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

washingtonpost.com

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

#121

Post by octopoc »

nailer wrote: post #93
jsiepkes wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There isn't much of a connection between being Israeli and being gay though. A quick check of the LGBTQ demographics[1] shows that actually Israelis are only a little over twice as likely to be gay vs. the US for example.

> In a sample representative of the Israeli Jewish population aged 18 to 44, it was found that 11.3% of men and 15.2% of women self-reported attraction to the same-gender

> A 2017 Gallup poll concluded that 4.5% of adult Americans identified as LGBT with 5.1% of women identifying as LGBT, compared with 3.9% of men

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_sexual_orienta...

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

#122

Post by mandmandam »

waihtis wrote: post #22
jsiepkes wrote: 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.

Id be very happy if corporations stopped participating in any kind of politics altogether, including human rights discourse.

Just to be clear... In your worldview selling AI to a mass murdering apartheid state is not political, but talking about it is?

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

#123

Post by spencerflem »

ditton wrote: post #117
spencerflem wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without getting into the Palestine/Israel part, something I feel strongly about but cannot phrase nicely in a pithy internet comment - I really think that for someone griping about ignoring nuance or deep analysis you are grossly mischaracterizing trans rights. Being trans is a huge hassle, and not something done as a lark to get into female spaces. You also ignore transmasc people who are equally oppressed by the ne…

[flagged]

that's a much more reasonable take

If I can be annoying about language a bit- insisting on calling trans women "trans identifying males" makes you sound anti-trans rights as a whole instead of trying to add nuance to a complicated subject.

I agree there are complications and there's plenty of situations where one oppressed group opresses another and that those are hard to sort out on a purely "support the oppressed" ideology. But when someone starts talking purely about a specific nuance that's been made into a right wing talking point, its hard not to feel like the goal is to deliberately distract from the big picture.

In general though, I think you mischaracterize the left as not having nuance, instead of not wanting to debate nuance with people who are staunchly opposed and just trying to score points. I'm not saying that's what you're going for, but your first comment came off as combatative to me and I think you'll find people are more willing to share nuance and work through uncomfortable contradictions if you start by emphasizing what you do agree with. Talking IRL is much better with this too

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

#124

Post by sureglymop »

gedy wrote: post #18

Honestly why I like WFH - I can stay away from people who "bring their whole selves" to the office, while I just need a job. (I'm not at Google)

I used to have a co worker who always wanted to discuss his conspiracy theories at work. From "the moon landing didn't happen", "vaccination causes autism" to the "earth is flat" it just wouldn't end.

It was exhausting because I just wanted to show up and do my work and stay professional. I didn't even judge him for having those opinions. For all I cared he could do what he likes in private but it was infuriating that he did not realize that he was actively bothering by wanting to discuss controversial opinions at the workplace. I also remembered this guy as not really a very interested or efficient worker. He came to work to talk basically.

Years later, the guy now has 1K+ linked in connections, every bs certification imaginable and calls himself an "AI and futurism consultant". He may have learned that if he just talked about some other bs than before, he could make a lot of money.

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

#125

Post by KenArrari »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #92
KenArrari wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

They said they weren't involved. But they were involved in protesting. Does standing in front of a doorway require a comlpicated planning initiative?

There is absolutely nothing they could have done other than speak about it. Which is all they're being accused of anyway.

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

#126

Post by edanm »

octopoc wrote: post #69
ImJamal wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They're probably quite surprised that they're getting fired. Opposing colonialism was safe politics at Google until Israel started colonizing/raping/genociding Gaza.

That's a pretty big, and IMO false, accusation to throw at Israel.

Unlike abstract "opposing colonialism", which I assume lots of people would get behind, I assume others, like me, find the specific case against Israel to be completely different in many relevant ways.

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

#127

Post by candiodari »

spencerflem wrote: post #83
dijit wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, I see. I suppose my next question would be why we are somehow stoic on the Uyghur issue. But I would guess that the reason is that the US sends support to Israel while actively cutting ties (or going to war economically) with China.

Exactly, yeah. What's happening there is awful and very sad, but there's almost nothing I can do about it, whereas our government provides billions in weapons to Israel

... and trillions in trade to China. US could cut trade ties with China.

This seems to apply to many conflicts, e.g. Sudan. The US could intervene. Now you might say "US tried something similar and that was not exactly a good experience", but the US certainly can intervene. Or, in Lebanon the US, and all countries in the UN security council promised to intervene (and disarm Hezbollah), but just don't do it.

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

#128

Post by jhp123 »

dijit wrote: post #30
jsiepkes wrote: 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…

great source lol

Israel seems content to keep Palestine as a ghettoized territory, leaving local administrative matters to Palestinians. How will an Israeli victory, no matter how complete, lead to LGBT Palestinians gaining more rights?

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

#129

Post by spencerflem »

candiodari wrote: post #127
spencerflem wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, yeah. What's happening there is awful and very sad, but there's almost nothing I can do about it, whereas our government provides billions in weapons to Israel

... and trillions in trade to China. US could cut trade ties with China. This seems to apply to many conflicts, e.g. Sudan. The US could intervene. Now you might say "US tried something similar and that was not exactly a good experience", but the US certainly can intervene. Or, in Lebanon the US, and all countries in the UN security council promised to intervene (and disarm Hezbollah), but just don't do it.

Not intervening is different than actively supporting. We have given ~ a hundred billion and are about to give tens of billions more in no strings attached military aid. We used our UN Veto dozens of times to prevent calling for a ceasefire

Should we intervene for the Uyghurs? Maybe! But this one seems way more obvious

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

#130

Post by octopoc »

edanm wrote: post #126
octopoc wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're probably quite surprised that they're getting fired. Opposing colonialism was safe politics at Google until Israel started colonizing/raping/genociding Gaza.

That's a pretty big, and IMO false, accusation to throw at Israel. Unlike abstract "opposing colonialism", which I assume lots of people would get behind, I assume others, like me, find the specific case against Israel to be completely different in many relevant ways.

That is one of the main accusations against Israel among protesters. Do you see how people who believe Israel's actions are colonial in nature might not understand that they would be fired for continuing their long-supported stand against colonialism?
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