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NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy

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Re: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comply but leak the truth to the media. Comply in a maximally obstructive way. Comply just enough to not get fired but not as much as someone who may be more inclined to please their boss. Enlist other opposition and find ways to multiply your obstructive compliance into other departments. There's tons of "how-to" guides on how to maliciously comply with work demands without getting fired.

> Comply but leak the truth to the media. Doesn't apply, everybody knows what's going on already. > Comply in a maximally obstructive way. Doesn't apply, the whole point is that the executive wants to obstruct things, and that's what we're talking about fighting against. > Comply just enough to not get fired but not as much as someone who may be more inclined to please their boss. Doesn't apply, you can't half-fire t…

>> Comply in a maximally obstructive way.

> Doesn't apply, the whole point is that the executive wants to obstruct things, and that's what we're talking about fighting against.

"Obstructive" in this scenario results in the organization keeping functioning effectively. Obstructive of something destructive allows it to keep existing.

Re: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy

#92
post #4

One thing I don't understand is people resigning on principles. If something bad is happening to an organization that I hold a significant amount of clout and power in, I'm not just going to leave and hand the reigns to someone on 'their side' -- I'm going to stay and fight and try to make whatever impact I can. So many people are just leaving...instead of fighting. Which seems like it's going to have the effect of j…

> Which seems like it's going to have the effect of just accelerating the demise of the organization they claim to love so much.

Sometimes there is not a direct path to 'good'. Sometimes the path to things getting better goes through a rough patch.

It is very dissatisfying that a lot of people are doing very stupid things very publicly right now.

---

Politics is an information game, and you can't play an information game without changing the game; all information games are metagames.

The way the game is being played right now is drastically changing the game.

I won't claim that the game will be better after this (especially in the short term), but it certainly will be different.

Re: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy

#93
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lets hope we get to the place were these books will be written. Books are already being banned in the US and some retailers are pulling these books from their selves.

Books will be written but not by the Americans much like the fall of Rome wasn't covered by the Romans.

If you mean the fall of the Roman Republic, that and the succeeding decadence of the Empire was covered in detail by Roman sources. The Annals of Tacitus are just one of many examples. [0] It's how we know what happened.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annals_(Tacitus)

Re: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy

#94

> And NSF said pending proposals that appeared to violate any of Trump’s executive orders—in particular those banning efforts to increase diversity in the scientific workforce, foster environmental justice, and study the spread of misinformation on social media sites—would be returned for “mitigation.” Basically don't study how Elon's websites are destroying the fabric of society or how Trump's policies will destroy…

The site formally known as Twitter is destroying the fabric of society, really? Do you hear yourself?

I think social media as a whole is destroying the fabric of society, yes.

Re: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy

#95
post #32
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“stick it to all the too-tolerent people who let the woke movement gain power” would be a good steel manning of your argument

Which people in the woke movement had power, and what were some of the woke policies that they enacted? Every time I go down this line, it’s all vague boogeymen or claims of events that don’t hold up to scrutiny.

I dont know Im only removing the strawmen of the comment

Re: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy

#97

> And NSF said pending proposals that appeared to violate any of Trump’s executive orders—in particular those banning efforts to increase diversity in the scientific workforce, foster environmental justice, and study the spread of misinformation on social media sites—would be returned for “mitigation.” Basically don't study how Elon's websites are destroying the fabric of society or how Trump's policies will destroy…

The site formally known as Twitter is destroying the fabric of society, really? Do you hear yourself?

I would question sanity of anyone who questions this… :)

Re: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy

#98
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Hide perishable foods (fruit) in discreet locations of common areas" That's helpful for the conversation! Should I just keep clicking through this entire site until an answer related to my question appears? (It's a neat site, but... I'm not going to sit here playing go fish until an applicable one-liner appears)

This is what I got: Send people the http:// version of links instead of https:// I actually have no idea how this would disrupt anything.

It would slow down the operation of the organization. In this case, it's counterproductive to the director's aims. The director's goal is to maximize grant funding; a functional bureaucracy is essential for that goal. There is nothing the director can do to increase the funding, which is being cut by an external source. The legality of the funding cut is unclear, but the director has no agency in the outcome of a legal challenge.

Re: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The options you have: A) disagree and commit B) disagree and wait to be fired C) appear to commit, but secretly subvert your (elected) boss's plans/intentions I use the word 'boss' here because the president has the right to hire and fire for this role: SEC. 5. 42 U.S.C. 1864 (a) The Director of the Foundation (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Director’’) shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and…

Secret other option: Disagree and convince your boss to change their mind That, of course, probably doesn't apply in this situation since Trump rarely changes his mind. But it does apply in other situations.

There's also malicious compliance... doing EXACTLY what is asked no matter how damaging or stupid. It's the 'let it all burn down' option but I have found it drives change very quickly... CYA, though.

Re: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy

#100
post #81
post #4

One thing I don't understand is people resigning on principles. If something bad is happening to an organization that I hold a significant amount of clout and power in, I'm not just going to leave and hand the reigns to someone on 'their side' -- I'm going to stay and fight and try to make whatever impact I can. So many people are just leaving...instead of fighting. Which seems like it's going to have the effect of j…

I think the likely reason is they have signed a non disparagement agreement and have no avenue to publicly criticize. Additionally, quietly criticizing just means quietly getting fired, then likely still being unable to publicly criticize. The only way to say "hey, I don't think this is right and I don't agree with what's happening here" is to publicly resign and hope that alarm bells start going off in people's head…

US Government employees basically can't sign non-disparagement agreements, the Federal Government doesn't enter into agreements without a fixed time commitment to judge compliance, and there are incredibly strong whistleblower protection laws for Federal employees which would make any non-disparagement agreement very difficult if not impossible to enforce. A Federal judge held that the Trump 2016 campaign's non-disparagement agreements were unenforceable, and there have been no hints of Federal employees being offered anything even like that.

That bit of pedantry aside, I agree with you that the purpose is to draw attention to something bad happening, it is a grander version of leaking to a reporter.

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