Hazed in the workplace for political beliefs

[jim]

My work environment is unusual in the makeup of the work force (over 100 languages spoken here), the thing I appreciate the most is the support of diversity and the complete lack of tolerance for things like you describe. It's mind boggling to me the things that happen in peoples workplaces. I think I know what you do for a living, and I think I know that environment. You probably hear and see things every day that would get people fired on the spot where I work.

So no planet, people do not do that where I work.

[Arthur Dent]

engineers tend to lean right

I dunno about that. It certainly used to be true, but now I think it depends heavily on the industry. The military-industrial complex tends to feature conservative engineers, but where I work in the electronics world, it's overwhelmingly liberal. It's clear enough why military industry tends to be conservative, but the explanation for the liberalism here is less obvious. Maybe just the location (Austin).

I'm guessing sales people in non-hippie industries tend to be conservatives. Is that accurate?

[cards2468]

engineers tend to lean right

I dunno about that. It certainly used to be true, but now I think it depends heavily on the industry. The military-industrial complex tends to feature conservative engineers, but where I work in the electronics world, it's overwhelmingly liberal. It's clear enough why military industry tends to be conservative but the explanation for the liberalism here is less obvious. Maybe just the location (Austin).

I'm guessing sales people in non-hippie industries tend to be conservatives. Is that accurate?

In school before people are tied to an industry, engineering seemed mostly conservative. It was that way for students I met from other schools. Electrical engineering was such a small portion of these schools that I'm not sure how much they influenced the overall population. Biomedical was probably 50/50, maybe leaning liberal a little more. People who are involved in the medical field (which a lot of electrical engineers are, so this could explain that) tend to lean left. Civil, mechanical and aerospace engineers I'd say were almost 90% conservative. I don't think it's because of an industry that they were this way. There's definitely a difference between BME/EE and AE/ME as people.

[lukethedrifter]

I don't think the rancourous pm's characterize this place at all. In my case, it is just one angry fool in a sea of generally amicable people with constructive things to say.

and, of course, you spelled rancorous incorrectly

[Hungary Jack]

I don't think the rancourous pm's characterize this place at all. In my case, it is just one angry fool in a sea of generally amicable people with constructive things to say.

and, of course, you spelled rancorous incorrectly

How do you spell it again?

[pioneer98]

I lean to the left on most issues but not all. I try hard not to allow myself to be labeled as a "liberal" or anything else.

I am surrounded by conservatives, but luckily, we mostly avoid talking politics. There is one manager who will talk politics and I think it is completely unprofessional for a manager to do that. I actually agree with this guy often because he's only moderately conservative, not extreme. Regardless, the point is that a person with some authority should not endorse one side or the other. It makes me wonder: if I disagree, does it impact my career?

Way more annoying is the guy in my group who is connected to the right wing chain letters. Any time some city or state government halfway across the country wastes a couple thousand dollars, he gets the article and forwards it on to our whole group. The message is: "ha, ha, look at how big and wasteful that liberal city government is." For the heck of it once I forwarded him an example of someone in the private sector that got caught committing huge fraud and waste. He pretended like he didn't get it the email.

[planet planet]

I lean to the left on most issues but not all. I try hard not to allow myself to be labeled as a "liberal" or anything else.

I am surrounded by conservatives, but luckily, we mostly avoid talking politics. There is one manager who will talk politics and I think it is completely unprofessional for a manager to do that. I actually agree with this guy often because he's only moderately conservative, not extreme. Regardless, the point is that a person with some authority should not endorse one side or the other. It makes me wonder: if I disagree, does it impact my career?

Way more annoying is the guy in my group who is connected to the right wing chain letters. Any time some city or state government halfway across the country wastes a couple thousand dollars, he gets the article and forwards it on to our whole group. The message is: "ha, ha, look at how big and wasteful that liberal city government is." For the heck of it once I forwarded him an example of someone in the private sector that got caught committing huge fraud and waste. He pretended like he didn't get it the email.

I find the bolded nearly impossible these days. You should forward your co-worker the link to the Curt Schilling debacle. Sort of like a late on Friday, have a great weekend email.

[cardsfansince82]

I don't think the rancourous pm's characterize this place at all. In my case, it is just one angry fool in a sea of generally amicable people with constructive things to say.

and, of course, you spelled rancorous incorrectly

How do you spell it again?

p-o-t-a-t-o-e

[pioneer98]

My coworkers are largely conservatives, but our company makes the bulk of our money doing publicly funded projects, so I like to haze people about how hypocritical and dumb it is to vote republican in every election and then harass everyone who works here to vote for local ordinances that increase government spending on construction projects.

Oh God. I can totally relate to this. But I don't dare haze people about it because I am in such a minority. I have to be a little more subtle. But yeah, my company would suffer a major setback if we really wanted "small government" in certain sectors.

We also get pressured to contribute to a PAC. Until recently, they used the money however they wanted (90% went to Republicans). Now they allow us to designate what % of your contribution to go to which party. I bet 90% of it still ends up going to Republicans, but at least we have a choice.

It's hard for me to complain a whole lot about my company because they do a lot of very good things, too. I try to keep that in perspective.

[pioneer98]

I find the bolded nearly impossible these days. You should forward your co-worker the link to the Curt Schilling debacle. Sort of like a late on Friday, have a great weekend email.

It sure is.

I guess one way I try to do it is that I never publicly endorse a candidate. I will only publicly at work discuss issues, and not candidates.

But mainly I just try to keep my mouth shut and not talk about it at all because it's not good for anyone involved. We still have to work together even if we have differences of opinion.