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Google Doesn’t Want Staff Debating Politics at Work Anymore

bloomberg.com

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

#461

Post by samyem »

SignalsFromBob wrote: post #307
nostrademons wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't been at Google in 5 years but I worked with a lot of Chinese coworkers from all three of mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong when I was there (as well as ABCs of those descents). Honestly, I never saw a Chinese employee get into a political argument. Mostly they were just happy to be in the U.S. and draw a Google-level salary. ABCs (including myself) would, but usually about American politics, not Chinese…

ABCs? I don't understand. What does that mean?

American Born Chinese

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

#462

Post by topspin »

wonnage wrote: post #273

Conservative Americans don't want politics at work, or on the football field, or at family dinners, or...anywhere else that isn't officially sanctioned. Sounds like China to me.

"Sounds like China to me."

Sounds like the diametric opposite of China to me. China is actively injecting politics into every aspect of life through, for example, Social Credit[1], which is merely a more systematized method of political control than what has been employed since the communist revolution. Millions of "discredited entities" are being denied the ability to travel, for instance.

[1] https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/11622125157087313...

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

#464

Post by ericd »

nesyt wrote: post #421
carapace wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Mahama Gandhi didn't work for the East India company while simultaneously fighting for freedom. LOL! I worked at Google for about two years as a "TVC" (a programmer in a cubical, not a "real" Googler) and it was like being kidnapped by aliens, after I left that's how it felt: Like I was one of those people who had just been returned to Earth. One thing that doesn't get talked about in re: Google and values: there's…

This is true of most (perhaps all) big tech (perhaps all) companies.

Maybe, but if you loudly espouse progressive values as Googlers seem to do more than most tech workers, maybe you should put some of those values into practice, and actually make a real effort to integrate those contractors into the group?

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

#465

Post by SkyBelow »

quotemstr wrote: post #193
SkyBelow wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Math is probably one of the if not the least political thing out there, but there are still politics involved. For starters, all mathematicians need funding and choosing who to fund is partially political. Deciding awards is partially political. Even the importance of taking or rejecting some axioms and if certain fields still have value for further research is political. There are even different axioms one can use t…

You can find a way to relate politics to any endeavor, but politics is central to things like tax policy in a way that it's not central to, say, N-dimensional manifolds. Equating the two kinds of relationship is a fundamentally dishonest intellectual tactic used by people who want to inject political activism into every human endeavor. People need to stop doing that.

I think people are too quick to forget the importance of funding and the impact it has. For example, if a study comes out that A suffers from f, but no study exists that says B suffers from f, is that because there was a study that didn't find it or because there has not been such a study, perhaps due to lack of funding. This then has an impact on actual law when attempting to base law on science (should we set aside funding to help A but not B with f?).

With math in particular, the way statistics are used to represent and draw conclusions from data can be highly political, especially when dealing with a very unpopular study and the level of criticism it receives compared to a popular study.

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

#466

Post by LordFast »

jgunsch wrote: post #448
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…

I worked there for a similar length of time, but more recent (2012 - early 2019). The internal political discourse over that time definitely mirrored the rest of the world: becoming increasingly heated and divisive during 2016 and largely escalating since. On the whole, it felt like it pushed the company in a positive direction --- internal discussions mirroring #metoo led to more visibility of sexual harassment and…

Disclaimer: my comment below is directed at the culture of Google, and following in the train of thought from your comment. It's not directed at your comment or you.

Reading this comment just makes me feel baffled. How much arrogance does it take for a bunch of Googlers to assume the belief that they know what is "just" for the rest of the world?

An organization(in this case, a for-profit company) created to deliver products and services to consumers and advertisers playing politics on the world stage is laughable at best, and downright irresponsible at worst. There's no framework established within the confines of a corporation to deal with any of these sorts of social problems, and it shouldn't.

Play the right part, do the right job, and let others with the right skills and tools do the same.

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

#467

Post by kgwgk »

dragontamer wrote: post #197
Kalium wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 for tolerance's sake isn't useful though. The hypothetical Nazi / Hitler example shows up: if Hitler existed today, are we supposed to tolerate his views? Tolerance breaks down because morality kicks in: a good moral person tries to wipe out evil when they see evil. The problem is that we can't agree on what is, and isn't evil. Which is a problem when people increasingly believe the "other side" to be evil.…

> Abortion is murder vs Anti-choice are womanizers

Womanizer: a man who often has temporary sexual relationships with women or tries to get women to have sex with him.

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

#468

Post by thinkingemote »

SignalsFromBob wrote: post #307
nostrademons wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't been at Google in 5 years but I worked with a lot of Chinese coworkers from all three of mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong when I was there (as well as ABCs of those descents). Honestly, I never saw a Chinese employee get into a political argument. Mostly they were just happy to be in the U.S. and draw a Google-level salary. ABCs (including myself) would, but usually about American politics, not Chinese…

ABCs? I don't understand. What does that mean?

Similar but unrelated to ABCDs

American-Born Confused Desi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-Born_Confused_Desi

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

#469

Post by orblivion »

devy wrote: post #428

This article makes it seem like debating politics is a good practices in workplace. It is NOT! Talking politics in workplace is not professional - different political opinions can wreck marriages, it can certainly wreck your job too! Just think about what if your boss is having a completely different political opinions than what you belief. Also any major corporations leaning one side of the political party would imm…

My dad is from Russia and he sees the American taboo about talking politics at work as just lame and pathetic. Like we're too sensitive or something. I think he may have even said it was just fine in the U.S. as well back in the 70s (when it was also okay to smoke in the office) but I'd have to check again.

So I gotta wonder if this is generally true or if there are cultural factors.

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

#470

Post by maxaf »

adrianN wrote: post #443
maxaf wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of this political fervor is simple grandstanding. If these people really, truly cared about the issues they advocate, they'd have abandoned their cushy jobs at Google and gone on to make a real difference. I fully agree that the American consumerist lifestyle has run its course, and has done tremendous damage to the planet. However, those who yell the most loudly about it should also be the ones to quit it first…

Quitting civilization to live on a self sustaining farm is a perfect way of limiting your political influence. It's the exact opposite of what you should do if you want real change in an issue where everybody needs to do something.

How did you arrive at "quitting civilization" after starting at "living on a self-sustaining farm"? Does the Internet experience 100% packet drop around manure or in the presence of a critical mass of agricultural specialists?

The Internet gave everyone a voice. If "everyone" includes only those who are forcibly compacted into big cities, I think this should be made clear to the rest of us.

Lastly, living on a farm does not remove a person's ability to vote.

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