Best. Analogy. Ever.
I’m (embarrassingly) proud of the fact that hardly anyone at work (or any of my students; I teach college-level) knows what I believe…
…or that I went from far-right Libertarian to Progressive; and Atheist to Fundie to Loosey-Goosey Liberal Lutheran.
I don’t subscribe to the idea that politics and religion are not for polite company. I think that’s precisely the problem with America - too many people are only communicating with those who share the same beliefs, creating an echo chamber effect. We should be encouraging people to discuss and debate their opposing viewpoints, with compassion and consideration.
That said, don’t interrupt or bother people at work to do it. But the breakroom is a perfect time to discuss politics and religion, if they’re willing to talk. Just don’t be a jerk about it.
Both politics and religion have been a problem at my work lately. There have been some hurt feelings, complaints, and ‘corrections.’ I’ll be happy when this political season concludes. The last two national election cycles caused some small problems at work, but not enough that folks complained to management. This cycle seems to be worse.
And there’s the problem. Way too many people aren’t interested in debating when it comes to politics and religion. They are believers, so they know what they know and everyone else is wrong. You can’t discuss things with people like this, they don’t listen to evidence, they don’t bother providing evidence themselves, and certainly aren’t interested in changing their mind.
Discussions about beliefs can get heated. People hold beliefs like they’re a part of themselves, and any attempt to disagree with a belief is seen as an attack on the person. The custom against discussing religion or politics is mainly because the two topics are very personal and emotional and that’s just not what you want between two people who have to work together every day.
In one place I worked a group of us were all crammed into a tiny room. One guy, a muslim, heard that I was an atheist and that was it. His immediate reaction was ‘No, theres no such thing as atheists, everyone believes in god.’ Then he starts telling me that I should read the koran because everyone who reads the koran becomes muslim. Then he starts sending me videos by muslim preachers talking about all the miraculous things in the koran. When I try to argue against anything that was said, he just shakes his head and turns away. Never bothered to argue back, present anything more than videos from someone else, or actually answer any of my questions (What happens to a muslim who wants to stop being a muslim?), he just expected me to agree with him.
To quote the great Shodan, I don’t talk politics at work. I do not allow anyone else to talk politics with me at work. None of my business, none of their business.
Regards,
Bullitt
Yeah, I hear you. I definitely run into these people all the time. And that’s OK! Even if they don’t want to receive input at the moment, I find it helpful to listen to what they have to say and ask questions. Usually at some point I’ll say that I don’t subscribe to some of those beliefs, and if they just cover their ears, I’ll thank them for their thoughts and change the subject.
The point is that you’re establishing yourself as a reasonable person who doesn’t agree with them. You’re not pressing the issue, but you’ve added a data point (no matter how much they want to forget it) of People Who Don’t Think Like Me. At some point later, they may be a little more curious about what you think, and they know that you’ll be a safe person to talk to.
It’s a slow process, but I’ve developed interesting long-term discourse with this approach. Doesn’t work with everyone, of course.
I talk politics all the time at work. But since I work by myself about half the time, I think that is just a subtle sign of psychosis :D.
I also talk politics and religion with my primary co-worker when we overlap, but our politics are similar ( our religious views are not ) and we are friends outside of the job.
My other co-workers that I see around shift changes I might very occasionally engage with for 10-20 minutes at a time if it gets brought up, but even with those with opposing politics it pretty much stays cordial. We do have one hyper-conservative ( “Rush Limbaugh is a liberal pansy!” ) and one pushy, activist, hyper-liberal ( has been arrested in sit-down protests ) and they don’t get along all that well ;). But mostly these days they avoid engaging each other so as to avoid unnecessary shouting matches.
If a ‘Get Smart’ style ‘Cone of Silence’ were available for $300, I would still be working at my last job. And I would have paid the $300 out of my own pocket.
What surprises me is how many people at work have opinions on the US political race (considering, the last time I checked, we weren’t living in America), yet there’s some pretty significant things happening in the Commonwealth Parliament (double dissolution election likely in July, for example) that people are either indifferent too or completely uninterested in.
I generally avoid discussing politics at work except in very general terms, though, because it’s considered impolite and frankly no good can come of it IMO.
I don’t think it’s appropriate to discuss politics in the office. Decisions get made, people get promoted or passed over, it would be all too easy to rightly or wrongly make associations between political discussions and promotions, assignments, etc. “I knew he’d get the job! He supported Jones for county commissioner, and those of us who supported Smith didn’t have a chance!” That sort of thing.
