Hawktawk wrote:I don’t feel picked on in here btw. It’s where I come to vent . It doesn’t belong on Facebook or around the dinner table so I bring it here . I don’t apologize for my style but I’m not offended by anyone else’s either. Even Burrton who I haven’t seen on this forum in a while. Bring it on . Regardless of your beliefs it’s most unhealthy when nobody cares about our political leaders anymore.
I'm glad you see things in the way you do. Facebook is just too public. During my professional career, I felt it important not to let it be known what my politics were for fear that people might come to the wrong conclusion that could get in the way of a working relationship so I seldom commented about political subjects on social media. Even now that I'm retired, I don't feel nearly as comfortable discussing politics on social media as I do here.
I learned that lesson the hard way. I started my supervisory career, 23 years old and fresh out of college, in March of 1978. A year and a half later, the American embassy in Iran was overrun by revolutionaries and so began an incident known as the Iran Hostage Crisis. I was outraged and quite outspoken about the situation, said among other things that we should just send a bunch of B-52's over there and turn the place into the world's largest parking lot. Unbeknown to me, one of my employees that overheard one of my rants was an Iranian immigrant, a good, hard worker. He was trying to get his wife out of Iran and into the US, but since we didn't have diplomatic relations with Iran, it was very complicated and he had to get her first to West Germany. He needed an undefined leave of absence from work, which I granted but with the kicker that he had to call me once a week and check in and I'd extend his LOA, which he did. He wouldn't be eligible for benefits, but it would preserve his seniority and his job. Months later, he returned to work with his wife in tow.
Some time later in the mid 80's, he saw me at a dance club and invited me over to his table to meet his wife. He told me how afraid he was to approach me about an LOA because of what I had said about Iran during the hostage crisis. I felt very embarrassed, realized how my political views could interfere with a working relationship with others, and since that time, learned not to run my mouth at work. The closest I came to violating that pledge was after the 2016 election and was asked directly by several team members who I voted for. I wouldn't tell them but I did say that I didn't vote for Trump, trying to relieve them of their fears of being disliked by native born Americans.