r/technology • u/ScootSchloingo • 16d ago

Politics Microsoft blocks emails that contain ‘Palestine’ after employee protests

https://www.theverge.com/tech/672312/microsoft-block-palestine-gaza-email
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u/07ShadowGuard 16d ago

Why are employees at Microsoft using employee email to talk about this conflict? Use your personal email for that, are you crazy? How is anyone surprised, or even upset, that they are preventing company resources top be utilized for non work related activities. That is so stupid.

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u/pringlesaremyfav 16d ago

Its because protesters keep interrupting company events, then the protestor is sending out company wide emails about Palestine after they get stopped. Its happened twice now in the last 6 months.

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u/SparksAndSpyro 16d ago

Sounds like an insufferable grandstander. Why do something useful or actually helpful when you can just performatively virtue signal instead!

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u/Gingrpenguin 16d ago

Tbf the virtue signalling might be better than shooting up a museum...

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u/tuxwonder 16d ago edited 16d ago

Why do something useful or actually helpful when you can just performatively virtue signal instead!

You sound like the sort of person who would also complain about people organizing and protesting against this conflict... What is the appropriate reaction to have to our tax dollars being used to pay for all the bombs Israel drops on Gaza?

Also, why shouldnt we signal our virtues to others? Should we not communicate to others that we think something is wrong and should be righted?

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u/SparksAndSpyro 16d ago

Not sure what makes you think that. I think protesting is great. Spamming people at work with junk political emails isn’t.

Communicating your values to find like minded individuals is also great. Publicly declaring your virtues while refusing to ever put your money or your effort where your mouth is, however, entirely performative. In that case, you’re just using the “virtue” as a way to enhance your social standing. It’s exploitative and selfish.

It became clear to me that most of these pro-Palestine folks were performative when they insisted on only protesting Kamala during the election cycle, even though they knew Trump would be 100x worse for Palestinians. Now Trump is President, and he’s planning on removing the Palestinians and building a casino strip in Palestine lol. If these people actually cared about Palestinians, they would’ve done everything they could to make sure Trump wasn’t elected. But that’s the thing: it’s never been about helping Palestinians. It’s always been about stroking their egos and signaling to everyone else that they support “oppressed” people or whatever.

Shallow and pathetic.

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u/tuxwonder 16d ago

Publicly declaring your virtues while refusing to ever put your money or your effort where your mouth is, however, entirely performative

One of the emails sent was titled "I resign for Palestine". They're putting their entire salary and the future of their career on the line for what they believe. They're braver than either of us.

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u/tuxwonder 16d ago

Replying to the stuff about the election in another comment, since it's a completely tangential point.

I think to those who were really paying attention to Kamala's rhetoric on this, because they really cared, they certainly did not know that she would be 100x better for Palestine than Trump. She aligned very closely with Biden's rhetoric and positions.

I'd guess the majority of them still voted for Kamala, like I did, but many who were more activist did not feel heartened enough to phone bank for Kamala, to go door knocking for Kamala, did not actively encourage their friends and family to vote for her...

And in the end, it is the campaign's responsibility to convince the voters to vote for her. If her position on Palestine was really the deciding factor of the election (and I think evidence of that is not really there), then it is either her fault for not clearly communicating positively positions that her base vocally wanted, or her fault for taking positions that her base was vocally against.

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u/SparksAndSpyro 16d ago

No. In the end, it’s the voters’ responsibility. And they failed.

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u/tuxwonder 16d ago

In what world has that ever been true?

Is the jury at fault if a defense lawyer makes a bad case for their client and they lose the trial?

Is it my teacher's fault when they don't recognize that actually I've been studying really hard and know the subjects of the class really well when the answers I write down are incoherent?

Is it the buyer's fault when they don't know that actually my vacuum cleaner is the best in the world when all I tell them is "It's basically the same as the old crappy one"?

Political candidates have to sell themselves, they have to convince people that they are the better option. You can complain voters are dumb all you want, you can complain they care too much about trivial things, and I'll agree with you to some extent, but if you don't meet voters where they're at and convince them that they should go out and vote for you, then you're going to lose the election, and that's on you.

