h » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 9:32 PM UTC

yeetawayhn wrote: post #277

yokaze wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see it the other way around. (Almost) everything is political. The mission of the company is not disjoint from the society it is embedded in. Things have become divisive by being able to ignore and blend out the opposing views. By not talking and listening to one another. This is just one more step in that direction. Funnily enough, I think it has been extrapolated by Neal Stephenson in Diamond Age. We will end up…

If everything is political, then nothing is.

One's preferred flavor of ice cream is apolitical. But anything that involves more than one person, and actual or potential conflicts between people, is political. Status quo, as a whole, is political.

And that constitutes a much larger part of our lives than is traditionally acknowledged. Which is itself, also, a political matter, because designating a subset of actual politics as "officially politics", and then marginalizing that subset, is one way to slow down further political developments in that department.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#332

Post by curclerobber » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 9:33 PM UTC

This began over something that doesn't feel "political" to me. For me, and perhaps many others, BLM is primarily about injustice. Is taking a stand against injustice political?

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#333

Post by Pils » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 9:33 PM UTC

throwaway894345 wrote: post #307

Pils wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

one inconsistency is that Coinbase is based in SF. Would you consider "sorry, I didn't get a lot of sleep due to police sound grenades going off until 3am" a political statement?

> one inconsistency is that Coinbase is based in SF That's not an inconsistency. > Would you consider "sorry, I didn't get a lot of sleep due to police sound grenades going off until 3am" a political statement? No, of course not.

> > Would you consider "sorry, I didn't get a lot of sleep due to police sound grenades going off until 3am" a political statement?

> No, of course not.

Awesome. So it follows that you would have no issue then with a coworker stating: "Police activity in SF has negatively impacted my ability to do work". Congratulations, you have a significantly broader definition of acceptable workplace speech than Coinbase.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#334

Post by ccktlmazeltov » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 9:34 PM UTC

The problem is that companies can have huge impact in the US due to a lack of effective regulations + legal corruption (lobbies). Large companies are pretty much the source of many executive decisions. Without that power, an employee should be able to just join or not join a company based on what the company is doing (ethically moral or not).

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#335

Post by tuna-piano » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 9:40 PM UTC

mtalantikite wrote: post #235

thedevil wrote: post #11

One thought: If you see a resume with Coinbase until October 2020, that's probably someone who prefers political activism in the workplace. That might be seen in a positive or negative light, depending on your stance. I personally am afraid to associate myself too publicly with a political stance, lest I be wrong and/or the environment changes.

“I personally am afraid to associate myself too publicly with a political stance, lest I be wrong and/or the environment changes.” I can understand this fear, but generally if you choose a stance based on compassion for all beings you’ll be in the right in the long run. This particular issue was sparked by Coinbase not taking a stance on Black Lives Matter, which they are wrong about. Standing for dismantling racism…

Funny, I don't see anyone complaining that Fruit Gushers hasn't taken a stand on child pornography?

I will disagree somewhat with the people who say that companies never have a place for political stuff. If you are any company involved in South Africa during apartheid you should choose a side on apartheid and voice that position.

If BLM means just the simple definition of what the words imply (that black lives matter), there's no point in saying it. Because there's literally no one on the other side. I suspect that's not what it means, because saying a broader statement "All Lives Matter" seems to be considered a kind of slur.

So "Black Lives Matter" means something deeper. More like "Black people are killed indiscriminately by police in this country. The cops get away with it, and it's a huge problem." That is full of assumptions and political beliefs that reasonable people can disagree about. And I don't see why every company should take a side on that issue.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#336

Post by titanomachy » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 9:40 PM UTC

yokaze wrote: post #188

redm wrote: post #82

I feel like this is the start of a rising tide. I think Brian's stance is great, companies have missions, they should focus on those missions. Everything has become so political that your work, which occupies a large portion of your life, should not be divisive.

I see it the other way around. (Almost) everything is political. The mission of the company is not disjoint from the society it is embedded in. Things have become divisive by being able to ignore and blend out the opposing views. By not talking and listening to one another. This is just one more step in that direction. Funnily enough, I think it has been extrapolated by Neal Stephenson in Diamond Age. We will end up…

I think the relevant distinction that Brian makes is not "political vs not-political" but "relevant or not relevant to the business". It seems they are comfortable engaging on political issues that are directly related to what they are doing. For example, affirmative action is arguably a political topic, but it would be on the table for discussion at Coinbase because it's relevant to how they hire.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#337

Post by colinmhayes » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 9:42 PM UTC

dlivingston wrote: post #200

lazyasciiart wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indifference to politics is a political view.

No, it is not. Politics apathy is present across all races, all classes, all genders. Those who are politically possessed like to claim that “everything is politics” and that “it’s a privilege to not care about politics”, but every Hispanic and Filipino immigrant I’ve known (which is not a negligible number) care about family, hard work, and stability: not politics.

I don't see how this refutes anything. Plenty of people from all races, classes, and genders make the political decision to avoid politics.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#338

Post by titanomachy » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 9:43 PM UTC

TedShiller wrote: post #266

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #46

I am beyond sick of political activists in the workplace, so I hope this trend catches on.

Agreed. I think there are only two options for a company: 1) don't allow any activism in the company 2) allow ALL types of activism in the company Right now, it seems most companies only allow liberal activism but not conservative activism. This is a recipe for problems because it's arbitrary and not democratic.

Do companies have an obligation to be democratic? Are democratic companies common?

Protected classes aside, if I start a company I can choose to hire or exclude whomever I choose. I could start a company that only hires registered Republicans, or only people who can't stand the taste of bananas. If this turns out to be a bad business decision (which it probably is), the market will punish me and I'll eventually lose to smarter competitors. Right?

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#339

Post by DevKoala » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 9:44 PM UTC

> It was reassuring to see that people from under-represented groups at Coinbase have not taken the exit package in numbers disproportionate to the overall population.

I figured as much. Coinbase sounds like a great place to work if this works out.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#340

Post by knorker » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 9:46 PM UTC

bcrosby95 wrote: post #329

throwaway894345 wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think the parent meant that (almost) every endeavor will have some element of politics in it This is textbook pedantry. Obviously "don't discuss politics in the workplace" means "don't discuss divisive topics, especially when they're not particularly relevant to your work". Of course everything is "technically political", but that's not how anyone uses "political" except when they're trying to argue in bad faith…

Gay marriage is a divisive topic in the USA. A gay man talking about his wedding around the water cooler is political. A straight man talking about his wedding around the water cooler is not political. The only non-political choice is not allowing either to occur. Because if you allow both, that is a political statement. If you only allow one, that is too. The funny thing about politics is: a company doesn't get to c…

> A gay man talking about his wedding around the water cooler is political

Not like "we need to put gay marriage banners on our home page" is political.

I really think people should start respecting the difference.

> All it takes is one person to strongly hold a belief in the office to make it political.

No. It requires them to act on it. To engage in political activity.

It's not political to be a communist at work. It's political to use this belief to steer how the job is done or how the company should perform its mission, or indeed to try to change its mission.