Live data from Hacker News

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

washingtonpost.com

91–100 of 290 posts

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

#91
post #77

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…

The Darfur Genocide is still happening, is on a much larger scale than Gaza and despite media coverage, the people who are very worked up about the Israeli actions don’t seem to care. I wonder why that is.

The US Government is not actively paying for and using UN Vetos to continue the Darfur Genocide, so there's a lot less we can directly do about it.

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

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I must once again point you back to the article.

> must once again point you back to the article

Where in it does it absolve those fired who weren’t physically on premises of otherwise being involved?

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

#93
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Your misinterperting my point. I'm not making a political comment on the current conflict. My point is people think Google actually stands for something, but in the end they are a publicly traded company and will act in the interest of their shareholders.

I understand you’re attempting to show an inconsistency. But believing gay people have a right to exist is quite similar to believing Jewish people have a right to exist.

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

#95
post #3

Rule #2: If the customer is...

Personally if my customer was using my services to figure out the optimal time to kill someone in a way that also kills their family, and my employees were collectively protesting that, I would just decline their money.

A nice sentiment...but obviously you have no future in Fortune 10 corporate management.

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

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally if my customer was using my services to figure out the optimal time to kill someone in a way that also kills their family, and my employees were collectively protesting that, I would just decline their money.

Why would it take your employees protesting for you to choose this?

Fair point. I think without the protests you could have some plausible deniability.

You could even claim it was for legitimate military purposes.

But after all the information that has gone around we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this software is specifically used to maximize family-deaths.

I think lots of companies love money, but the only way to defend this is if you also love death.

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

#97
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 have a hypothesis that a lot of the people on the "left" who will stridently defend gay rights (which I'm for, being a gay man myself) are in fact the same sort of bullies that in a previous generation would have bashed gay people. That is, being on "the right side" of a debate doesn't mean one is necessarily more enlightened nor empathetic.

Next, remember that not only are there reasonable people on the right that hate/fear the import of hegemonizing cultures into their own societies, but also plenty of bullies on the right who will hate somebody for having the wrong shade of skin.

Put the two together, and you get the meme where this guy has to pick one button out of two, one of them is labelled "gay" and the other one is "Islam".

That's how we end up in the situation where "queers for Palestine" get attacked at a pro-Hamas rally.

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

#98
post #82
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well to be fair I imagine your workplace isn't also wading into a contentious geopolitical conflict with billions of dollars. I don't think I would ever protest in the manner described at my job but I would probably quit over it. If you want your employees to stay out of politics then you should probably lead by example.

As an outside observer, I just hear a lot of hyperbolic reasoning like: "Tech workers are demanding that they have right to know how their labour is going to be used. With little clarity about the project, they fear the technology might be used for harm." Is there actual specifics about Project Nimbus that "are helping it commit atrocities in Palestine", or is it just that Google is selling general cloud computing to…

Not just to "Israel" as a customer -- but at least part of the project has been earmarked to the IDF specifically (per documents obtained in a recent Time magazine investigation).

That's a huge distinction, especially given what we now know about Project Lavender. And in itself is ample grounds to not to meekly ask, but to demand from Google that it provide clarification as whether the tools or services it is providing will be used in such projects, and if doing so is in accord with its own stated policies.

A question to which it thus far seems hellbent on not providing anything resembling a straight answer to.

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

#99
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…

[flagged]

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

#100
post #94
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, many independent sources.

Which ones?

is netanyahu good for you? Maybe he underestimates a little. https://www.politico.eu/article/israels-netanyahu-says-he-wi...

Also lancet says numbers are accurate. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

what is your evidence?

Post reply on HN