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

Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 1001 posts

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#211

Post by cameronbrown »

arcticbull wrote: post #69
root_axis wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Their job is to create a forum for others to debate, and to try and maintain neutrality What? Says who?

Others as in not their employees. Google indexes all the worlds information, who says their goal is to impose their opinion on it? Isn't neutrality in indexing the assumption?

Speaking for myself here.

Yes and no. Ranking by definition means not being neutral, it's just that society has decided that it's acceptable to rank spam lower than other content. Neutrality looks a lot like bias from the perspective of spammers.

When you're dealing with more complex signals at scale there are so many second and third order effects that are hard or impossible to predict.

For example, the conservative bias everyone's talking about doesn't seem to me to be literal bias against the right, but bias in favour of mainstream news sources which are overwhelmingly left-wing.

I'm sure there are many issues in Search like the one I just described, and being able to have these conversations is what makes it possible for Googlers to spot these issues, decide if it's even an issue and fix it. If you ban a certain type of conversation, you'll change how people think about a potential issue.

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#212

Post by major505 »

ashwinaj wrote: post #133

Finally common sense prevails! Get to work on time, eat your free lunch, work, go home. To those of you who disagree; if you want to "make a difference" take a cue from Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther king Jr. etc. Mahama Gandhi didn't work for the East India company while simultaneously fighting for freedom. If you are serious about it put your money where your mouth is and stop being empty vessels.

Marting Luther King would give up if he witnesed the current political debate.

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#213

Post by josteink »

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #200
azffz wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the point, you should be able to hold that opinion, but you should not publicly state it openly at work in the first place.

The example given by the person you're replying to seems, to be understated about it, to be in a bit more complicated of an area than "just don't talk about it and things will be fine." If Bob and Alice have significant disagreements about health care policy and taxation, they can probably still get along by just not talking about it. If Bob believes Alice should be put to death because she's a transwoman, that could…

> If Bob believes Alice should be put to death because she's a transwoman

That’s clearly a straw man. Nobody is having that discussion at work.

And death threats are not politics, they are matters which should be reported to the police.

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#215

Post by ceejayoz »

azffz wrote: post #149
sp332 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

@Pinboard (yes the pinboard.com guy) has been keeping track of political donations from big tech companies. https://twitter.com/Pinboard/status/1141838179936243714

What are the chances he has only been tracking donations made to right-wing groups? :') Edit: very high, it seems https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Apinboard%20PAC

@Pinboard's politics are... not secret.

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#216

Post by giantsloth »

wutbrodo wrote: post #103
zarkov99 wrote: post #11

No shit. I guess Google can no longer assume that there is a single correct world view that all good and smart people hold. Who knew.

This is so hilariously wrong that I don't even know where to start. Google's culture was predicated on hiring intelligent, emotionally-continent adults. Free discussion of politics wasn't banned during my time there because everyone was capable of understanding precisely the opposite of what you're describing: that differing views on the world exist and are attributable to more than just whether someone is a good or…

[dead]

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#217

Post by mieseratte »

oppositelock wrote: post #187

I worked at Google for quite a while, 2005-2013, and even then, the internal political discussion was pretty toxic, but a lot smaller in scope since there are far fewer people. There were definitely groups meant for discussing politics, and loudmouths like me willingly participated in those - however, it was very uncivil. There was a majority view in the company, and if anyone didn't agree with the majority view, the…

> What seems to be happening a lot lately is that politics are spilling over into large, global mailing lists

Interestingly there are people in this very thread claiming "everything is politics."

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#218

Post by nailer »

azffz wrote: post #128
tdb7893 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen people at work defend trans hate as a "conservative value". It's fine if people have different opinions on taxes but to reject people's identity like that, especially one held by some of their colleagues, should cross a line and they shouldn't be able to hide behind "conservative values".

That's the point, you should be able to hold that opinion, but you should not publicly state it openly at work in the first place.

Many women don't want people with penises in their change rooms.

Others believe this is hatred.

Google provides onsite gyms at many locations, which have change rooms. In this case, that discussion will likely have to take place at work.

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#219

Post by rollinDyno »

maxaf wrote: post #82
webwielder2 wrote: post #59

It's funny how we pigeonhole "things that actually matter" as "politics" and that those things are somehow taboo. I mean, what's MORE worth talking about than human rights, the environment, history, etc.?

Not every place where groups of people participate in shared activities must become a forum for political battles.

To these people it must. They are aware they're disrupting the workplace but they do it because they have a sense of urgency and responsibility. They are willing to break ties with their fellow coworkers because they carry a larger social mission.

Re: Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

#220

Post by arrrg »

Kalium wrote: post #135
SkyBelow wrote: post #64

>I think they just overestimated the ability of their employees to respect each other when they hold differing world views. I think this can be quite difficult to do just because of the political views involved. For example, how should a gay man respect a colleague who honestly thinks that homosexuality should be punished with death. In such a case, I would say that even asking the first individual to tolerate, much…

Tolerance isn't considered a virtue because it's easy. Tolerance is a virtue because it's difficult . It requires us to put up with people who may adhere to worldviews we find utterly alien or hold views we find abhorrent. It's easy to come up with an example and find yourself thinking "It's unreasonable to tolerate that!". Instead, consider asking yourself why people a century ago might tolerate views you think of a…

Tolerance of someone who wants to deny your whole existence is not something anyone should ever tolerate. That‘s not a virtue, that‘s madness and potentially suicidal.
Post reply on HN