I talk politics at work (like Shooby, I think that refusing to talk about politics on principle is just poor form), but I don’t get in anybody’s face about it.
I’ve had a client go into a tirade about “those people”* in front of several of his employees who happened to be part of “those people”, then turn to one of my coworkers whom he had to know to be one of “those people” seeking his agreement and, when my coworker pointed out that it was impossible for him to agree that “those people should just stay wherever they were born”, try it with me thinking I was local. Pointing out that I wasn’t was kind of beautiful.
I’ll talk about politics or religion at work as an informative conversation, but don’t go getting on a soapbox. My instinct is to kick it out from under your feet even if I happen to agree with the ideas in principle; I just hate soapbox speeches.
Y’know, I’m sorry that I find the* Koran* a snoozefest, its unrelenting “Oh, gosh!” tone wearisome, and its organization into every verse on its own line makes it hard to read. It makes The Book of Mormon look like literature.
Military. It seldom happens that folks discuss politics, but I always smile and say “Sorry; religion, sex and politics are three things I won’t discuss at work.” I have had long flights that lasted between 10 pm and 7 am, and if the crew was too quiet (close to sleeping) I would ask political horserace questions, but not give my opinion. “Who do you think will get the nomination?”, that sort of thing - never issues, and never share my thoughts on why someone was good or bad. No reason to get folks upset or annoyed; they are forced to listen to me while flying, no reason to make it something that they will be uncomfortable about.
Horserace questions without delving into ideology are fine. Those are more current events discussions and not what is normally meant for talking politics.
Similarly, when I was in the military I would tell people that we can’t afford to be political. It’s not our job. I remember calling into a conservative talk show back before Clinton’s first term when he was looking like a viable candidate and the show host was talking about the military. At that time I had been in for 10 years. I told the host flat out that maybe I won’t vote for Clinton, and maybe I will, but if he is elected President then I must follow his lawful orders, he would be my Commander in Chief, and it was my job to do so. Politics plays no part of it, it is doing my job.
There is a small liberal contingent in my office that I talk politics with. We are like an underground club.
He kept touting the idea that the Koran has so much knowledge in it that only god could have given. Like some passage about how all metal (or iron?) falls from the sky. When I tried to point out that people mine metal from the ground, or that the Earth has a huge rotating ball of iron at it’s core, he just sighed and turned back around. He expected me to suddenly go ‘Oh wow it makes so much sense now, I’m a muslim!’ or something, he wasn’t prepared for the idea that I might disagree and he would have to defend his own statements beyond simply presenting them.
I live and work in Illinois, near the Indiana border. Plenty of Indiana residents work with me. The majority of political talk I hear is from disgruntled Hoosiers who complain about how corrupt Illinois’ politics is. (They never bless us for our job opportunities, I’ve noticed. 
)
I used to think the same thing. Then I was fired after a client found out that I was a Satanist. It was an illegal firing, but I quickly found out that no one in the system gave a shit. You see, some people don’t have compassion and consideration for other view points. They see only an enemy that need to be destroyed, and they will fuck you over in a heartbeat.
These days I flat out refuse to discuss religion or politics in the workplace. It’s all fun and games until you’re unemployed and homeless. I’ve been homeless, and I’m less interested in fighting against echo chambers than I am in having a warm and safe place to sleep every night.
I’ll only enter into religious or political discussions with certain coworkers, given that I’m a minority in both cases (religiously unaffiliated in the Bible belt, and left-leaning in the rural South). Most of these coworkers are like-minded, but I have no problem with an opposing view entering the conversation, as long as they’re capable of carrying on a rational conversation. I get very uncomfortable when people start going off about ‘Christian persecution’ in America, or “those people” mooching off welfare.
And if it wasn’t for political/religious discussions in the workplace, I wouldn’t know the true nature of some of my coworkers…like the guy who thinks his wife is his submissive property due to the Bible (he claims he forced her to keep breast feeding long after she wanted to stop), or the engineer who lives in fear that he will one day find out his wife has either had an affair or wasn’t a virgin when he married her (interestingly, he thinks the only valid reason for having a marriage annulled is adultery). Naturally, he (loudly!) blames Liberals and Democrats for ruining the country with their sinful culture.