Van Jones cheers decline of workplace activism
Former Obama advisor Van Jones argued that workplace activism has become ridiculous in recent years, saying he will not mourn its passing as CEOs crack down on politicization of the workplace.
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Former Obama advisor Van Jones has had it with employees bringing their politics to work, saying it has gotten “ridiculous” and it is time to “move on.”
Multiple companies have turned against activism in the workplace, a remarkable shift from the early 2020s when DEI, social responsibility and corporate-sponsored activism were ubiquitous.
“For some companies, the new message to employees is ‘Check your politics and your activism at the door when you come to work,’” CNN host Abby Phillip told her panel Saturday. “CEOs are making one thing clear, ‘The office is not the public square,’ and they‘re probably not wrong about that.”
Political commentator Van Jones warned that the time of activists politicizing the workplace has come to an end. (Photo by Paul Marotta/Getty Images)
Phillip added that politics has seeped into nearly every corner of society in recent years, “And it‘s not to say that you can‘t have free speech in your life, but employers are just like, ‘Do your job and don‘t do anything else.’”
Jones, who has had a lengthy history of progressive activism himself, agreed. While once sympathetic to the mindset of such activists, he said their time has passed.
“This is not going to make me popular, but I’m not mad [about the change], because it got ridiculous,” he said. “I mean, I‘m an employer and at a certain point, your Slack channel just turns into Vietnam every other day because something happened that had nothing to do with the workplace.”
He noted the headache of having to bring in counselors for such moments of crisis, saying, “This is not camp, guys, we’re trying to make money.”
Van Jones is a left-wing commentator, but has not been shy about the Democrats’ flaws. (New York Times Events YouTube channel)
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“So, I enjoyed the moment, for a while, where we were having our reckonings about everything. We done wrecked, okay?” he said, sparking laughter. “We went from reckoning to wrecked. We need to move on.”
“I take a similar approach,” CNN global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh replied. “I think what you do in your own free time, whether you want to participate in political activism or whatever it is, whatever cause you take up, I think you have to do that on your own time.”
Phillip recalled working on a book about activist Jesse Jackson, noting how he once pressured companies from the outside to adopt more progressive policies. Years later, she said, public perception shifted after a flood of corporate PR statements — so much so that “people may have gotten fooled that these corporations were doing anything other than what they needed to do to survive.”
CNN host Abby Phillip argued that this corporate sea change is a sign of the times. (Getty Images)
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Republican strategist Lance Trover noted the historic moment of bipartisan agreement on the show.
“You need to mark this moment in this show down,” he said. “This may be where we all agree here at this table, here tonight. I mean, yeah, ‘Welcome to the real world, Gen-Z wokesters.’ I don‘t know what to tell you.”