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Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

economist.com

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Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#61

Post by kokanator »

throwaway292893 wrote: post #47
kokanator wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I to understand by your comment that libertarians are not tolerated on HN?

Well his comment was greyed out from downvotes and nothing he said was wrong, just there's a different atmosphere for everyone. His views aligned with a libertarian which I think were once accepted here. It's gotten more leftist here for sure. Part of woke socialism/marxism is shouting dissenters down, downvoting in this case.

That was my assumption. Just wanted to pull more focus into what was occurring. Then, as if on cue, they proved your point by instantly down voted you!

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#62

Post by nailer »

eh9 wrote: post #42
archsurface wrote: post #2

I have no tolerance for politics at work. As far as woke at work goes, not too long ago someone in my office commented on slack "I don't approve of unnecessarily gendered emoji" - I can't even begin to imagine what sort of mind produces such thoughts. First world problems? No idea.

As a PoC, I’ve also fielded those comments from white co-workers and it honestly feels like a contemporary version of being blind to race.

To me it seemed less racist when we all had yellow hands. Then again I think poc is a silly term - non Europeans have completely different experiences and cultures from each other even within the US.

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#63

Post by [deleted] »

archsurface wrote: post #2

I have no tolerance for politics at work. As far as woke at work goes, not too long ago someone in my office commented on slack "I don't approve of unnecessarily gendered emoji" - I can't even begin to imagine what sort of mind produces such thoughts. First world problems? No idea.

[deleted]

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#65

Post by mensetmanusman »

eric4smith wrote: post #7

People are human. But work is work. The canonical point of a workplace is to come together to fulfill the aims of the entrepreneurs. The personal aims of the workers are fulfilled best outside of work. Just stop to think about it logically for a minute... is the workplace the best place to circulate a petition condemning something that has nothing to do with work? The workplace necessarily is going to bring together…

The workplace is the best place if you are incredibly lonely and don’t interact much with society outside of work.

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#66

Post by throwaway1959 »

eh9 wrote: post #42
archsurface wrote: post #2

I have no tolerance for politics at work. As far as woke at work goes, not too long ago someone in my office commented on slack "I don't approve of unnecessarily gendered emoji" - I can't even begin to imagine what sort of mind produces such thoughts. First world problems? No idea.

As a PoC, I’ve also fielded those comments from white co-workers and it honestly feels like a contemporary version of being blind to race.

Can you expand on what do you mean as being blind to race? Do you want them to see your race, treat different races differently? Aren't we supposed to be a color-blind society? Maybe I am just not understanding what you mean.

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#67

Post by eric4smith »

jdgoesmarching wrote: post #45
tshaddox wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The point of a workplace is to come together to fulfill the aims of the entrepreneurs. The personal aims of the workers are fulfilled best outside of work. What? I can’t be the only one who works directly in order to fulfill my needs (like literally my most basic needs, think food and shelter).

I was about to say, this is the most chilling HN sentence I’ve ever read. The totality of our existence from 8-5 is not owed to someone who profits from our labor and skills because they got lucky with some seed money or an inheritance a decade ago. That’s just the divine right of kings with extra steps.

Wow. Most businesses are started with neither. But with the sweat off the back of the founders.

When will we acknowledge that one of the most noble pursuits in human history is to provide paid employment for your fellow man??

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#68

Post by skybrian »

eric4smith wrote: post #7

People are human. But work is work. The canonical point of a workplace is to come together to fulfill the aims of the entrepreneurs. The personal aims of the workers are fulfilled best outside of work. Just stop to think about it logically for a minute... is the workplace the best place to circulate a petition condemning something that has nothing to do with work? The workplace necessarily is going to bring together…

More generally, most organizations have a mission. Even if the mission is explicitly political (like getting a candidate elected) there are still going to be things that people care about that aren't mission-related and getting into an internal dispute about them is a distraction from the mission.

An example of that for Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Here_to_build_an_enc...

But this hardly solves all political disputes. It's enough to rule some issues off-topic and have it generally be understood, but there are always grey areas, and plenty of politics that's directly mission-related.

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#69

Post by chairmanwow1 »

duped wrote: post #21
eric4smith wrote: post #7

People are human. But work is work. The canonical point of a workplace is to come together to fulfill the aims of the entrepreneurs. The personal aims of the workers are fulfilled best outside of work. Just stop to think about it logically for a minute... is the workplace the best place to circulate a petition condemning something that has nothing to do with work? The workplace necessarily is going to bring together…

The office exists within society. Some things exist everywhere you go in society. You don't give up ethics and morals because you cross the threshold of your place of business. Ignoring social problems in the workplace because it is a workplace is how we avoid solving those problems as a society. The office is exactly where we should be advocating for things, because it is where we spend the most time and can affect…

I worked at place like this at Lyft and to be honest it made me pretty uncomfortable. I was aligned with most people about most of the causes circulated freely, but not all. And on the items I wasn't fully onboard with the party line, I felt there was a huge risk to my job if I ever were to voice that.

I won't ever work in an environment like that again. Once I cross the threshold with my coworkers to be friends I feel like there's a significant difference in what we are comfortable talking about with each other and certainly I expect to debate social causes with them at that point. Otherwise, I find it incredibly naive to expect consensus on any ideas, regardless of how fundamental they seem.

Re: Woke at Work: Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics and failing

#70

Post by nailer »

tshaddox wrote: post #15
lliamander wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What then is the purpose of demanding others make a public stand on an issue over which they have no practical control?

There are plenty of purposes. Why are you and I talking about the issue right now despite presumably having little influence over the outcome?

The grandparent was asking what those purposes are, not what amount of them there are.
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