SpaceX said to fire employees involved in letter rebuking Elon Musk

Post by scollet » Sun, Jun 19, 2022, 9:11 AM UTC

Etheryte wrote: post #823

uncomputation wrote: post #810

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is pretty hypocritical though for Mr. Free Speech to fire people who have concerns rather than address those concerns in a civil dialogue. Musk likes to whinge about “censorship” amounting to banning a Twitter account but seems perfectly okay firing someone and removing their livelihood for speaking critically of him. Also retaliation is very much still illegal, not that it matters.

Freedom of speech does not mean being free of consequences. Much like you're free to offend, the other side is free to be offended and employment goes both ways. Firing someone because they fundamentally disagree on how the company should be run is not censorship, it's keeping only people who align with the direction you're headed.

Post by scollet » Sun, Jun 19, 2022, 9:14 AM UTC

phailhaus wrote: post #336

axg11 wrote: post #110

This is a very predictable consequence of criticizing your employer via a public letter. Criticize internally all you want, and influence the changes that you want to see happen. Employment is a two-way relationship. If you don't like your employer, you are free to leave. If they don't like you, they are free to fire you (within legal bounds). Publishing an openly critical letter and signing it is a quick way to get…

Everybody knows that he's within his rights to fire them. It just throws cold water on all his grandstanding about being a "free speech absolutist". EDIT: Everyone telling me that company employees are different from Twitter are missing the point. We know that. But he clearly doesn't care about free speech "absolutely" when he throws a fit that his employees are criticizing him.

Post by scollet » Sun, Jun 19, 2022, 9:19 AM UTC

andreilys wrote: post #197

user_named wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They critized Musk, factually. Musk is not their employer, SpaceX is, but you just proved their point since you believe Musk and SpaceX are one and the same.

Elon owns 54% of the outstanding stock of SpaceX and has voting control of 78% of the outstanding stock of SpaceX [1] So yes, for all intent purposes he is their employer. [1] https://www.quora.com/What-percentage-of-SpaceX-does-Elon-Mu...

Post by pvaldes » Sun, Jun 19, 2022, 9:20 AM UTC

cratermoon wrote: post #570

memish wrote: post #556

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SpaceX is the most ambitious company on Earth, working toward the goal of making humans a multi-planetary species. Their orders are to get to Mars. Employees that are bikeshedding, sowing internal discord, engaging in mutiny, are not working toward the goal and in fact actively hindering it. That's all the reason needed to prune them from the otherwise focused and ambitious team.

But Elon's hyperbolic tweets and offensive behavior don't actively hinder getting to Mars? I mean, he's the guy running the company, you'd think what he says and does would have a lot more influence over the success or failure of the company's goals.

Post by scollet » Sun, Jun 19, 2022, 9:22 AM UTC

commandlinefan wrote: post #647

axg11 wrote: post #110

This is a very predictable consequence of criticizing your employer via a public letter. Criticize internally all you want, and influence the changes that you want to see happen. Employment is a two-way relationship. If you don't like your employer, you are free to leave. If they don't like you, they are free to fire you (within legal bounds). Publishing an openly critical letter and signing it is a quick way to get…

> Criticize internally all you want Tell that to James Damore.