This is not a place of honor.
We Are a Place of Business
11–12 of 12 posts
Re: We Are a Place of Business
#12If it's a place of business that has banned politics, why does he keep blogging things that make him sound like a deranged culture warrior?
Because the unspoken part of all this "we've banned politics" stuff is that in this case it's actually "we've banned politics because you all kept disagreeing with me and I don't like it." There's plenty of reasons to avoid being overly political at work, but fundamentally, Hey/Basecamp were extremely political, and fine with it, until employees' opinions started diverging from their leadership's. Then, suddenly, it…
When you read the post, it does sound slightly deranged, but if you check the links, they're not actually as bad as they sound.
If everybody agrees, you won't get the kind of conflict about company choices that this is about, so obviously there is a disagreement. But that disagreement doesn't have to be between "leadership" and "employees". It doesn't have to be a culture war, or about "SJW"s. It may really just be about _how far_ you can go in your advocacy in the workplace.
It's quite possible that there are still lots of internal discussions about Google's engagement with various governments. But there are limits to how you can express your displeasure, and there should be. You can be too antagonistic, too aggressive, to the point where you _do_ appear threatening or disparaging to your coworkers, and that is not ok.
In the end, it is a place of work, and every other _worker_ should be able to feel safe. Because they have to be there too. That's the line that you shouldn't cross when advocating or demonstrating in the workplace.
Whether you're political or vegan, don't call your coworkers names for disagreeing with you. Any words you sling in your protest, assume that some of your coworkers will be hit by them. Even if you think anyone believing what they believe must be "bad people", you were the one to break the truce and start a conflict in the workplace if you say, fx, "all meat eaters are morally bankrupt".
You have to work with those people again afterwards. And they have to work with you. And maybe they no longer want to.