A Policy of Activism in the Workplace Is Anti-Fellowship
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A Policy of Activism in the Workplace Is Anti-Fellowship
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Re: A Policy of Activism in the Workplace Is Anti-Fellowship
#2I could hardly disagree more with the premise that activism is anti-fellowship. This seems like a very narrow take on activism.
Re: A Policy of Activism in the Workplace Is Anti-Fellowship
#3Another problem with politics-in-the-workplace is it seems like there is only one accepted political dogma. If people were constantly blasted in the face with my politics they would be very annoyed. But I’m supposed to accept their politics unquestionably.
Totally agree with this article - just do your job and get on the soap box during your own time.
Re: A Policy of Activism in the Workplace Is Anti-Fellowship
#4Why is that every, single article that gets posted on this subject at HN completely ignores the “funny names” list that actually caused this incident.
Folks keep acting like it was kids screaming BLM on the company message board and it’s kind of infuriatingly disingenuous.
It feels almost purposeful that folks are ignoring the specific political grievance that employees had, and they are framing it as activist pressure.
I’m genuinely impressed at Basecamps ability to completely control the conversation, and I’m incredibly annoyed that articles posted here about it have completely ignored this argument.
It was a specific political act that upset employees - they didn’t “want to just post activism all day instead of working.” That argument is so manufactured it’s painful, and I’m dissapointed a bunch of educated professionals can’t see the manipulation at play.
“I just want to work at work. I don’t need activism in my workplace.” is an opinion entirely tangential to the actual events. But it’s what people hear want to talk about I guess.
It’s good business sense for an internal team to say “You shouldn’t have a funny names list. If that got out it’d be PR hell for the company. It’s bad business and not related to work.” That’s how these complaints should have been taken.
Re: A Policy of Activism in the Workplace Is Anti-Fellowship
#5Why is that every, single article that gets posted on this subject at HN completely ignores the “funny names” list that actually caused this incident. Folks keep acting like it was kids screaming BLM on the company message board and it’s kind of infuriatingly disingenuous. It feels almost purposeful that folks are ignoring the specific political grievance that employees had, and they are framing it as activist pressu…
Do you have any links to the incident for the uninitiated?
Re: A Policy of Activism in the Workplace Is Anti-Fellowship
#6If you examine any two values that you believe in close enough, you can find a place where they rub against each other. That friction doesn’t mean one is “anti” the other, just that you sometimes need to find a way to compromise.
A claim that pro-activism is anti-fellowship is only true if you are dogmatic and uncompromising about putting your fellowship first. Such a fellowship is otherwise known as a ‘cult’.
Re: A Policy of Activism in the Workplace Is Anti-Fellowship
#7Another problem with politics-in-the-workplace is it seems like there is only one accepted political dogma. If people were constantly blasted in the face with my politics they would be very annoyed. But I’m supposed to accept their politics unquestionably. Totally agree with this article - just do your job and get on the soap box during your own time.
Your comment begs the question: what is politics?
Discouraging people from voting for Trump? Pushing for equal pay across genders? Believing the business should do more to diversify its hiring? Pushing for transgender bathrooms? Being opposed to working on defense contracts?
For some people, these conversations are “obvious facts”, not politics.
Re: A Policy of Activism in the Workplace Is Anti-Fellowship
#8Obviously, we can't know the exact particulars of how every argument went down at Basecamp, and we have to intuit an awful lot from fairly limited blog posts by Jason, DHH, and tweets from (mostly ex)-employees.
But it feels like there's a pretty clear pattern that this wasn't a case of a few politically motivated employees being a distraction and disrupting an otherwise harmonious environment.
A third of the company joined the DEI initiative that was disbanded. On twitter, anonymous interviews, and any other source that I've seen, not one Basecamper has come out in support of Jason and David, and employees seem universally aligned against their actions.
If anything, I'd say the likeliest source of "anti-fellowship" here is Jason and DHH. They are in charge, so they are able to do that, but "fellowship" isn't a good term to describe getting in line behind the bosses' decisions regardless of your personal opinion.
Re: A Policy of Activism in the Workplace Is Anti-Fellowship
#9I could hardly disagree more with the premise that activism is anti-fellowship. This seems like a very narrow take on activism.
Activism is necessarily divisive unless everyone already agrees on a political ideology and the solutions to issues activists focus on. If you are an activist, you might think this is a good thing—it may please you to create an environment hostile to people you don't agree with. But if you're trying to run a company, division is antithetical to your goals.
Re: A Policy of Activism in the Workplace Is Anti-Fellowship
#10I understand both sides of this conversation. And can't help but think that politics crossing over to the workplace (where we spend a big chunk of our time) is overall good, since democracy hasn't really taken hold at the office in general.
For how much longer can we expect people to demand society to be progressive and equal at large and still cope with these small quasi-feudal (at worst) fiefdoms we spend 8+ hours a day in?
Still, Twitter and social media in general have not prepared us to have these discussions at all, and I expect that for this notion to thrive, whole new businesses based on activism and equality and work to have to be created. More Mondragóns, fewer Coinbases. A difference here is workplace activism and not persecution of thoughtcrime, MAGA followers and so on. Except when they believe in Jewish space lasers, of course.