Is this a problem? Having your country commit genocide should be very confronting. Is there a particular right to defend this?
people have a right to feel at ease in the workplace. if you think that your politics come before that, you aren't mature enough to work in a professional environment
Is the company supplying arms to Russia? Is the coworker the boss who lied about doing so? Have the Russians killed 15,000 children in 6 months with the aid of those weapons?
Let's keep these analogies somewhat accurate.
Where in my comment did I say anything about the company? GP was referring to making specific coworkers feel uncomfortable on the basis of ethnic identity
If you think your politics take precedence over having a workplace where people can be productive without feeling under threat, consider freelance work
If you disagree with your employer on such a fundamental level, maybe consider a different employer? If you leaving isn't enough to make them change their mind, what more will this degree of protesting accomplish?
Is there some evidence that this is a defense/military-related project despite Google's public denials that that is the case? Honest question, I have no idea.
Protest on your own time and let the rest of us do our jobs and go home to our families. This is no different than protesters blocking roads or airports. At best you get a few minutes of fame on the nightly news and at worst you end up alienating people who would otherwise be sympathetic to your cause.
The thing is, if you were a palestinian male you would likely be bombed in your home with your family once you got there. I'd be pretty pissed off about that too, and feel obliged to inform the people working on the system that killed you that they are doing some plainly evil shit.
I refer to this: https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/
Edit: The flagged of truth. :P
Maybe a relative of one of the ones whose bodies were mutilated and paraded around for all to see? You don't think that might touch a nerve?
Or on the opposite shoe: What if it were a bunch of Israeli employees who occupied that office demanding that google do MORE to support the war effort?
Leave your politics out of the workplace. This is not rocket science and the phenomenon we have nowadays where _everything_ must be co-opted for the political cause-du-jour is outright exhausting, even to people who support it.
I feel you’re being deliberately obtuse on this.
You realize there are many examples of these sit-ins lately end with protesters gluing themselves to the floor/road or damaging property, maybe toss some paint on priceless art when it happens to a museum? Or relieving themselves in place so that some poor underpaid janitor has to clean up? After the protesters smile for the camera of course.
I find that pretty intimidating because if the spoiled rich brats looking for social media points are willing to do that to themselves what else are they willing to do? Is it totally unreasonable to assume one could be stupid and end up hitting someone? In the United State where gun crime is unfortunately high?
The likelihood of this particular incident developing into that was probably pretty low but the point is that other people should not have to make that kind of mental calculus at work. They have a right not to be subjected to whatever hot button political cause is in vogue when they’re trying to go to work so they can feed themselves and their family.
If you want to protest do it on your own time on public property or your own. Don’t expect sympathy from those of us that don’t want to hear it at our place of business.
I wouldn't even feel comfortable disclosing being Jewish to anyone in the workplace without getting chased down by a rabid mob chanting "free Palestine"
Nor am I obligated to qualify my own Jewishness by giving some opinion critical of the status quo
If you have difficulty coexisting with minorities in the workplace, that's your problem. We aren't obligated to put up with your shit
Here's what was asked:
> Do you have references for the “intimidated and threatened” bit? Is there a claim it went beyond a peaceful protest?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40087425
Look at this photo and tell me seriously you feel "threatened" by people sitting on the floor to protest a previously-thought-of-as-good company being a military contractor now:
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,forma...
As a thought experiment, let's say they were protesting Google working for the French military. Or the US military. Or the South Korean military. Is the above a photo of an "intimidating and threatening" protest?
Rather than get bogged in semantics, I'll settle for ethnic cleansing and argue from there: Israel has systematically displaced Palestinians with their own population for decades against international law. Israel has placed civilians in a conflict zone to occupy land.
This is not a controversial set of facts and I encourage you to follow it up. Israel is absolutely breaking international law: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/03/un-human-rig... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement
Israel has used civilians for military objectives in occupied land. The civilians comprise part of Israel's hostile, occupying force against the owners of the land, no?
The narrative that Hamas attacked simple peaceloving people and deserves to be crushed mercilessly is an oversimplification which ignores all context.
Despite insightful sounding statements like yours, there's nothing added to the conversation by saying 'its complicated'. You muddy the mud.