Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 728 posts

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#171

Post by tjr225 »

landryraccoon wrote: post #157
manfredo wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The following views were listed on the memo: * Support of President Trump (e.g. Thiel's and Palmer Lucky's campaign contributions) * "All lives matter" * Criticism of Islam's human rights record. * Calling the company's art politically radical . Which, if any, of these views don't deserve respect?

I'm genuinely curious what "All lives matter" stands for except for being opposed to the idea that "Black lives matter". There's a key difference here - "Black lives matter" attempts to point out that there is discrimination in law enforcement that seems to single out minorities. Correcting this discrimination would be good. What policy change does "All lives matter" advocate? Do those policy changes indeed benefit "…

The fact that you're being downvoted indicates just how troubled and just how racist our society still is. Good luck all. Either hackernews has been infiltrated by a slew of far right wing posters or the general public has become so dumb that it's sweeping into this forum.

Either wait I'm inclined to post here less and read the comments here less.

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#172

Post by _ptgt »

wrsh07 wrote: post #71
manfredo wrote: post #59

As I have mentioned in other threads, of the dozens or possibly hundreds of co-workers I've worked directly with during my time so far in Silicon Valley I have met exactly one who disclosed conservative views and support of the Republican party. Either one, there really is a massive lack of political diversity to the extent that less than 1% SV developers are conservativez or (more likely in my opinion) two, there is…

I find this incredibly surprising. Do you give them a chance to? So many of my colleagues (at a big tech co) have expressed various conservative views. Granted, I live in NYC, but this feels a bit like you're experiencing confirmation bias.

I don't work in the Valley, but in my large Facebook-analogous Seattle tech company my experience reflects his. I actively (and successfully) avoid discussing politics at work (I'm closest to a classic liberal fwiw). My company lobbies for and promotes several left-leaning positions (e.g. immigration, which I agree with) in official communications, and I've been on both the passive and active receiving-end of multiple left-leaning political rants since I've joined.

I've never heard any such officially expressed views or political rants from coworkers expressing right-leaning views.

Just a data point but I suspect it's not an uncommon one.

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#174

Post by [deleted] »

civilian wrote: post #99
saudioger wrote: post #48

Kind of moot considering how hard Zuckerberg stanned for Peter Thiel. How much was that Palmer Luckey payout? I'd argue that if you're working for Facebook you're kind of superficially liberal to begin with. Zuckerberg is only liberal until he has to worry about his bank account.

(what does 'stanned' mean? I can't figure out if it's a typo.)

[deleted]

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#175

Post by gameswithgo »

ericdykstra wrote: post #128
megaremote wrote: post #108

> Why are companies promoting "pride"...telling workers to attend 'lgbt tolerance' meetings,etc... Wth!!!! You ask this question, then answer it in your very next line. People don't respect everyone. They are intolerant.

If an employee is harassing or demeaning their coworker based on their beliefs, that's enough grounds to fire an employee. Is there any evidence that promoting "pride" and "lgbt tolerance" makes employees treat each other well in cases where they otherwise wouldn't have?

>If an employee is harassing or demeaning their coworker based on their beliefs,

What does beliefs mean to you? Beliefs cast a very wide net. Is there no point at which a coworker should be cast out? Perhaps it is their religious belief that women should not be allowed to work. May such a person remain? Are we not to push back?

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#176

Post by _8j50 »

austinheap wrote: post #158
ericdykstra wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If an employee is harassing or demeaning their coworker based on their beliefs, that's enough grounds to fire an employee. Is there any evidence that promoting "pride" and "lgbt tolerance" makes employees treat each other well in cases where they otherwise wouldn't have?

From Harvard Business Review: "Results from our experiment involving 118 undergraduate students showed that taking the perspective of LGBT individuals or racial minorities — by writing a few sentences imagining the distinct challenges a marginalized minority might face — can improve pro-diversity attitudes and behavioral intentions toward these groups." https://hbr.org/2017/07/two-types-of-diversity-training-that...

You shouldn't be tolerated or respectes as a result of your 'race' or 'sexuality'. Don't miss the forest for the trees.

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#177

Post by threeseed »

_8j50 wrote: post #148
megaremote wrote: post #108

> Why are companies promoting "pride"...telling workers to attend 'lgbt tolerance' meetings,etc... Wth!!!! You ask this question, then answer it in your very next line. People don't respect everyone. They are intolerant.

Why is disrespecting or demeaning a coworker for any reason allowed? If I disrespect you because your haircut is unfashionable,would that be ok? If the meeting was about supporting neo-nazis ,would that not be saying the conmpany tolerates neo-nazis and does not welcome those who hate neo-nazism? Yet, you should respect your neo-nazi coworker,even if you were not told so.

It’s not allowed.

But people can accidentally disrespect LGBT people eg. calling trans people by the incorrect gender.

And so to foster this workplace that you want as well it’s important for people to do things like tolerance training.

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#178

Post by wrsh07 »

manfredo wrote: post #153
wrsh07 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, I've discussed politics with many of my coworkers. Few of them have any hesitation discussing liberal standpoints. If the linked commenter were to say nobody would express their conservative views to them, that wouldn't surprise me. However, it seems like you'd be a bit more sympathetic (than the linked commenter). I've found a number of colleagues from red states who supported/support Trump (often for reasons…

I don't disagree with your experience in NY, but it isn't a very good counterexample to my experiences in Silicon Valley. For what it's worth, I grew up in and routinely visit the Seattle area and I don't think it has the same atmosphere as the San Francisco and Silicon Valley area. I have met plenty of conservatives in Seattle (well, mostly in the outer metro areas of Bellevue, Kirkland, etc.).

Yes! It's possible that is the entire source of the discrepancy.

But I am still a bit surprised that you haven't at least run into some libertarians in CA.

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#179

Post by austinheap »

fatjokes wrote: post #109
austinheap wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right? I'm always super confused when people profess to know a super liberal Facebook. I've yet to hear/see an actual super liberal defend Facebook as such. It's just whatever conveniently fits the narrative at hand. Also...Oculus' Head of Computer Vision was busted in an underage prostitution ring after all the Palmer non-sense. Yay.

Not sure how the prostitution bust relates to politics? Pretty sure liberals and conservatives are equally pervs. The latter just tends to be more oppressed about it.

I was responding to OP's Palmer reference, not asserting an opinion about the sexual proclivities of right/left cohorts. Apologies if it came across that way.

Re: Some Facebook Employees Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture

#180

Post by sidlls »

_8j50 wrote: post #148
megaremote wrote: post #108

> Why are companies promoting "pride"...telling workers to attend 'lgbt tolerance' meetings,etc... Wth!!!! You ask this question, then answer it in your very next line. People don't respect everyone. They are intolerant.

Why is disrespecting or demeaning a coworker for any reason allowed? If I disrespect you because your haircut is unfashionable,would that be ok? If the meeting was about supporting neo-nazis ,would that not be saying the conmpany tolerates neo-nazis and does not welcome those who hate neo-nazism? Yet, you should respect your neo-nazi coworker,even if you were not told so.

> If I disrespect you because your haircut is unfashionable,would that be ok?

No, that would be inappropriate. It would be equally inappropriate for someone to call a person who called out your inappropriate behavior disrespectful or intolerant. Similarly for your concern regarding neo-nazis.

Post reply on HN