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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

#331

Post by Zababa »

notafraudster wrote: post #247
emsy wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least they would be rowing, but political activism is not work. Imagine going to the barber and instead of cutting your hair he would lecture you on the hardship of Guatemalan shepherds.

Barbers famously talk about politics while cutting your hair. This is like a quintessential part of barber shop culture. Barbers that don't talk about partisan politics normally talk about some parapolitical thing, like cultural gripes, or sports, or other things that have a pretty similar valence. I've had my hair cut in like 5 different countries by dozens of different barbers who speak different languages, come fr…

> Barbers famously talk about politics while cutting your hair. This is like a quintessential part of barber shop culture. Barbers that don't talk about partisan politics normally talk about some parapolitical thing, like cultural gripes, or sports, or other things that have a pretty similar valence.

That's not my experience at all with barbers. All they've ever talked about are topics that are considered safe for smalltalk, such as "what do you do for a living?". Of course this doesn't invalidate your experience, but I think your point about "quitessential part of the barber shop" may not be as universal as you think.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#332

Post by DoreenMichele »

imgabe wrote: post #328
DoreenMichele wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Marginalized peoples are often not threatened overtly. They often cannot prove their case to the satisfaction of the not marginalized. For some groups, calling the police is the last thing they would do.

If you can’t prove something, there’s a strong possibility it’s not real. There’s a reason that we require proof when you accuse someone of wrongdoing.

That's one possibility. Sure.

The fact that you feel comfortable stating it and implicitly dismissing the very real concerns of marginalized peoples is both part of the problem and ironic evidence that for some people it's not only useless to complain, it's actively counterproductive and will draw attacks against them.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#333

Post by wbl »

gorwell wrote: post #32

Every company that continues to let itself get embroiled in Twitter's Political Topic of the Week is at such a distinct disadvantage it will ultimately fail. It's inevitable if you extrapolate. They won't survive the evolutionary process and will get selected out, only earning themselves a Darwin Award. Imagine a rowing team where half the team rows in one direction and the other half rows another direction. They nev…

And if my boss isn't giving me Yom Kippur off but the company is closed Christmas how does that work?

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#334

Post by SamoyedFurFluff »

Jensson wrote: post #329
SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Lets say that coinbase said "We are fully political at work, we expect all of you to have conservative views!". Would that make you happier than their current apolitical stance?

I think this is a straw man that doesn’t actually address my question. What do you do in an apolitical workplace and you’re going to engage in controversial medical intervention to align your body with your believed gender?

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#335

Post by Jensson »

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #326
poszlem wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That doesn’t answer my question of what happens if someone transitions in a workplace. How do you do that non-politically? Dismissing the edge cases of marginalized people is kind of like… of course they’re edge cases. Marginalized people are edge cases by definition.

> That doesn’t answer my question of what happens if someone transitions in a workplace. How do you do that non-politically?

It is simple, you transition, you tell people you want to go by the other name now. If people say it wrong you remind them but don't get angry. If they harass it for it there are laws against harassment, bringing up harassment isn't political. You can discuss the medical benefits with your manager or HR, but don't have to try to make a political campaign about it.

If people makes a fuzz over those things then they are political and you can report them to whoever is in charge that they are bringing politics to work and causing problems. If they truly are against politics at work they will take your side and tell those people to stop.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#336

Post by Zababa »

throw_m239339 wrote: post #267
chroem- wrote: post #37

The amount of frothing vitriol in this thread makes it clear that Armstrong made the correct choice. Public discourse in the Bay Area has become completely toxic.

> The amount of frothing vitriol in this thread makes it clear that Armstrong made the correct choice. Public discourse in the Bay Area has become completely toxic. He was correct, so was Shopify, so was Basecamp and all these businesses that told their employees to leave their partisan politics and social justice concerns at the door. I'm not sure what HN has turned into but the litany of disingenuous comments from…

> I'm also amused about the the people claiming that all these companies "are bleeding talent". No, a lot of us here just want to write programs or manage teams or products, nothing more. Certainly not be involved in any social justice activity.

It's not even only about politics. I like being able to go to a place, work, chat a bit about superficial things with my collegues and go back home. I don't need to expose my whole self and soul when I go to work, and in fact I prefer not to. Some people are not like me, and feel the opposite. Great! I just want places to exist for both of us.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#337

Post by alpha_squared »

beaned wrote: post #276
notafraudster wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Barbers famously talk about politics while cutting your hair. This is like a quintessential part of barber shop culture. Barbers that don't talk about partisan politics normally talk about some parapolitical thing, like cultural gripes, or sports, or other things that have a pretty similar valence. I've had my hair cut in like 5 different countries by dozens of different barbers who speak different languages, come fr…

Dunno what barbers you go to, I've been to a lot across many states and talking partisan politics has never been a common theme among them. I can't remember the last haircut that did involve political talking, it seems mostly avoided. Maybe it's more common outside the US?

This definitely happens in the US. Grandparent comment is right, eventually there are topics discussed that are political, though may not necessarily be partisan. However, it'd be hard to see that if your definition of political necessitates partisanship.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#338

Post by imgabe »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #332
imgabe wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can’t prove something, there’s a strong possibility it’s not real. There’s a reason that we require proof when you accuse someone of wrongdoing.

That's one possibility. Sure. The fact that you feel comfortable stating it and implicitly dismissing the very real concerns of marginalized peoples is both part of the problem and ironic evidence that for some people it's not only useless to complain, it's actively counterproductive and will draw attacks against them.

I’m all for addressing concerns. But how is anyone supposed to address a concern like “there are vague imperceptible threats to my existence all around me which I can neither articulate nor provide evidence of”? What, exactly, are you proposing Coinbase or any or company should do, specifically?

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#339

Post by rsj_hn »

wbl wrote: post #333
gorwell wrote: post #32

Every company that continues to let itself get embroiled in Twitter's Political Topic of the Week is at such a distinct disadvantage it will ultimately fail. It's inevitable if you extrapolate. They won't survive the evolutionary process and will get selected out, only earning themselves a Darwin Award. Imagine a rowing team where half the team rows in one direction and the other half rows another direction. They nev…

And if my boss isn't giving me Yom Kippur off but the company is closed Christmas how does that work?

You ask for a day off for religious reasons so you can observe Yom Kippur.

That there is no company-wide shutdown for a holiday observed by 2% of the population is not some great injustice that requires waging a culture war in the office to remedy.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#340

Post by DoreenMichele »

imgabe wrote: post #338
DoreenMichele wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's one possibility. Sure. The fact that you feel comfortable stating it and implicitly dismissing the very real concerns of marginalized peoples is both part of the problem and ironic evidence that for some people it's not only useless to complain, it's actively counterproductive and will draw attacks against them.

I’m all for addressing concerns. But how is anyone supposed to address a concern like “there are vague imperceptible threats to my existence all around me which I can neither articulate nor provide evidence of”? What, exactly, are you proposing Coinbase or any or company should do, specifically?

People are often well aware of what's going on and they dismiss it if you try to complain.

And I wasn't talking about Coinbase. I was just backing up a random internet stranger's observation that "it must be nice... etc."

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