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1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

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Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#301

Post by markdown »

gfodor wrote: post #292
gwelson wrote: post #252

The thing I hate about this line of thinking is the supposed "distractions" of being mission-focused are nearly all related simply to basic rights/dignities for marginalized groups. I don't think anyone is saying companies need to take a strong stance on every political issue, but merely saying "we as a company believe the lives of our Black employees matter" or "we as a company welcome and accept our LGBTQ+ employee…

You say you’re baffled but conclude the people you are baffled by are heartless. You’re not baffled: you have made up your mind.

They are heartless. What's baffling is what they gain from being so firmly against basic displays of outreach and acceptance between humans and groups of humans.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#302

Post by errantmind »

philosopher1234 wrote: post #284
jamiequint wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like their policy of discouraging wokes, who want to use their job as a cudgel for their own political views, from applying to their company is working.

What do you know about OP? What if OP is an extremely productive programmer who lives to build product and has a huge impact, but also cares about black people or LGBTQ+ people? So he's worthless to coinbase? Thats insane.

False dichotomy. You can have political opinions and simultaneously not feel the need to express them at work.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#303

Post by poszlem »

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #294
poszlem wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about we stick to "a company can do everything it wants as long as it is legal and people are free to go work at whichever company they want"? Why is that controversial? If you want to effect social change become a politician, do not try to turn your work place into a political party that has to react to every social fashion.

The problem with the argument that this is making a workplace a political party is what the fuck are you supposed to do if you’re transitioning at work? Now you’re fucking political, and all you want is for your boss to call you she/her and your health insurance to cover your hormones.

I don't think we should optimise workplaces for the smallest possible edge cases.

If you joined a bigoted company as a queer person and transitioned then you have to change your job, the same way if you join NPR and suddenly realise after spending too much time online that you are in fact right wing.

Work is a place where people go to earn money to do stuff they want after. It's not a place to get validation.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#304

Post by Jensson »

fancifulfiend wrote: post #272
refenestrator wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Noisy echo chambers are uninclusive to anyone who doesn't hold that precise political viewpoint. We both know that the program goes way beyond "black people shouldn't be indiscriminately shot", its driven by people who are addicted to social media and perpetually pushing for another rush of outrage. I'd prefer not to be around that, personally.

It seems like Brian Armstrong is the only person using social media to push for fabricated outrage. Anyone complaining about “wokeness” is talking about an issue that only exists in the minds of true bigots. It’s a boogeyman that they use to punch down. No one is forcing Armstrong to say stupid shit constantly.

Even Google fires woke bigots now and then, so it is certainly a real issue.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#305

Post by downWidOutaFite »

EastSmith wrote: post #293

PG's note on the thread is very interesting: https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1445305326820020227

I didn't find that interesting. "Twitter opinion" is a laughable stereotype. Is the idea that the right-wing "red pilled" don't form online mobs?

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#306

Post by SamoyedFurFluff »

tomp wrote: post #240
afavour wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point is that positions like Brian's require there to be a clear and bright line between "political" and "not political". I think it's at least slightly easier to draw that line in European workplaces where the nature of employment is not as politically fraught. Just to take two of your examples: feminism and trans rights. Both have healthcare implications. Your employer controls your healthcare. Should the health…

Why should any insurance cover elective procedures? You could also add things like beauty surgeries, hair transplant, lasik surgeries etc. (I know that EU insurances often cover birth control, but I think that's mostly because it's a drug prescribed by a doctor so it fits into the framework... I don't think it should cover birth control (except maybe for young people before they start working) - that's not insurance…

Birth control is prescribed by a doctor for a wide variety of things, including chronic health conditions. If you think insurance shouldn’t cover birth control because it’s consistent, do diabetics also not deserve to have insulin covered, or high blood pressure people their statins?

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#307

Post by philwelch »

boc wrote: post #138
adamgordonbell wrote: post #55

Brian Armstrong was on Tyler Cowen and Tyler asked him if bitcoin was a zero sum game, in a round about way: COWEN: I’ve seen estimates that about 20 percent of bitcoin has been lost, or people don’t have their passwords, or it’s somehow abandoned or whatever. Let’s say that 20 percent were found. Those people would be better off, right? They’d have more wealth. Who is then worse off? ARMSTRONG: Yes, I suppose you ha…

It's hard to find a serious economist who doesn't see major flaws with bitcoin. It's because bitcoin was designed by engineers, not economists. Bitcoin could only have been created by engineers - it misses a few fundamental tests of currency that any practicing economist would have "fixed" during the design phase. So we are left with bitcoin, which looks silly to most experts but is basically a religion to those who…

Well, it's too bad Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency in existence and that nobody will ever invent a better one.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#308

Post by tuesdayrain »

gwelson wrote: post #252

The thing I hate about this line of thinking is the supposed "distractions" of being mission-focused are nearly all related simply to basic rights/dignities for marginalized groups. I don't think anyone is saying companies need to take a strong stance on every political issue, but merely saying "we as a company believe the lives of our Black employees matter" or "we as a company welcome and accept our LGBTQ+ employee…

It's disingenuous to pretend like "black lives matter" is merely a phrase that any decent person should agree to without question. BLM is a political group with a radical left-leaning agenda that encompasses much more than just "don't kill black people randomly" as you suggest. Discussing these things in the workplace inevitably leads to the accusation that if you don't support BLM, you must not think black lives matter. It's a very cheap tactic, akin to saying that you're not a patriot if you don't support the PATRIOT act.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#309

Post by markdown »

poszlem wrote: post #254
gwelson wrote: post #252

The thing I hate about this line of thinking is the supposed "distractions" of being mission-focused are nearly all related simply to basic rights/dignities for marginalized groups. I don't think anyone is saying companies need to take a strong stance on every political issue, but merely saying "we as a company believe the lives of our Black employees matter" or "we as a company welcome and accept our LGBTQ+ employee…

There is a difference between people/companies that believe that lives of black people matter and those that claim that BLACKLIVESMATTER. There is a difference between people/companies that believe that women need to have the same rights as men and those that claim to be feminists. There is a difference between people/companies that believe that gays/lesbians are normal people and those who put rainbows everywhere.

Nah, that's what the far right propaganda machine has tried to tell you. You're told to believe that Group X is bad, and when you find that you actually believe in the core tenet of Group X, you have trouble reconciling that.

You want black lives matter supporters who don't actually fight for change. You want people who believe that women need to have the same rights to do nothing about their beliefs, and you want people who believe that gays and lesbians "are normal people" to keep believing that in secret.

In short, you love the status quo, and you're scared that giving marginalised groups a better shake might take away some of what you have.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#310

Post by readme »

Jensson wrote: post #279
mrRandomGuy wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This just in, people who also happen to work are not mindless automatons. People like working at places that seem to align with their own personal views. It's baffling to me that people believe I should turn off my brain when I'm at work.

You are free to work at companies where you can impose your political views on those arounds you. However people who don't want to work with you are free to go work for companies that doesn't let people like you do that, like Coinbase.

spot on

imagine a world where a company can just be a company

it would be like a safe space for businesses

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