Go ahead, Suckers. Test the waters and talk about politics at work.
Sure, your employer may forbid it. Your co-workers might disagree with you. You might get irritated and annoyed with colleagues. So what? I say that leaving politics out of the workforce makes life boring. I would rather talk about the differences between Barack Obama and John McCain than discussing Lindsay Lohan’s exposed knickers and her lesbian romance.
(No wait, I lied. I’ll gladly talk about Li Lo and her crazy new girlfriend.)
I believe in the American dream, and I believe in creating a corporate work environment where political beliefs (and celebrity gossip!) come together without conflict. Our political discussions will be civilized — and our celebrity gossip will be interesting — and I believe it’s possible to find common ground over the notion that Mel Gibson, as a singular force, is almost as dangerous as Scientology.
Will you join me in my quest to unite and change the American workplace?
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh I’m way ahead of you here. Already tried the office politics discussions. It’s exhausting! Especially when you’re the only person on the tree-hugger side in a room full of shotgun-toting neocons who Loves Them Some Bush, and I don’t mean the girly kind.
man, don’t forget religion!
It’s also fun to talk about yours and your co-workers sex life. Don’t be afraid to ask about their sexual experiences and preferences as well. This is a great conversation starter.
Oooooh. I think that, today especially, I’ll have to recuse myself from political discussions at work. Mine is a pretty liberal office, but every conversation about the election has reeked of sexism and it’s making me feel very stabby.
Wait. WHO is LiLo dating now?
LOL, no. I live in an idealistic pretend world where nobody talks about politics or anything other than business and the most superficial personal issues at work (e.g. “How did little Jimmy’s soccer game go?”). I hate debating politics with anyone, really, but especially people I’m not that close with like my coworkers. And then there’s the issue of the guy who sat next to me in my first job who told me that if I didn’t like Rush, I shouldn’t work in the afternoons. Then I changed desks and the guy next to me listened not only to Rush but to the entire day-long slate of right-wing radio shows. I think your suggestion is the best way to go in an ideal world, but in my experience most offices tend one way or another (conservative in my industry) and I just don’t have the energy to be sticking my neck out all the time. So I just nod and say “mm-hmm” and they think I agree with them. Compared to that I’d certainly prefer that everyone just shut up about it.
As far as I’m concerned this can also apply to the avid hunters I always seem to work with (not that I have a problem with hunters–and now we are seeing in action the equivocation and noncommittal efforts not to make anyone mad that I employ as my usual political “discussion” strategy in the office), who occasionally go off on anti-animal-rights or anti-vegetarian screeds, and everyone else is smiling and laughing while I just clench my fists and wish they would shut up.
So I guess all that to say that unfortunately I can’t agree with your proposal of a free-political-discussion utopia in the office.
So far today I’ve discussed:
Chemical spills
The medical beaurocracy of the birth process
Hilary’s failure to conceed the Democratic nomination
Animal healthcare and welfare
The growing use of a poison as the 21st century penicilin
I need me some people magazine.
@Mona I used to enjoy saying the most outrageous statements just to irritate the neocons. Communism? I love it. I also enjoy crocheting my own hemp clothing and bathing only once each week to preserve the earth’s water.
@Gina Love it. Discuss religion and atheism. It’s fine. Go ahead.
@MichaelScott This blog is an environment of welcoming, and you should just get the hell outta here.
@Vicster I have a friend who is conservative and said, “While the lefties worry about who’s racist and who’s sexist, the conservatives worry about the bigger issues.” Ouch, are there bigger issues?
@spacecowgirl Fine, we can agree to disagree, but life might be better if we included some celebrity gossip in there.
@jen You need a healthy dose of Martha Stewart, too. CATCH UP ON YOUR TIVOS.
It’s a deal. I can handle celebrity gossip without anxiety.
(Not that anyone cares, but I feel the need to clarify that I didn’t ask to change desks because of the Rush guy; it was because they moved me to a better–better because I would be sharing an office with the all-day-radio-playing guy, whereas I had been in a big communal room when I was next to the Rush guy–desk when someone else left.)