So I read the following yesterday, and I was trying to let it go, but the more I think about it, the more it pisses me off...
“When military spending gets cut, I hope the management here remembers who
had the Obama bumper stickers.”
This is from the IM info of one of my co-workers. Now, I have to fill in a little of the history here... This is a guy that I hardly even knew until about 2 months ago. I started working with him on a program that he is a pretty high level engineer on, more as a favor than anything. I updated some documents for him, and a few other various things, including a LOT of lab work that probably saved him hundreds of hours. Obviously, I did all of these things for the good of the program and all that, but the point is still that he asked me for my help on these things. So I felt like I was getting to know him relatively well, and I quite liked him. He seemed a little awkward sometimes, but considering the people I work with, and my own relative awkwardness, that really never bothered me. So I would consider this guy a friend, definitely.
Now, I understand that politics can be an incredibly polarizing issue for many many people (myself usually included). I also understand the feeling of despair when you feel like the worst possible person has won an election that you deem to be incredibly important. That being said, it is totally up to each one of us to choose what we believe to be the appropriate forum for the discharge of the frustration and anger about the "idiocy" of them, that theoretical group that by necessity gets blamed for disastrous consequences in cases like these. Personally, I believe that work is the LAST venue on that list. Maybe that's because I am in the tiny minority here, being a liberal, but that's my personal view. So, my first problem: Is this really the place to be saying divisive things like that?
My second, and much bigger problem with this guy's way of thinking is this: How is it OK to suggest that employment decisions be made on the basis of political affiliation? I am one of the people with the Obama bumper stickers, and, at the risk of sounding arrogant, I am DAMN good at my job. This company would be crazy to let me go (on whatever level it might happen) because I voted for... ANYONE!! What if I had written in Charlie Brown? Should I be on the list of people who are somehow not "American enough" to do this job? More than that, does this guy know nothing of American history? Maybe he just slept through lessons on McCarthyism and the Red Scare... We are unique because we include every one's ideas, not because someone tyrannically decides that one idea is THE acceptable one for the year.
Bottom line, it turns my vision red to think that there are people out there who would squelch any questioning of authority in today's America. Isn't that, after all, what "The Original Maverick" built his reputation on?
“When military spending gets cut, I hope the management here remembers who
had the Obama bumper stickers.”
This is from the IM info of one of my co-workers. Now, I have to fill in a little of the history here... This is a guy that I hardly even knew until about 2 months ago. I started working with him on a program that he is a pretty high level engineer on, more as a favor than anything. I updated some documents for him, and a few other various things, including a LOT of lab work that probably saved him hundreds of hours. Obviously, I did all of these things for the good of the program and all that, but the point is still that he asked me for my help on these things. So I felt like I was getting to know him relatively well, and I quite liked him. He seemed a little awkward sometimes, but considering the people I work with, and my own relative awkwardness, that really never bothered me. So I would consider this guy a friend, definitely.
Now, I understand that politics can be an incredibly polarizing issue for many many people (myself usually included). I also understand the feeling of despair when you feel like the worst possible person has won an election that you deem to be incredibly important. That being said, it is totally up to each one of us to choose what we believe to be the appropriate forum for the discharge of the frustration and anger about the "idiocy" of them, that theoretical group that by necessity gets blamed for disastrous consequences in cases like these. Personally, I believe that work is the LAST venue on that list. Maybe that's because I am in the tiny minority here, being a liberal, but that's my personal view. So, my first problem: Is this really the place to be saying divisive things like that?
My second, and much bigger problem with this guy's way of thinking is this: How is it OK to suggest that employment decisions be made on the basis of political affiliation? I am one of the people with the Obama bumper stickers, and, at the risk of sounding arrogant, I am DAMN good at my job. This company would be crazy to let me go (on whatever level it might happen) because I voted for... ANYONE!! What if I had written in Charlie Brown? Should I be on the list of people who are somehow not "American enough" to do this job? More than that, does this guy know nothing of American history? Maybe he just slept through lessons on McCarthyism and the Red Scare... We are unique because we include every one's ideas, not because someone tyrannically decides that one idea is THE acceptable one for the year.
Bottom line, it turns my vision red to think that there are people out there who would squelch any questioning of authority in today's America. Isn't that, after all, what "The Original Maverick" built his reputation on?
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