We're not actually trying to equate working on email products at Basecamp to working at Auschwitz are we? It's an interesting anecdote but it hardly serves a useful function here.
It is also a complete inverse of the situation: it isn't the work being called into question, but whether or not everyone uniformly agrees in terms of their personal opinions and personal lifestyles.
I find the analogy above to be rather gross.
Try and look deeper. Sometimes an extreme example at the 99.9999th percentile can bound the problem.
In this case, it demonstrates how well people can separate work from home.
I would say the quote does not demonstrate the delineation between work and non-work. It's about in-group vs out-group bias. If the quote were about Nazi's coming home and hanging out with ethnically diverse friends, that would demonstrate considerable work vs home culture.
I'm sorry, but I disagree
Substantiate it if you're going to comment.
I don't even know where to begin. How did you come up with in group vs out group? Who in this is the in group?
German nationals vs other. They’re suggesting OP is drawing a false analogy by framing the compartmentalisation through employment and ignoring the ethnic divisions.
Basecamp is a small company, but Google was caught helping the US military, while most of the employees working for Google are not Americans. Even one of the cofounders and the current CEO are not American born, which means that they are asked to potentially do things agains their family.
Isn't that where you, the worker, draw a line and say which companies you will work for?
No, but for example I was working really hard under Google while Eric Schmidt was the CEO. Then in my last year working there I stopped caring about working hard enough to get a promotion, and just treated it as a workplace where I get money to invest. After a fatFIRE I never looked back.