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This is all fine and well for people whose authentic self is aligned to whatever is socially preferable in their particular work environment. An all-inclusive w

This is all fine and well for people whose authentic self is aligned to whatever is socially preferable in their particular work environment. An all-inclusive work environment is not possible in today's highly polarised society. E.g. an individual expressing their authentic right-wing views at a place like Google with their 'bring your whole self to work' mantra clearly wouldn't work out well. The real title should be: finding a workplace where you can be authentic promotes well-being in life.

loopz 7y ago
My own thoughts exactly. Not being right-wing, but that this idea is something everyone agrees on and think is a great idea and why don't we just do it. Which sounds great, until managers find out they're liable and run some risks they don't necessarily agree with or understand enough. So it becomes mandated to "bring your own self to work", as long as it raises productivity metrics only and liability is siloed in the individual or other departments. Where the culture is great already, this would only be natural and already in-grained, not merely tolerated. Other places, most places, just another tool for higher-stake power-games.
harlanji 7y ago
I wish I could explain this to people, as a major reason for being homeless in SF. I have many right-wing views and am as authentic as possible, which leads to severe ostracization in most environments. Kicked out of all friend groups post-Trump. I get along with the police, actually thought it’d be funny to apply to a PD last night. Obviously saying that I am ostracized for having right wing views and attitudes is triggering to 90% of people here. I stay because I am non-soy vegan/jain, and also attend a lot of meetups and lay low. I do get kicked out and picked on for frivolous reasons/litmus tested. I am a non-Churchian Christian, really at a loss for where to find leads into a coding job. Before Trump my career was great, now I am lucky to work 8 hours a week of odd jobs. We really need to work on accepting authenticity.
- rewgs 7y ago
  Hard to feel sorry for you, to be honest. Have you ever considered that the policies you support objectively hurt people, and maybe that’s why you’re being kicked out?
- lazyjones 7y ago
  I've met people who feel treated like you before. They were usually rather obnoxious in their display of their political opinions. I'm not saying you are, but you might want to stick to living by your views instead of letting everyone know what they are at the earliest opportunity. Just be more diplomatic about it, both sides will benefit without anyone changing their views.
  - clairity 7y ago
    yes, that's a subtle but important point. be rather than tell. being is self-directed, while telling is externally-directed. that is, it's trying to exert power on others, and most folks don't like that. with that said, there is an asymmetry in viewpoints that gets lost in the tribalism of ideologies: while both can be short-sighted/misguided (in different ways), many right-wing/conservative positions are about preserving the status of the already powerful, while left-wing/liberal positions are about empowering the disempowered. robin hood, not the sheriff of nottingham, is the hero we generally root for.
  - larnmar 7y ago
    You’re probably right about the OP, who has managed somehow to alienate his way into homelessness, a rather extreme case. On the other hand, selection bias. For every “out and proud” right-winger in the valley getting lynched by an angry mob, there’s hundreds more conservatives, libertarians and even centrists keeping their heads down and trying to avoid political conversations because they know that being their “authentic selves” in such a situation would be a career-limiting move.
- Thiez 7y ago
  Personally I can respect people who are open about their viewpoints, so in that way I appreciate authenticity. But when I strongly disagree with their viewpoints I still may not want to hang out with them. I wouldn't want to have Adolf Hitler in my book club, despite him being unapologetically authentic. I expect the people who rejected you feel the same (hopefully to a lesser degree than if you were literally Hitler).
- enterabdazer 7y ago
  Authenticity is orthogonal to expression. Authenticity is about owning your values and understanding your self. Authenticity is not sharing your political opinions with the world. Sharing opinions is about controlling your image. You can hold political views of any stripe and be well accepted by people whose opinions clash with yours. Authenticity is not broadcasting your opinions about the world, it's not compromising on your values in order to fit in. Political views are imperfectly derived from values; they're derivative and less important and should be freely modified as you acquire experience, new perspectives, and more information. Values and authenticity, in contrast, stem from internal discourse and exploration.
philwelch 7y ago
“Bringing your whole self to work” is and always has been a privilege extended to those whose whole selves are socially accepted. It’s good that being LGBT is socially accepted at places like Google. But pretending that “bringing your whole self to work” can be a universal rule for everyone is either dishonest or requires the hubris to believe that marginalization no longer exists in any form. The mask of “professionalism” sucks, but someone will always have to wear it, and perhaps it’s more equitable if it’s worn by all of us and not just some of us.
RichardCA 7y ago
I always felt like this is exactly what happened with Brendan Eich. There was an expectation that he would be authentic about his reasons for supporting Prop 8 in 2008, and his authentic position was that he be allowed privacy regarding his personal views on the matter. This tension was not resolvable.

