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Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

theregister.co.uk

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Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#301

Post by cabaalis »

jedberg wrote: post #213
ProfessorLayton wrote: post #168

Without trying to be inflammatory in any manner, I will say that it takes a certain level of privilege to say one shouldn’t discuss politics at work. If you disagree I’m happy to discuss this viewpoint rather than being downvoted to oblivion. Lots of issues are deemed “political”, but imagine you fall into one of the marginalized groups: — lgbt: Don’t discuss the possibility about being fired for your sexuality becau…

As a wealthy white male, I couldn't agree more. For people like me, politics is a choice. But as my female friends of color often remind me, politics is not a choice for them.

Since you have the benefit of discussing this matter often, can you explain their reasoning? What portions of the law/politics do they want to favor race/gender?

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#302

Post by microtherion »

microcolonel wrote: post #200
djsumdog wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to define what is and isn't political right? It can get ontological .. (i.e. if everything is political than nothing is political and if nothing is political than everything is political). It seems like in this case Gitlab is trying to avoid some of the Google/Amazon blowback for taking questionable contracts. In those cases .. tech people are in high demand. It's not that difficult for us to find work else…

> Should Gitlab not allow projects from churches who create tools to help minister to homosexuals (in trying to convert them away from homosexuality)? No matter how misguided in practice, is it even immoral for people who believe that homosexuality is immoral to try convincing gay people to change? > There are really complex questions here. This is the sort of question that GitLab should not be asked to answer.

> is it even immoral for people who believe that homosexuality is immoral to try convincing gay people to change?

It depends on the details.

On one end of the spectrum, a one-off conversation may be OK.

On the other end, there are the horrible things inflicted on gay people in the name of "conversion therapy". And many people who believe homosexuality is illegal want to keep that practice legal (or make it legal again, respectively).

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#303

Post by MFLoon »

Nullabillity wrote: post #107
vowelless wrote: post #18

I am glad Dang changed the title as the original one was unnecessarily inflammatory. I don’t understand why it’s encouraged (in some companies) to discuss politics at work in a way that leads to internal issues. Purely from a commercial stance, team cohesion has a positive impact on people and product. Why do anything to disturb that? > Such a declaration could run afoul of legal boundaries in some circumstances. Whi…

> I don’t understand why it’s encouraged (in some companies) to discuss politics at work in a way that leads to internal issues. Purely from a commercial stance, team cohesion has a positive impact on people and product. Why do anything to disturb that? The health of the democracy is far more important than your company's profit margin. And besides, enforcing silence is still a political move that strongly favours th…

Since when are businesses responsible for the health of democracy?

Have most business in American history been hotbeds of political discussion and activity? Have we previously attributed the relative health of American democracy to this characteristic of American businesses?

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#304

Post by aledalgrande »

Politics could be discussed at work, if parties didn't decide to go for super extreme, polarizing positions. These days it feels like you cannot speak with the other side of the wall without getting into a fight. What happened to pragmatism and centrists? Politicians need divisiveness to keep their chairs.

That said, I would exclude any customer that has extreme views. Why support their platform, especially with a product like Gitlab, and help them spread hate?

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#305

Post by Nullabillity »

vowelless wrote: post #182
Nullabillity wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don’t understand why it’s encouraged (in some companies) to discuss politics at work in a way that leads to internal issues. Purely from a commercial stance, team cohesion has a positive impact on people and product. Why do anything to disturb that? The health of the democracy is far more important than your company's profit margin. And besides, enforcing silence is still a political move that strongly favours th…

How is it a useful democratic exercise to inundate non political employees, or employees who don’t share the majority’s moral political views? The types of moral politics I am thinking about is discussing the tweet-du-jour, basically celebrity gossip about politicians, etc. Worse still would be people taking strong, loud and uninformed positions on foreign policy, like Syria. I actually happen to find that triggering…

What you do matters. The people on the ground turning Syria into the shithole you consider it to be were probably also "just focusing on producing the best work they could". Apparently they did a pretty good job.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#306

Post by mantas »

g_sch wrote: post #127
baalimago wrote: post #13

Reminds me of Peter Handke's recent Nobel prize in literature, where the committee were/are heavily criticized for judging only by literature, and not by Handke's political viewpoints. Maybe politics doesn't need to be involved in every single part of society, only the political aspects of it.

I tend to think of everything in life as political in some way. After all, politics is the fundamental question of how power is distributed in the world. However, even if you don't subscribe to this view, I would argue that work and the workplace are one of the more political spaces. I agree that it isn't easy to be political in the workplace, and it is often better to keep your head down. But think about all the pos…

If a workplace is political space.. Can it discriminate based on political stance?

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#307

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #168

Without trying to be inflammatory in any manner, I will say that it takes a certain level of privilege to say one shouldn’t discuss politics at work. If you disagree I’m happy to discuss this viewpoint rather than being downvoted to oblivion. Lots of issues are deemed “political”, but imagine you fall into one of the marginalized groups: — lgbt: Don’t discuss the possibility about being fired for your sexuality becau…

> We can’t improve without discussion, and it’s unfortunate that these type of issues are so divisive.

Around 40% of voters support Donald Trump in some way. Are you sure you really want to discuss politics at work? Do you want someone wearing a MAGA hat explaining to everyone why immigration is too high?

Because that is what real political discussion will involve. In fact, I suspect many people who are advocating for politics at work, actually only want people whom they agree with to be able discuss policies that they generally agree with.

So for me, as long as the company does not prevent political activity outside of work, I am happy to have work be a neutral zone where people from opposite ends of the political spectrum can just work together on how to make money for the business.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#308

Post by bArray »

> Blood money is fine with us, says GitLab: Vetting non-evil

> customers is 'time consuming, potentially distracting'

If that isn't a divisive title, I don't know what is. This should be labelled as an opinion piece.

> Code-hosting biz also bans staff from talking politics at

> work

Good, it's the work place - it's for work. Some freedoms are restricted whilst at work, for example at home I can walk around naked - that doesn't tend to do down so well at work.

> It was proposed to clarify that GitLab is committed to

> doing business with "customers with values that are

> incompatible with our own values."

This seems like a no-brainer, the article literally lists a bunch of examples where companies that get politically activate have their efforts backfire. I commend GitLab for this.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#309

Post by sigzero »

keithnz wrote: post #194
corndoge wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to hear your political opinions at work. I want to work and make money for myself. Just because I have to be at work to make money for myself shouldn't mean I now have to listen to your views on politics. That is my view on it.

no ones talking about forcing you to talk about it, question is, if you wanted to talk about the ethics / poltical impact of what you are doing with coworkers, shouldn't you be allowed to?

Do it at lunch or on a break. During work, nope.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#310

Post by kodt »

imgabe wrote: post #240

Did I miss something? Is there a reason why you have to qualify that you're not advocating for Joe Rogan? Did he get "cancelled"?

There is a contingent out there who are very much against him if only for the reason that he has given a platform to people they don't like.
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