[FirmwareBurner]

Please stop generalizing. As a an european you definitely CAN be fired here for political beliefs if they impact work. Actually you can be fired for anything. Come to Austria and see.

You're not allowed to bring your political beliefs at work, which IMHO is best for everyone. Keep them at home/your private time. Same for religion, sexuality, etc. Your workplace is not your market square for your personal beliefs and activism.

[truckerbill]

This behaviour is itself inherently good for authoritarian regimes though. You can’t escape politics

[FirmwareBurner]

Yes you can. Nobody's stopping you from engaging in politics outsider of work(go vote, write to your congressman, go protest, etc), and nobody'd forcing you to work at a company that does things you disagree with. But at work, you go to do work in exchange for money.

The publicly listed company must do what its shareholders want, it has no obligation to do what its employees want, and as long as the company doesn't break any local government laws and employment laws, then it's in the green. You disagreeing with the company's direction is your own matter to deal with, as in, you are free to walk since the company isn't forcing you to work there against your will.

You have no idea what authoritarianism actually means.

[ParetoOptimal]

They mean that politics and ideology are what your boss is going by to determine whether to give you or your coworker a raise. Or at the least it plays a large part.

Even if you dont talk about politics you are subject to the forces of it.

[FirmwareBurner]

But politics is changed at the voting booths or via engagement with your lawmakers, not wit your employer. Your employer will only follow the laws set by the state, not by the employees (unless we're talking about a cooperative which Google isn't)

[ParetoOptimal]

Employees or employers political views can be affected by others.

I realize you don't want to encourage people discussing politics in the workspace and it being 100% ineffective would improve your arguments.

[ParetoOptimal]

Also, consider the visibility of their protest after getting fired and discussions like this happening across the web.

And no, not all of those discussions end with "keep politics out of f work" and instead focus on how googlers are or arent complicit in powering genocide in t he e project presentation interrupted.

[FirmwareBurner]

> instead focus on how googlers are or arent complicit in powering genocide in t he e project presentation interrupted

Yes, and Googlers who are against that can put a stop that by quitting their jobs in protest. You can't go around and publicly slander your company calling them genocidal, while still being employed there, just because they don't do what you'd want them to do, without expecting repercussions when you don't follow your contractual agreement.

You are free to do that after you resign and no longer have the responsibility to follow your contract, which probably stated your job is to be a coding cog, not a PR public speaker for the company policies.

Even in Europe(the German speaking countries), if you publicly accuse your employer of causing genocide, you'd better bring some hard proof to back that up(other than your emotional feelings), otherwise you can not only get fired on the spot but also sued for libel/slander and have to pay defamation damages.

[truckerbill]

If you were to read a some critiques of neoliberalism you would understand how free market utopianism can lead to authoritarianism/is used as a cover for it. The idea of the absolute duty to shareholders is newer that you would think. It’s an ideological standpoint. So already you are quoting a political line

Regulatory capture and monopoly are both things shareholders might want but are bad for society.

‘Just doing your job’ doesn’t cut it, we’re are part of a community and should feel a civic duty. That’s what i mean

[int_19h]

And that is how you get a society that is effectively run by sociopaths.

[pimeys]

Yeah, you should definitely also stop talking about your kids at work. Nobody cares about your straight lifestyle.

[Retric]

You can definitionally be fired for giving excessive details about your strait lifestyle. Also, anyone can have kids via marriage, adoption, etc.

[flumpcakes]

You assume only "straight" people can have kids? Sexuality != having kids.

[pixxel]

Kids are everything, and the discussion of children is healthy and normal.

[pimeys]

Cock is everything.

[sandspar]

I'm sorry but kids are more important and valuable than the sex life itself.

[matthewmacleod]

You're not allowed to bring your political beliefs at work, which IMHO is best for everyone.

Everybody does bring their political beliefs to work, and it manifests in things like how they interact with their colleagues and customers.

Choosing whether or not to provide equal benefits to same-sex couples is a political decision. Providing goods or services to an authoritarian regime is a political act. Your maternity policy is a political act. Even your dress code can be a political act.

What you really mean is that people shouldn’t be bringing to work views outside of a small range you deem uncontroversial.

[FirmwareBurner]

>Everybody does bring their political beliefs to work, and it manifests in things like how they interact with their colleagues and customers.

Not it doesn't. How people interact with others at work is a function of their personality and professionalism at their job, not a function of their political color.

If someone at work is being a dick, it only shows that he's a dick, but political junkies will try to justify that it must be because he's of the opposite political beliefs they have, because in their head "all those people behave like that".

[sandspar]

Ugh. Why is it that political junkies try to involve everyone else in their game? Most people just want to have a normal life and not get wrapped up in your meta-game about politics. Even the portentousness of calling them "political acts". That impressive sounding two-word phrase that everyone in the political game copies each other by using. Ugh. "You can't play your favorite game because you're all playing in my favorite game."