loopz 7y ago

My own thoughts exactly. Not being right-wing, but that this idea is something everyone agrees on and think is a great idea and why don't we just do it. Which sounds great, until managers find out they're liable and run some risks they don't necessarily agree with or understand enough. So it becomes mandated to "bring your own self to work", as long as it raises productivity metrics only and liability is siloed in the individual or other departments. Where the culture is great already, this would only be natural and already in-grained, not merely tolerated. Other places, most places, just another tool for higher-stake power-games.

harlanji 7y ago

I wish I could explain this to people, as a major reason for being homeless in SF. I have many right-wing views and am as authentic as possible, which leads to severe ostracization in most environments. Kicked out of all friend groups post-Trump. I get along with the police, actually thought it’d be funny to apply to a PD last night. Obviously saying that I am ostracized for having right wing views and attitudes is triggering to 90% of people here. I stay because I am non-soy vegan/jain, and also attend a lot of meetups and lay low. I do get kicked out and picked on for frivolous reasons/litmus tested. I am a non-Churchian Christian, really at a loss for where to find leads into a coding job. Before Trump my career was great, now I am lucky to work 8 hours a week of odd jobs. We really need to work on accepting authenticity.

rewgs 7y ago
Hard to feel sorry for you, to be honest. Have you ever considered that the policies you support objectively hurt people, and maybe that’s why you’re being kicked out?
lazyjones 7y ago
I've met people who feel treated like you before. They were usually rather obnoxious in their display of their political opinions. I'm not saying you are, but you might want to stick to living by your views instead of letting everyone know what they are at the earliest opportunity. Just be more diplomatic about it, both sides will benefit without anyone changing their views.
- clairity 7y ago
  yes, that's a subtle but important point. be rather than tell. being is self-directed, while telling is externally-directed. that is, it's trying to exert power on others, and most folks don't like that. with that said, there is an asymmetry in viewpoints that gets lost in the tribalism of ideologies: while both can be short-sighted/misguided (in different ways), many right-wing/conservative positions are about preserving the status of the already powerful, while left-wing/liberal positions are about empowering the disempowered. robin hood, not the sheriff of nottingham, is the hero we generally root for.
- larnmar 7y ago
  You’re probably right about the OP, who has managed somehow to alienate his way into homelessness, a rather extreme case. On the other hand, selection bias. For every “out and proud” right-winger in the valley getting lynched by an angry mob, there’s hundreds more conservatives, libertarians and even centrists keeping their heads down and trying to avoid political conversations because they know that being their “authentic selves” in such a situation would be a career-limiting move.
Thiez 7y ago
Personally I can respect people who are open about their viewpoints, so in that way I appreciate authenticity. But when I strongly disagree with their viewpoints I still may not want to hang out with them. I wouldn't want to have Adolf Hitler in my book club, despite him being unapologetically authentic. I expect the people who rejected you feel the same (hopefully to a lesser degree than if you were literally Hitler).
enterabdazer 7y ago
Authenticity is orthogonal to expression. Authenticity is about owning your values and understanding your self. Authenticity is not sharing your political opinions with the world. Sharing opinions is about controlling your image. You can hold political views of any stripe and be well accepted by people whose opinions clash with yours. Authenticity is not broadcasting your opinions about the world, it's not compromising on your values in order to fit in. Political views are imperfectly derived from values; they're derivative and less important and should be freely modified as you acquire experience, new perspectives, and more information. Values and authenticity, in contrast, stem from internal discourse and exploration.

philwelch 7y ago

“Bringing your whole self to work” is and always has been a privilege extended to those whose whole selves are socially accepted. It’s good that being LGBT is socially accepted at places like Google. But pretending that “bringing your whole self to work” can be a universal rule for everyone is either dishonest or requires the hubris to believe that marginalization no longer exists in any form. The mask of “professionalism” sucks, but someone will always have to wear it, and perhaps it’s more equitable if it’s worn by all of us and not just some of us.

RichardCA 7y ago

I always felt like this is exactly what happened with Brendan Eich. There was an expectation that he would be authentic about his reasons for supporting Prop 8 in 2008, and his authentic position was that he be allowed privacy regarding his personal views on the matter. This tension was not resolvable.