A religious sect landed Google in a lawsuit • Hacker News Board

Re: A religious sect landed Google in a lawsuit

#241

Post by chasd00 » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 10:00 PM UTC

txru wrote: post #203

binbag wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way are cults common in tech?

I believe the parent is referring more to referral/promo networks. For a positive example, I knew one of my senior managers basically brought 15 people from his previous company, to the point where a comfortable majority of people under him were from the company. This can be nefarious when the network arises from abusive or unhealthy environments.

this happens a lot in consulting. Someone in leadership leaves for another firm and is tasked to start building. Then they call up all their old aces and bring them over fleshing out Sr positions and then the new guys fill in with their aces and so on. It's a small world in some ways.

Re: A religious sect landed Google in a lawsuit

#242

Post by whimsicalism » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 10:00 PM UTC

throwaway29303 wrote: post #232

I had recently joined the Alphabet Workers Union, the union of now almost 1,000 workers across all Alphabet companies, including Google. I told them my story and they advised that I get a lawyer. Wait, Unions in the USA don't have a legal office to help workers with this kind of legal problems? Or is this specific to AWU?

Specific to AWU, I'd imagine - as it's not a "real union"

Re: A religious sect landed Google in a lawsuit

#243

Post by behringer » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 10:03 PM UTC

scyzoryk_xyz wrote: post #172

So this is a video production department, which is kind of amazing when you think about it. The aesthetic of the modern corporate/tech video is cultish in character and it would make sense that these people know how to do this. And then it’s also interesting because one could assume that these people could do so because the actual engineers in Alphabet probably aren’t all that focused or interacting with this video t…

This explains so much about google

Re: A religious sect landed Google in a lawsuit

#244

Post by monkeybutton » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 10:04 PM UTC

djcannabiz wrote: post #224

monkeybutton wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There once was a professor doing research on cults who sent out his grad students to secretly embed themselves in various cults and report on them. Not all of them came back.. And now we get learn about why that was a bad idea in the ethics portion of psychology classes! Yay!

Do you know when/where this happened? Im not doubting you Im just very curious.

The US and any time before the 2000s. Sorry I can't be of more help than that. It was only a brief but very memorable mention in a lecture many years ago. I did just try searching for it online but there is a ton of cult related content online. More than I ever imagined. Also it's not like the researchers were exposed and murdered dramatically, rather that some just ended up joining and staying with the cults.

Re: A religious sect landed Google in a lawsuit

#245

Post by wardedVibe » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 10:05 PM UTC

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #175

scyzoryk_xyz wrote: post #172

So this is a video production department, which is kind of amazing when you think about it. The aesthetic of the modern corporate/tech video is cultish in character and it would make sense that these people know how to do this. And then it’s also interesting because one could assume that these people could do so because the actual engineers in Alphabet probably aren’t all that focused or interacting with this video t…

> they didn’t cover their tracks very well anyways ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I mean they actually told him where they were from (geographically, if not organizationally), so clearly they didn't consider it something that needed to be secret. Which is interesting, because it gives us insight into their way of thinking [1]. They clearly don't consider themselves to be in any way toxic like the author thinks they are. Cults are interes…

Jesus Christ dude, they're led by a man who routinely sexually assaults people. Being permissive about that is pretty damning. Kooky beliefs are one thing, but cults combine those with oppressive social structures. It's not that hard unless you're stuck in the middle of one with all it's filtering.

Re: A religious sect landed Google in a lawsuit

#246

Post by SpicyLemonZest » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 10:05 PM UTC

mike00632 wrote: post #222

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Business Insider article is I think a clear demonstration of what concerns me about this kind of analysis. The author seems to see strict secularism as the only "normal" way to run a business, declining to recognize a distinction between businesses owned by a religion and businesses whose owners happen to be devout followers of a religion. When simply printing the text "John 3:16" on the bottom of your soda cups…

Bible verses on cups is one thing but Hobby lobby went to court to avoid paying women's insurance. Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays and fights for the right to discriminate against groups it marginalizes for religious reasons. These practices are bad for profit, bad for customers, bad for society, and only good for the religious leaders who take from the earnings without even being a part of the business.

It's also good for religious followers! This is really the lack of understanding I'm getting at. Many religious people genuinely believe that following their religion is more important than profit or customers and inherently good for society.

I'm not saying you have to agree with our beliefs, of course, but it's not right to think of religion affecting the secular world as some kind of weird practice that has to be explained by corrupt leaders. Most religions and basically all Christian churches teach that you should consider religious factors in your business and personal lives.

Re: A religious sect landed Google in a lawsuit

#247

Post by behringer » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 10:06 PM UTC

7952 wrote: post #182

scyzoryk_xyz wrote: post #172

So this is a video production department, which is kind of amazing when you think about it. The aesthetic of the modern corporate/tech video is cultish in character and it would make sense that these people know how to do this. And then it’s also interesting because one could assume that these people could do so because the actual engineers in Alphabet probably aren’t all that focused or interacting with this video t…

Obviously it is wrong to influence hiring/firing or purchasing decisions. But do you think there are grounds for removing cults in a general sense from a company? Surely it is an aspect of people private lives in the same way that religion is.

Nepotism and special vendor contracts are most definitely negatives to google business. On top of that they're losing access to good talent.

Re: A religious sect landed Google in a lawsuit

#248

Post by wardedVibe » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 10:07 PM UTC

jancsika wrote: post #238

aerovistae wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what this comment was meant to clarify - the article already made this clear. If anything, your comment's reference to parents adds confusion rather than clarification.

There are commenters below going on about tech cliques and the 80s D&D scare. This ain't that.

Almost like they didn't read the article... They're very clear about the allegations

Re: A religious sect landed Google in a lawsuit

#249

Post by lofatdairy » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 10:11 PM UTC

behringer wrote: post #243

scyzoryk_xyz wrote: post #172

So this is a video production department, which is kind of amazing when you think about it. The aesthetic of the modern corporate/tech video is cultish in character and it would make sense that these people know how to do this. And then it’s also interesting because one could assume that these people could do so because the actual engineers in Alphabet probably aren’t all that focused or interacting with this video t…

This explains so much about google

Not really... I love to bash Google as much as anyone but a religious cult within a department within a massive corporation doesn't really mean much about the company as a whole. Especially when you could pretty clearly see the difference between cult's teachings and the public stances for women's rights and for same-sex marriages that many Google employees have taken.

Re: A religious sect landed Google in a lawsuit

#250

Post by LZ_Khan » Thu, Jun 16, 2022, 10:14 PM UTC

rendall wrote: post #210

Not really sure what the big deal is. Did the cult hurt this fellow? Abuse him? Discriminate against him? Mob him? No. The article really just talks about his own disapproval of the cult. It wasn't his business what these people got up to, frankly.

Did you read the article? They're funneling company funds into the cult. It's literally embezzlement.