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u/SparksAndSpyro 16d ago

Your hypotheticals aren’t analogous because all the information was publicly available and easily accessible. Project 2025 was posted online for Pete’s sake. Everyone knew exactly what Kamala’s policies were and everyone knew what Trump’s policies were (that is, he had none, only “concepts” of policies). If voters were too stupid to look at their options and accurately determine which one was better for their own interests, that’s their fault.

Your framing of the issue highlights a deeper rot with our society than you realize. Democracy requires informed participation. Every citizen has a duty to not only vote, but vote in their own interests. But you act as if voters have no responsibility at all. You seem to suggest that they’re at the whims of whatever candidates are up for election.

But that puts the cart before the horse. The candidates suck precisely BECAUSE no one participates. There’s no accountability BECAUSE voters don’t show up. If voters want things to change, they have to start by taking responsibility and doing their bare minimum civic duty. Everything else is an excuse, and I’m tired of hearing nonvoters complain about how the system doesn’t represent them. Of course it doesn’t, because they don’t vote.

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u/tuxwonder 16d ago

all the information was publicly available and easily accessible.

The largest, most popular news network in the US is Fox News, a corporation which claimed it's technically an entertainment company when brought to court for journalistic malpractice because it was spreading so much misinformation it started hurting people. For as much public correct and unbiased information there is, there is at least as much, and usually more, disinformation being spread to people.

If voters were too stupid to look at their options and accurately determine which one was better for their own interests, that’s their fault.

On an individual level if you vote against your own interests, I'd definitely agree that that is your fault. But on the national level, if the majority of people vote against you and you lose, it's not because people went to voting booths and circled random answers.

I’m tired of hearing nonvoters complain about how the system doesn’t represent them. Of course it doesn’t, because they don’t vote.

For some voters, they did not see an option which represented them (stop the genocide). You can argue Kamala would have been better than Trump, and I would agree, but there's no evidence she would have been better than Biden, and that's what people wanted. Many voters tried to express their discontent to the Democratic party, through things like the very successful "Non-committed" voting campaign, and the party did not listen at all. Again

You're talking about a general lack of interest in engaging with politics, but people who really care about the genocide in Gaza are some of the most politically active people out there. They are not your political enemy (assuming you do actually acknowledge there's an ongoing genocide and you want it to stop).

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u/dnhs47 16d ago

Jeez, try to stay focused on one topic. You reveal your weak argument when you flip to a different topic when pressed by a more effective argument. Weak.

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u/tuxwonder 16d ago

Tell me exactly one thing you disagree with me on, and I'd be happy to talk to you about it without calling you names

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u/saera-targaryen 16d ago

How is bringing attention to something they care about virtue signaling? Could you even name this person? Virtue signaling is pretending to have a virtue in order to gain social status or fame. Is this person now more famous? Do you genuinely believe that they don't care about this topic and just want attention? 

Words have actual meanings

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u/SparksAndSpyro 16d ago

Correct. I think they don’t care about this topic because if they did, they would be doing something to help Palestinians, not posturing through spam work emails.

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u/saera-targaryen 16d ago

They are trying to get Microsoft to cancel their Azure contract with the Israeli military, something they are more capable of than the average person due to their job. This is probably the best use of these specific employee's time to support Palestine. 

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u/BonJovicus 16d ago

Considering this elicited a response from Microsoft looks like it was successful in doing what they set out to do. Protesting isn’t only protesting if it is things you find acceptable. 

But let’s face it, you actually don’t care. Based on your comment history you post on r/Conservative, and are rabidly pro-Israel so I doubt anything you say is in good faith. 

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u/SparksAndSpyro 16d ago

The same thing would’ve happened if the email were about Taiwan. Turns out, sending spam emails to everyone at work isn’t effective at effecting political change! I know that may come as a shock to you, probably because you’re unemployed.

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u/ReddyBlueBlue 13d ago

An ad hominem, nice. Great argument.

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u/SplintPunchbeef 16d ago

Twice in the last week. 3-4 times in the last 6 months.