Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

561–570 of 1001 posts

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

#561

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

narrator wrote: post #549
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are some types of felons that probably don't get hired as managers after release, no matter how long it's been since their crime. For exactly the reason we're discussing. Who in their right mind would put a man who had been convicted of rape in charge of women? How much potential liability would the company be taking on if he were to happen to harm one of his reports? It would be astronomical. Who would…

What if it was assault and battery or grand theft? Wouldn't someone feel justified that they were going to be punched in the face or have their phone stolen while around the person thus creating a hostile work environment? In this case, it was something someone said outside of work which is a whole other level of paranoia.

Probably depends on the situation. Felony assault is serious business. It's normally not just a punch in the face. If someone committed a felony assault against a coworker while on the job, I expect it would be hard for them to get hired anywhere ever again. If it was against, say, a parent, or someone who was a rival in a love triangle, then perhaps . . . although probably never in a role like bouncer or security guard.

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

#562

Post by sigstoat »

jfengel wrote: post #400
ThinkBeat wrote: post #371

One part of the article: This is about a guy who wrote a book on his own time, published it outside of work. Someone did not like some parts of the book and the guy had to quit his job? There is nothing to suggest the man acted improperly at work. I write fictional stories in my spare time (never at work), I enjoy doing it. Some people enjoy reading them (I can't figure out why) It is a sad day for a Democracy when I…

If only he had a union. But the "right to work" is the right to be fired for any reason or none.

if he, and those demanding his firing were all members of the same union, how vigorously do you think it would defend him?

would they not just move their campaign to having him ejected from the union?

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

#563

Post by jlawson »

sudosysgen wrote: post #550
steverb wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your labor and skills are not owed because they got lucky, they are owed because that is what you are exchanging with the owner for money. They may tolerate (and even enjoy) your personal quirks and causes, but they are paying you to get things done that they don't have the time or skill to do themselves. [Edit: Accidentally left ou a letter]

"Your labour and are not owed because they got lucky, they are owed because that is what you are exchanging with the lord for the privilege to work this land" "Your labour and skills are not owed because they got lucky, they are owed because that is what you are exchanging with the owner to pay back your debt and earn your freedom" You can use that logic to justify any oppression as long as you frame it in the langua…

In both your examples the person laboring is forced to labor for one specific lord/owner.

In our economy, you can go work for anyone, or for yourself, or to some degree even not work at all and collect various social benefits.

Comparing programmers in 2021 to medieval serfs or ancient debt-slaves is literally absurd.

Programmers don't even really need any substantial capital to do their own thing. You can start a business with a laptop costing under $1,000.

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

#564

Post by [deleted] »

mtalantikite wrote: post #463
ramblerman wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> claiming sexist views This is a pretty vague statement especially as OP mentioned fiction. Not some book espousing his political views. You can pick most of the great authors and find a character or scene that was obscene, but it would be unfair to cherry pick 2-3 sentences, post them on twitter and pretend this represented them.

> This is a pretty vague statement especially as OP mentioned fiction. Not some book espousing his political views. The book in question is a memoir by Antonio Garcia Martinez from what I’ve read. While there’s an argument to be made that even memoir and non-fiction are in a way fiction, this wasn’t an outright work of fiction. It contained misogynistic statements you’d expect to be true to how the author thinks beca…

[deleted]

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

#565

Post by vishnugupta »

eric4smith wrote: post #7

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…

Humans being humans can’t compartmentalze and seamlessly switch back and forth between work mode and non-work mode. Besides, they spend the best 8-9 hrs of their creative period of the day at work so the happenings of outside world will be subconsciously analyzed at work.

If a black kid has been killed by a cop the previous night the injustice of it all will linger on for a few days whether at work or outside of it.

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

#567

Post by fighterpilot »

rogers18445 wrote: post #441
jmull wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get it. What's the insight here?

How often does a single vote decide an election? Never? Therefore your optimal move is not to waste your time voting - you gain nothing. If everyone thought that way it would be bad perhaps? But they don't so it doesn't matter to you. It might be argued discussing politics contributes to some emergent consensus forming that benefits society, but that consensus will form whether you participate or not and in exactly t…

As you point out, it makes no rational sense to vote, the personal effort isn't worth increasing the probability that your preferred candidate will win by epsilon. Not only is the expected benefit small, but that benefit is all socialized.

People vote either out of sheer ignorance/unthinking of this reality, or because it makes them feel emotionally good (a sense of duty to society, entitlement to virtue signal at dinner parties, or whatever). I'm not complaining, if people want to provide an uncompensated service to society, that's great.

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

#568

Post by sudosysgen »

jlawson wrote: post #563
sudosysgen wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Your labour and are not owed because they got lucky, they are owed because that is what you are exchanging with the lord for the privilege to work this land" "Your labour and skills are not owed because they got lucky, they are owed because that is what you are exchanging with the owner to pay back your debt and earn your freedom" You can use that logic to justify any oppression as long as you frame it in the langua…

In both your examples the person laboring is forced to labor for one specific lord/owner. In our economy, you can go work for anyone, or for yourself, or to some degree even not work at all and collect various social benefits. Comparing programmers in 2021 to medieval serfs or ancient debt-slaves is literally absurd. Programmers don't even really need any substantial capital to do their own thing. You can start a bus…

No, it's not. Serfs in a lot of Europe had the possibility to change their lords. Either by asking another lord to buy them, or by leaving to a city or to another lord's land without being taken back for a year, in the example of England.

The capital for a programmer's startup is not the laptop, its the intellectual property. That costs way more than a 1000$, typically the equivalent of at least a few tens of thousands of dollars in IP. But beyond that programmers are very far from the average.

The average person in the 2021 worldwide economy cannot live off social benefits on a whim.

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

#569

Post by throway98752343 »

nradov wrote: post #454
GeneralMayhem wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a really disingenuous false equivalency. First, you're implying that all opinions are equally valid. That is... I'll be polite and simply call it nonsense. "Gay people should have rights" and "gay people shouldn't have rights" are not opinions of equal value, and it's not "eating your cake and having it too" to say that the latter opinion is unwelcome. Second, there's a very clear relationship between the "le…

Your opinion is not valid. Guns aren't necessarily political. Should I refrain from asking work colleagues who they think is likely to medal in the 2021 Olympics women's skeet shooting event?

Imagine your coworker talks all the time about how they love guns, how many guns they have, and how good they are at shooting. Then they talk about how they have a concealed carry permit and how it's even legal in your area for them to carry guns at work. And one time after a few happy hour beers they said that their ancestors used to shoot people like you. But not you obviously, you're a great coworker, they like you.

No direct threat. Not political. Still creepy as hell.

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

#570

Post by scoopertrooper »

spoonjim wrote: post #545
randoramax wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ex-Felons have paid their debt to society, or at least get should be considered as such. And still, it's harder for them to get jobs.

They absolutely have not “paid their debt to society” unless they can undo the felony. You can’t pay back the debt of raping someone or stabbing them or killing them. Even if they let you out of jail.

Even accepting your logic, not every felony involves stabbing or rape.

Excluding all felons from future employment would be a great way to create more crime.

Post reply on HN