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Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

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Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#81

People are human. But work is work. The canonical point of a workplace is to come together to fulfill the aims of the entrepreneurs. The personal aims of the workers are fulfilled best outside of work. Just stop to think about it logically for a minute... is the workplace the best place to circulate a petition condemning something that has nothing to do with work? The workplace necessarily is going to bring together…

In that same vein, shouldn't office dating/sexual pursuits be a no-no?

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#82
> Coinbase and Basecamp, which each lost 60 employees after their bosses changed the rules, have apparently been inundated with applications from people wanting to work for politics-free firms.

Basecamp had 57 employees at the time of their announcement. Are they down to -3?

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#83

> last week Alphabet, Google’s parent, had to deal with another internal petition circulating among employees, this one calling on the firm’s leadership to make a statement “recognising the violence in Palestine and Israel”. It's a special kind of hubris to believe that despite over a thousand years of conflict in the region, the right people to comprehensively understand and solve the problem are some people who mak…

Nobody is fighting over theological differences, they are fighting over land. Specifically, land that was conquered by the British who promised it to both parties, failed to manage a compromise, tossed the problem to the UN who drew up horrible borders, then allowed Israel to settle beyond those borders without consequence.

The entire history of this issue is roughly 100 years old and almost entirely due to imperialism and mismanagement, not some ancient bickering over who has the most correct supernatural beliefs. That’s a line we are taught to feel ok about ignoring the issue, which conveniently benefits Israel.

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#85

People are human. But work is work. The canonical point of a workplace is to come together to fulfill the aims of the entrepreneurs. The personal aims of the workers are fulfilled best outside of work. Just stop to think about it logically for a minute... is the workplace the best place to circulate a petition condemning something that has nothing to do with work? The workplace necessarily is going to bring together…

Unfortunately, in the never-ending struggle to force employees to conform to some platonic ideal of efficient production, companies have spent a lot of time and energy - not just in their own policy, but also in lobbying to the government and the public at large - trying to make work the center of the average American's life. Think of all the things you have to pass by your boss before making decisions about your own life: which doctor you go to, where you might live, when you might take time for yourself and your family.

So, this is the flipside. We're not like Germany or Sweden, where the means to simply exist are widely accessible outside of work, and where work ends when it ends, on the dot. Our companies spend millions and millions of dollars going over our heads to influence our legislative representatives, and seek ever greater and ever more direct influence on employees. You have to expect pushback. And political activism within companies, and pressure from employees for companies to be active in the way they desire, is the predictable - and, frankly, justifiable - form that that pushback takes.

Kick everyone out of the office at 5PM and you'll see a lot fewer people so invested in the political environment within and driven by their employers.

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#87
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The point of a workplace is to come together to fulfill the aims of the entrepreneurs. The personal aims of the workers are fulfilled best outside of work. What? I can’t be the only one who works directly in order to fulfill my needs (like literally my most basic needs, think food and shelter).

I was about to say, this is the most chilling HN sentence I’ve ever read. The totality of our existence from 8-5 is not owed to someone who profits from our labor and skills because they got lucky with some seed money or an inheritance a decade ago. That’s just the divine right of kings with extra steps.

This is the kind of insanely exaggerated catastrophizing I never want to debate in the workplace.

I have work to do!

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#88
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me it seemed less racist when we all had yellow hands. Then again I think poc is a silly term - non Europeans have completely different experiences and cultures from each other even within the US.

It's surely a firable offense, but part of me is so tempted to give a dark-skin-tone thumbs up in Slack as a white guy.

I've seen it happen - I'm just curious why? Don't think it's fireable or anything, just... weird.

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#89
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a PoC, I’ve also fielded those comments from white co-workers and it honestly feels like a contemporary version of being blind to race.

Can you expand on what do you mean as being blind to race? Do you want them to see your race, treat different races differently? Aren't we supposed to be a color-blind society? Maybe I am just not understanding what you mean.

I think on an individual level we should be “blind” to race but when it comes to solving some of the big problems of society we have to recognize the role that racism plays in those problems and

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#90
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of purposes. Why are you and I talking about the issue right now despite presumably having little influence over the outcome?

The grandparent was asking what those purposes are, not what amount of them there are.

And I offered one place to look for an answer: one’s own purposes for engaging in this very discussion.
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