I grew up in a town where Bill Clinton came in third in the 1992 presidential election. Then I moved to Long Island, where Clinton was considered a bit too conservative. I’ve lived in the midwest, the south, the east coast and Europe and I’ve gathered friends from all these places. The result of this, during an election, I start to go a bit crazy with the constant politician bashing posts on my Facebook feed
My feed looks something like this: Trump is Hitler! Next post: Hillary is a lying weasel. Followed by Cruz wants to turn everyone into frogs. Or something like that. The reality is, none of these posts change anyone’s minds, but they do make people keep their mouths shut.
This may not seem to be a bad thing. The last thing you want is to spend time with people who disagree with you.
To keep reading, click here: Why It’s Time to Stop Bashing Trump (and Hillary)
I just try to mostly avoid the topic, because especially with this election, there are too many people showing sides of themselves I don’t want to see. I still have to work with them but it’s difficult when I know they hold personal views I consider abhorrent.
I wish we could limit ads and election coverage to a couple of months before the actual election. But no, we have to listen to it for an entire year. >_<
In an era of increasingly sophisticated devil’s advocacy and on a blog that is contrarian merely for the sake of it (and to echo the corporate partyline), I’m surprised by how lukewarm this take is. Still, enough to make me unsubscribe, which I should have done ages ago. Eep! I suppose that makes me just like your facebook buddies! How positively Morissette-ironic! Or something!
Such a shame. Bye!
Alternative subtitle: “How to Talk Politics at Work”.
“Instead of attacking a political candidate…, try saying something positive about your own idea. Example: “I really like [candidate X] because I think [favorite cause] is the most important thing in this election. I really like [candidate X’s] record on that.”
That allows [someone] to respond, “Well, I really like [candidate Y] because I appreciate the way he/she has [accomplishment] so well.” Then you can have a polite conversation. At no point do you say, “Well, if you like candidate Y, you’re an idiot.” You don’t even say “Candidate Y is an idiot” even if you believe that with your whole soul.”
I love this!!!
Good advice; but how does one handle it when it is a supervisor or manager going on political rants during work?
I used to have a boss (thankfully he retired, yea!) who would spend a good 15 minutes or so at the beginning of meetings going off on the politics.
Once, I even tried to stop it by saying, as politely as I could, that I avoid political discussions at work because everyone has very different, but, very dear opinions. I was thinking that this might make him think about others before he spouted off again. Instead, he slammed back stating that anyone who thought otherwise was foolish for not seeing what was going on.
He reminded me of so many college professors who would force their political opinion on students – we were, after all, a “captive” audience; we couldn’t leave!
It really was a no-win situation. I just had to accept the fact that part of what the company was paying me to do was listen to his political rants.
Sort of have to admit that Trump is god’s gift to comedians.
I avoid politics at work for the most part because I found that people just give the answers that are the most PC that they think others want them to express. Right now, Trump bashing is in style, but even from people who haven’t listened to one interview or debate, and just maybe overheard a few skewed things the media spun out about him.
I also find it sad how uninformed coworkers can be. I work with people who have no clue about anything negative Hillary C has ever done, and write off any such legitimate discussion with the old and tiring “people don’t like her because she’s a woman” cop-out, because they don’t know enough to actually discuss the issues.
I also sat through a coworker’s explanation as to why they are voting for Bernie S if he’s nominated, and almost every reason was a personal problem. I suppose they thought the president would somehow get a handle on their personal and financial issues? The reasoning didn’t make much sense (though tied in with his “income inequality” ideology) and definitely made the colleague look uninformed and naïve.