By doing it at work, they are risking high paying jobs, putting their careers at risk. In public.
Risking something for a protest is the whole point. To the extent that they do that with their eyes open, risking high paying jobs, they are heroes.
If they do that thinking the people who control Google will be fine with that and they will still keep their jobs, they are, well, without jobs.
They drew attention to their cause, you're talking about them. You're talking about their cause.
>> even from the point of view of someone that supports their views
What views of theirs do you support, exactly?
They may find sympathy at some businesses, but the larger the company, likely the less of that.
Got a chuckle out of me.
Look, if you are in the most elite institutions, then you should stand up for something. If they can’t fucking do it, what hope do other people have? So the starving Gaza kid can’t do shit, the Columbia student can’t, and the Google engineer can’t.
And this goes for people on both sides of the issue.
Tricky business.
You almost got it. We are talking about them… but not about their cause.
And therein lies the gold: they found a cause that they can use to scream look at me me me.
I suspect this is the same for everyone, even those who may be discussing Google's response.
So they may have wanted a "me me me" response, or they may have legitimately wanted to raise awareness, but it's a pretty large fail for a now strongly narrowed career path.
Unless the definition of virtue signalling is so expansive as to be meaningless, where every act of protest which is not anonymous is virtue signalling.
If you want to attribute their actions to a genuine desire to help the Palestinians, that is fine.
Are you just changing the subject?
They accomplished me never responding to Google recruiter emails and informing others in my network to avoid Google where they can be fired for happening upon a protest at work.
Or alternately, one could easily say that in a just world a person would leave their when they disagree with the company rather than making a spectacle out of it.
No one was stopped from going to work. There were no "political debates" going on, much less "forced" on people.
I swear you guys are just making stuff up to get mad at. I feel like there are real problems you could be worried about, like the people in Rafah. Instead I see a lot of chuffing about a gathering of noisy people. Whatever makes you feel good about your time on earth, I guess.
Call it what you want I guess, but that is IMO stopping work and engaging in political debate.
I'm not sure why you reach for a straw man argument about air or mixed race couples, neither of those are relevant here at all and just make your argument weaker.
Edit: also to be clear, I'm not sure who the "you guys" you're referring to are and I'd rather not be lumped in with some larger group for my opinion on one specific situation. I'm also not looking to be angry about anything and am in no way angry about this. I can have opinions without it throwing my mood out of whack.
To be clear, I'm well aware those are quotes from Google's PR department. I'm not taking them as true and was primarily building off other comments here. I think I covered that well by making sure I including "if true ..." caveats, not sure what else you'd want from me here other than to agree with you.
So that is what Google, one party to the conflict, claims. Not something independent sources have verified. I'm pretty sure the protestors deny that anyone was "physically disrupted". Edit: You have updated your comments. My point is that it is unfair to default to believing Google and disbelieving the protestors.
And again to be clear, I'm intentionally not trusting only Google and I called that out when I included a source (as requested). I don't think I've been misleading or unfair here, I'm not quite sure what you're taking issue with at this point.
This is a bit revealing. If you can't see anything but "us vs them" that's fine, but many people are a lot more objective and less trival than that. And that's why we'll win.
(Kidding about the last part. That's tribal lunacy.)
The protestors want change from the company. So they protest. The company wants to shut them up. So they fire everyone.
The protestors still want change, now plus compensation. So they sue. Not suing makes no sense, as it concedes defeat and gets them no closer to their goals.
Not necessarily. Unfortunately law suit as media event is a thing now.
I can think of a number of protests that didn’t involve risking one’s career, livelihood, or life - that were pretty successful outside the workplace. Inside the workplace, it’s not a public venue and you don’t have the right to occupy offices and sit ins and disrupt work while expecting the company to pay you for that time.
Get realistic. They aren’t heroes. They are trespassers. Disruptive ex-employees that cost the company money. Now if they did this right outside Google offices on the streets, that’s a different story all together. That’s a public place. However, many states have at-will employment so if the company feels you no longer represent their interests, you’re done. Bye. Doesn’t matter the cause.
Either these people genuinely believed there was scope for discussion, or believed their opinion/choice of topic is a PR minefield that their employer wouldn't dare take action or they really wanted to get fired.
I'm not from the US. So, unless I'm missing some cultural context, their actions like political activism at work (unless related to labor issues and laws) are unthinkable atleast in my country.
Lately it’s been those 2D animations using canned software and AI voice over because that’s cheaper than actually giving a damn. Animaker I believe.
If they as employees refuse to work (what they’re paid to do), then the employer has every right to fire them. They aren’t forming a union or something.
You’re saying that there are countries where there could be an employee that does all this stuff (refusing to din their day to day job) and potentially politicizes the public image of the company and the company couldn’t fire them?
Not talking about fairness or morality. Just legality.
These aren’t whistleblowers either.
But hey, if you are an IT employee and haven't had to go through those annoying trainings I'd be surprised and a little jealous.
And bitter people too I suppose.
Edit: and lest I be accused of harassment, good morning or -silence- to everyone according to your preference!
Ps Also our calendars are provided by the equal employment opportunity office and have helpful quotes each month on what is harassment and what is going to happen to you if you do it!
PPS in addition to multiple asynchronous trainings and live events and calendars it’s also plastered all over the buildings, bathrooms, and break rooms.
PPPS we also get emails regularly from top level secretaries and directors and I think there may be dedicated months as well to increase awareness.
Final: I sound bitter here but I agree harassment is bad but the level of psychological programming makes my stomach turn. Anyways yes it’s real.
Don't work for the Empire.
I empathize with people wanting to speak out over something they are passionate about. I do this often. Just know your venue and know your audience. Bridges take a while to build…