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Google fires more workers after CEO says workplace isn’t for politics

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Re: Google fires more workers after CEO says workplace isn’t for politics

#51
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Are you not aware of the Nakba or Israel using banned weapons on civilians for decades? I'm not saying hamas' actions are justified but there is no side in this conflict that can confidently claim moral superiority.

As I said elsewhere, morality is a social construct. Survival is a biological instinct.

Re: Google fires more workers after CEO says workplace isn’t for politics

#52
post #30
post #5

Sure, if all it takes is raising a rainbow flag on top of the building and some words of the CEO they are all for it. But as soon as Google's bottom line is involved they behave pretty predictable.

I hope I'm not considered a troll for asking this question; I will ask on my main account and hopefully people will check my comment history to understand I am not intending to be belligerent or intentionally dumb. But why is it that rainbow flags (pride, et al) are considered the pro-Palestinian side in the conflict. I might be old but I distinctly remember a humanitarian outcry in the 00's because Palestinians were…

> why is it that rainbow flags (pride, et al) are considered the pro-Palestinian side in the conflict

Source? This is the first I’m hearing of this.

Re: Google fires more workers after CEO says workplace isn’t for politics

#53

Well I'm pretty sure the people protesting were aware this could be the outcome. So in that regard, I think it's very admirable for them to put their convictions over money. From the outside, I agree with their opinion. But then again, money screams and people talk. I feel like a lot of people in tech tend to be very much "not interested" when it comes to politics, even though tech and particularly these big companie…

Personally I do think you should try to avoid bringing politics into the workplace, but I also think it's fair game if the workplace brings politics to you.

Supporting one side or the other in such a highly contentious war is politics and anyone who tells you different simply thinks their politics is the right one.

Re: Google fires more workers after CEO says workplace isn’t for politics

#54
post #35

James Damore was fired from Google[0] when he went out of his way to ensure his politics were to be kept private. What on earth did these people think would happen if they didn't attempt to keep their politics private? [0] https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/7/16111052/google-james-damo...

They either knew they were going to get fired or thought since they are in the majority position at Google they wouldn't have a punishment.

Where does it say that these protestors represent the majority position at Google? Don't think I read that anywhere.

Re: Google fires more workers after CEO says workplace isn’t for politics

#55
post #30
post #5

Sure, if all it takes is raising a rainbow flag on top of the building and some words of the CEO they are all for it. But as soon as Google's bottom line is involved they behave pretty predictable.

I hope I'm not considered a troll for asking this question; I will ask on my main account and hopefully people will check my comment history to understand I am not intending to be belligerent or intentionally dumb. But why is it that rainbow flags (pride, et al) are considered the pro-Palestinian side in the conflict. I might be old but I distinctly remember a humanitarian outcry in the 00's because Palestinians were…

I think LGBT people might be against mass slaughter of civilians via bombing campaigns of areas heavily populated by civilians. I don't the the various conservative views held by those civilians matters too much in terms of them being slaughtered.

I think this is especially the case when their tax dollars are used for this bombing.

Re: Google fires more workers after CEO says workplace isn’t for politics

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should 50 workers not be fired for disrupting the workplace to push a political agenda?

Read the article. Many of the employees fired were not even on the premises that day. This is 100% pure political reprisals, which is illegal in California.

> Many of the employees fired were not even on the premises that day

If they facilitated its planning they aren’t being fired for their beliefs, but for their actions.

Re: Google fires more workers after CEO says workplace isn’t for politics

#59
I'm not defending this but as an important data point, in most states in the US it is entirely legal to fire people for political speech. This is not a First Amendment issue. The First Amendment restricts the government and extensions of the government. Whether you agree with this action or not, let's still deal with facts. Agree with them or not, they're taking a stand for something they believe in that comes at potentially great cost to them and you have to at least respect that.

Now I want to bring up Time's 2019 Person of the Year, Greta Thunberg. Remember her? The teenager who spoke out for climate action, something she was widely lauded for. You don't hear much about her now even though she's still active (eg [1]). Why is that? Because she started criticizing capitalism [2].

Why do I bring her up? Because she was praised while doing performative speech over climate change and sidelined when her criticism was at odds with the bottom line.

That's exactly what's happening at Google and most other companies. They're happy to put up rainbow flags and celebrate Pride because it's performative. It doesn't affect the bottom line. It's good PR in that way.

But these protestors were demanding action that would put Google at odds with the US government policy and that cannot be tolerated. We've seen this before. Google famously pulled out of China over censorship many years ago [3] but the bottom line meant they tried (and failed) to go back in years later [4].

For the record, what I've described above (with both Greta Thunberg and Google) is simply materialist analysis.

[1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68749936

[2]: https://fortune.com/2023/02/13/gen-z-activist-greta-thunberg...

[3]: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704266504575141...

[4]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanbaptiste/2019/07/19/confirm...

Re: Google fires more workers after CEO says workplace isn’t for politics

#60
post #33

[flagged]

All politics should not be acceptable in some sense. As in it's fine to discuss your views with colleagues over lunch. It's fine to express concerns privately over appropriate channels.

If you disagree with the contracts your company takes on you can always quit. There is no need to make your coworkers feel threatened for just doing their job.

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