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

economist.com

181–190 of 1001 posts

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

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I haven’t really had any bad experiences discussing these issues in person, but when I read the dumpster fire known as Twitter it makes me not want to get involved

You’ll never have any issues as long as you stay between the lines, that’s the point.

Coming up with a poll question where any answer you give will be interpreted as support for the pollster's politics is an art. I totally believe that poll. A lot of those people probably wish they could express an ANTI-work opinion at work, but we'll never know how many because the poll was designed to not reveal exactly how popular or unpopular woke politics are.

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

#182
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Blind to race" claims often go along with smugly ignoring systemic racism in society and acting like it's a solved problem because a black man was elected President.

I think it’s possible to hold the following two views at the same time: - “systemic racism” is real and not 100% solved - of all the possible strategies to solve systemic racism, racializing all facets of everyday life, including emojis, may not be the most productive

I don't really see how that relates to my explaining the subtext of the 'blind to race' thing, though.

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

#183
post #21

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…

The office exists within society. Some things exist everywhere you go in society. You don't give up ethics and morals because you cross the threshold of your place of business. Ignoring social problems in the workplace because it is a workplace is how we avoid solving those problems as a society. The office is exactly where we should be advocating for things, because it is where we spend the most time and can affect…

The poster you’re responding to may know and agree with all this as well, and that could be why they hold the position they do: They may be opposed to society changing.

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

#184

What I learned recently is that a lot of the "woke" efforts in these large public companies are directed by boards who are answering to Wall St, who are answering to elites and politicians. It's no wonder none of the "wokism" feels so in-your-face instead of genuine and organic.

Who are “elites” in this case?

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

#185
post #21

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…

The office exists within society. Some things exist everywhere you go in society. You don't give up ethics and morals because you cross the threshold of your place of business. Ignoring social problems in the workplace because it is a workplace is how we avoid solving those problems as a society. The office is exactly where we should be advocating for things, because it is where we spend the most time and can affect…

I agree 100%! Constitutional rights are a great example, those don’t stop when you enter the workplace and need to be protected 24/7.

So no doubt you’ll be happy to sign my petition to further protect our 2nd amendment right to carry a concealed weapon at work! Yeah, right there, just sign. Oh you don’t support the constitution? When you said we should bring these fights to work you meant just the ones you support. Ohh....

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

#186
post #16

Why can’t we just let the market sort it out? Let the people who want to talk politics all day start, lead, and work at firms that encourage it. And those that don’t will do the same. It’s my same issue with socialists who want democratic control of companies. If it’s so obviously better, why not start one yourself? Or use government money to do so (socialists, after all). I just wish everyone would voluntarily assoc…

Indeed. That's why capitalism is strictly better than communism - communism can exist within capitalism. Simply buy the land, invite people, build houses, farms & factories, and have everyone sign contracts saying that they co-own everything.

The lack of such communities (large-scale) demonstrates that stealing from others is essential for establishing communism.

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

#187
As with anything, we need to ask ourselves how something can be used to attack political enemies and punish outsiders. The woke politics thing is dangerous, and I think organizations (like the CIA) will ultimately be the ones to wield this power against the people, even if they haven't fully mechanized it yet. That is because this isn't just "politics" as the article asserts. This is a form of ambiguous morality (one is expected to just know when something is wrong, and everyone is expected to agree) which requires the use of an oracle (CoC, D&I council, etc) that exists outside of the traditionally enumerable, rules-based systems based on the rule of law, except that it additionally can't be questioned or opted out of. This is the most ideal thing imagineable for people who want to weaponize the workplace to achieve their own ends. Proponents of this system, beware.

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

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an enormous supply of workers who don't want social and political issues in the workplace, but silently acquiesce because saying anything gets you branded negatively and quickly canceled. It doesn't matter if you agree but prefer keeping it out of the workplace; you must either support the woke brigade or keep your mouth shut.

You don’t think conservatives do exactly the same thing? Cancelling isn’t unique to the left nor something that just recently started.

> You don’t think conservatives do exactly the same thing? Cancelling isn’t unique to the left nor something that just recently started.

Yes, conservatives did the same thing during Mccarthyism, and it's widely accepted to have been a bad thing. A different group having made the same mistake in the past is a reason not to do it again, not an excuse to do more of it.

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

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think it was the benefits, rather than the we're-a-family, always on-call, live your work culture employers have been pushing?

I think it started with college campus activism 10-20 years ago. If you feel empowered to shut down the dean’s office to oust a professor, you’ll probably think the same techniques can be applied to your workplace. It certainly doesn’t help that your workplace strives to walk and quack like some kind of college campus.

Campus activism is much older than 10-20 years

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Philadelphia_student_demo...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_strike_of_1970

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University_protests_o...

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

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To some people (I am not one of them at all, but I understand the argument) any abortion is literally murder, and it as a sincerely held belief as the recent movements like BLM and #metoo were. This as well as other parts of your comment seem to imply that you believe the sincerity or intensity with which one holds a particular belief is one of the most important factors in the merits of that belief. I personally d…

I am very familiar with anti abortionist activists views due to my family. My mom marched with Operation Rescue during the infamous summer in Wichita that resulted in first a bombing, then eventually a murder done by shooting a doctor in the middle of a church service. There is a deep dishonesty in everything they say. They trot out the abortion is murder phrase constantly, but their behavior reveals that their actua…

Did you just paint an entire political belief based on your own personal experience?
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