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Comment by slg | Hacker News Reader

This is in the wake of Coinbase decision to be a "mission focused company" and prevent their employees from speaking out about political issues at the workplace. It shows the dangers of being apolitical when saying "Blank employees should feel safe and welcome at their job" is apparently still a political statement.

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> As many tech leaders publicly voiced support for Black Lives Matter protests, Black employees at Coinbase said on the Slack messaging platform that they were hurt by the silence of Mr. Armstrong and other executives about the matter.

Also seems like lack of making a statement is now a workplace risk according to the tone of the article.

I don’t see why we need to be debating politics all day in the work place. I can guarantee you my politics (libertarian / capitalist / corporatist / anti-collectivism) will do nothing but enrage you and debates in public chats, lunch, etc. will serve nothing of purpose. Isn’t it better if we save the philosophical debates for beers and the ballot box? I don’t want to hear your soap box and you don’t want to hear mine.

You missed the point of my comment entirely. The issue is how "politics" is defined. I couldn't care less if Coinbase banned people from talking about the estate tax or free trade. However it is a problem when people can't speak up about the discrimination they feel at work.

You are talking about something that is so wrong it warrants a front page NYT expose and results in potentially multi-million dollar lawsuits. I can understand why a company wouldn’t want to promote sessions where everyone accuses the corporation of systemic discrimination.

You can't separate work from politics. The fact that you have a job in the first place is political.

And your “everything is political even the apple you eat” post-modernist schlock is the attitude I want to avoid.

https://globalnews.ca/news/7428870/millions-of-apples-rottin...

But, even the apple you eat, though.

Nothing post modern about it. From the financial system to the rules governing corporate ownership and taxes, they are all political. These these absolutely dominate your day to day life. Even the fact that there is an internet was a political decision (see ARPA then DARPA).

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