4 ms·
My wife is mostly liberal from a US political perspective, but happens to be opposed to abortion. I happen to disagree in nuanced ways with her on this topic.
by JPKab 6y ago
My wife is mostly liberal from a US political perspective, but happens to be opposed to abortion. I happen to disagree in nuanced ways with her on this topic. My business.
According to my coworkers, who discovered this because they saw her bumper sticker when she picked me up one day, this is because she is "ignorant and doesn't know the facts" and "if she knew the facts she wouldn't think that way" and that I "need to talk to her and explain them."
They think that, due to their profession, they are intelligent, and therefore anyone who disagrees with them about a complex topic is either less intelligent or uninformed. It's the epitome of youthful arrogance. Naturally, none of them have kids and really don't see the nuance of the issue. It's insufferable, and at one point I was getting ready to clobber a guy who I am 100% positive has never been hit in his life.
Politics should be left out of work. And yes, by convincing a broad spectrum of the American public that Trump won the election because of a few facebook ads bought by Russian assets, instead of simply saying that they had a shitty candidate, the Democratic party has essentially pressured tech companies to have political filtering on their staff. If Facebook had Republicans working at senior levels in their company, they would have been subjected to even more harassment from Dem leaders who scapegoated them for their loss in 2016. Facebook has former Democratic party operatives at high levels in their company. They don't and can't have anyone from the Republican party. They get unending amounts of shit for Thiel being on their board.
- lazyasciiart 6y agoBut you're completely wrong. Facebook does have Republicans at senior levels in their company - Republicans as in "Joel Kaplan, vice-president of global public policy at Facebook, manages the company’s relationships with policymakers around the world. A former law clerk to archconservative justice Antonin Scalia on the supreme court, he served as deputy chief of staff for policy under former president George W Bush from 2006 to 2009, joining Facebook two years later." https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/03/facebook-politics-republicans-right https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/03/facebook-... https://popular.info/p/the-republican-political-operatives https://popular.info/p/the-republican-political-operatives
- kmonsen 6y agoI think it is a bit more nuanced than that, and that the line is really hard to draw. If you wife for example got a manager that thought the females had no place in the workplace and should be a stay at home wife and was open about this, would that be ok? If you are gay, and your manager loudly say that being gay is a sin, would that be ok? I get that it can feel like the other way too, it probably feels hostile to be conservative in a fairly liberal company. But being open and supportive of all your employees seems like good and understandable business decision. That of course includes being welcoming to conservative people. If you think your coworkers are a disgrace, no matter the reason, I think it would be smart to not make this known.
- petr_tik 6y agoWhy is the manager talking about religion and sinfulness of certain private preferences at work? They are unprofessional and I would ask them to stop such conversations. Should they persist, I will raise it and if need be - start thinking about working elsewhere. If the first manager fires her because of her gender, we can take him to court for unlawful dismissal. There are many mean individuals out there. That’s because we all have capacity for discrimination and ultimately violence. The call to stop discussing politics at work might result in fewer such frictions and keep us focused on the job at hand. A more productive and socially cohesive outcome in my opinion.
- sergiotapia 6y agoIt's so bonkers that your coworkers would actually bring this up to you lol what kind of lunatics do you work with?!
- matsemann 6y agoBut driving around with a bumper sticker and flashing one's view is not "bringing things up"?
- EdwardDiego 6y agoThat's what I don't get.
- JPKab 6y agoI don't like her bumper sticker either, and I find political bumper stickers to be annoying. However, if I worked at an oil company, and had tons of very conservative co-workers, would you think it was ok for them to do the same thing to me if my wife pulled up and had rainbow/equality stickers on her car, or pro-choice stickers? I'm curious if you have a double standard on this topic due to prejudice against my wife's viewpoint (which my coworkers clearly have).
- matsemann 6y agoTo me it's not about the political point. But about the hypocrisy of one person pushing their political views and then getting annoyed when others respond.
- sergiotapia 6y agoThat's his personal property he can do whatever he wants whether you agree to it or not. It's different from literally speaking to your coworker about it.
- EdwardDiego 6y agoI'm bemused she needs a bumper sticker on this subject.
- JPKab 6y agoYou and me both man. I HATE that she has that sticker, because it does nothing to persuade anybody, and does plenty to invite harassment. Actually got into a big argument with her one day about it after a highly aggressive, angry driver was road raging on her.