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Comment by throwaway-hn123 | Hacker News Reader

So if your co-worker believes that, for example, black people and gays are subhuman and expresses that view you think that's ok and we should all just put up with it?

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This type of setting-a-straw-man-ablaze comment is not good for Hacker News because invariably the rest of the thread catches fire. The bar for civility and substantiveness on sensitive topics is higher, not lower.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12998777 and marked it off-topic.

Looks like you're going to troll with a throwaway account, but I'll bite.

Does he express his views at work or somewhere else? If he's professional at work, I don't give a shit what he thinks.

It's just a thought experiment - not sure why you need to be talking about trolling.

So, if this person is professional at work, then you come home, and watching the news, you see a report about a neo-nazi parade, and there this person is, literally on-screen, shouting "burn the niggers*. Is that also ok?

Of course, this is an extreme example, I'm just interested in understanding where the line is, or indeed if there is one, in the minds of people who think it's ok to express any opinion without there being any consequence.

I'm talking about trolling because you're using a throwaway account. That's a bright red-flag if I've ever seen one.

That said, is he professional at work? If he does his job and doesn't discuss shit at work, that's his business. I'm not going to fire someone because of personal beliefs. Yes, that's an extreme example but I'm not going to play arbiter of beliefs because we are quickly going to get into a slippery slope of defining where a line is, who decides, etc. Hell, if half the folks on Facebook had it their way I might not have a job simply because I prefer Trump to Hillary. You see where I'm going with this?

You're welcome to assume anything you want about the account and its nature, I simply don't care.

If it's my personal belief that I am duty bound to try and get this person fired and find legal ways to ruin their life would you be supportive of that? None of this activity would be carried out at work.

By it's very nature, trying to get him fired involves work. If you're trying to cause strife in the workplace that's fireable in my book.

It's interesting how much of a safe space some people want work to be, isn't it?

See, this is where it's clear that you're trolling to push your agenda.

I don't discriminate at work, full stop. I don't care what you do or who you screw so long as it doesn't affect folks at work. The second you start pushing your political agenda at work it becomes a problem. It has nothing to do with a "safe space" and in fact it is in no way a safe space. Work is not a place to talk politics and push your ideals onto society. We all know these "safe spaces" are just a place for a given "side" to espouse their ideology without having to defend it from rational discourse.

If you want to endorse firing people for their online views, next time don't use a throwaway.

I'll do what I want, thanks. I'll also bear the consequences and not whine like a baby.

> I'll also bear the consequences and not whine like a baby.

You are using a throwaway account. Clearly you are not willing to be beholden to your words online despite advocating for us to do us.

Your comments have been breaking the HN guidelines. We ban accounts that do that repeatedly. Please post civilly and substantively, or not at all, from now on.

Work isn't the appropriate venue to have those discussions. Sometimes ignoring junk behavior is the way to handle junk behavior.

If said behavior persists and it's a distraction to the team, disciplinary action should be taken.

I agree, but it's also true that many companies have official (as in HR required training) opinions on certain topics. In that case, there's already a "discussion", but a one-sided one. Maybe it's the right side, but it's not like we really enforce a hard line between philosophy/ethics/politics and work.

If they don't talk about it at work, and don't treat whatever type of people they hate at work differently, then yes, you ignore.

> and expresses that view

In my opinion, it hinges upon the expression. If they are pleasant at work then one day you find their Facebook profile has a racial and homophobic slur, I don't think that's interfering with the work environment. If they say the same thing to you at work, then you can talk to HR.

Unfortunately, by drawing the line here I'm allowing the possibility that you have to work with someone you don't like. Sorry about that. I think that's part of a larger problem, and I'm open to hear solutions for not-liking-someone-but-being-part-of-a-society. When a person is engaging in poor behaviour in the work context, you can use the mechanisms in place to correct that behaviour, but keep in mind that the goal is behaviour correction not crucifixion.

> If they are pleasant at work

I don't think being pleasant has anything to do with this. Perhaps you meant professional?

Assuming that, what if someone is professional at work, but often says at work that they believe black people should be lynched and are subhuman. Is that ok? If it isn't acceptable, why isn't it?

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