I’m the same age as you, so I’ve seen the same social and political changes as you have over the last 20 years or so. Some “politics” are just negative moral stances about other people. If your political/moral views make people feel excluded and you make sure we all know your views, whether through explicit political conversation or implicit comments, we are not going to “agree to disagree.” We will be telling the shithead to STFU, and if they don’t, we will be getting HR involved. We can’t and won’t tolerate intolerance in the workplace.
In my experience, in the 80s and 90s, intolerance was pretty commonplace, and racial and moral minorities mostly just had to suck it up. What’s changed is that liberals have “woken up” to that long-standing intolerance, while conservatives want things to stay the same. Up until about 2016, the majority of these conservatives hid their intolerance. Little did we know that they were just seething inside. Then Trump made it okay to be vocally hateful again, and that seething mass of conservatives exploded into public discourse again.
I don’t think Gen Z is incapable of disagreeing with their co-workers in a respectful way. I think they are seeing angry, usually older, conservatives raging about moral issues that they thought were already resolved. Or, they see boomers still denying climate change, which is a real slap in the face for the younger generation who will face the consequences long after those boomers are dead. It is very disconcerting and depressing for Gen Z, and as the father of a couple of Gen Z kids, I’m proud of them for taking a stand.
they are seeing angry, usually older, conservatives raging about moral issues
Where, outside social media, is this happening? Worked all sorts of positions over 30+ years and the times I’ve heard politics in the workplace are memorable because they’re so rare.
Maybe I’m out of touch, but I rarely saw it in the past, and even less so now that we’ve been so politically polarized. And I notice none of the younger folks are chiming in with their own anecdotes, just the assumption that Boomers are the badies, spouting bullshit in the workplace.
Millennial here. I hear a lot more anti woke, PC, LGBT, etc talk than I would like. Both the Bud Light and Target “controversies” I heard about at work because people were apparently enraged by it.
I’m an older millennial, mid 80s birthday, and I hear at least one GenX or Boomer make jokes about how they ‘can’t make jokes anymore’ or ‘uh oh the woke police we’ll get me if I say that’ or ‘everyone’s so sensitive these days’ or ‘that’s probably not politically correct’ a week. I’ve had more than one boss in my life talk about ‘welfare queens’ and ‘ObamaPhones’ and another that outright denied climate change. One of my co-workers was recently talking about how ‘slavery has been everywhere throughout human history, so why are the US so evil for it still?’. Had another one ask me if the neighborhood of the city I live in is safe now that we’ve ‘defunded the police’ which no we haven’t.
I’ve encountered people talking politics everywhere I’ve ever worked in my 15-year career in tech over 4 different companies, 3 in the Fortune 500. It’s not always from boomers, but it is always something along those same beats of either complaining about how things have changed, and they can’t say whatever they want to whoever they want, some bullshit right wing talking point, or concern over non-existent crime.
I envy you. I work for a university. I started in 2017 and it took about 30 minutes for my conservative lab mate to start talking to my Mexican ass about how “we need to build the wall.” That’s just one of the many times this person went on racist rants, unprompted. Though to be fair they were not a boomer, so it’s a problem that spans generations.
In my case, we had a very religious guy in the office. Elder Gen X, not quite a boomer. He was very open about being evangelical and morally conservative, which was perhaps irritating to some, but tolerable. But then Trump and COVID happened and he went off the deep end, spouting COVID conspiracy theories and talking about supporting Trump and the Bible and the end-times. We eventually had to fire him.
The problem since 2016 is that people don’t have to be explicitly “talking politics” for their intolerant views to be known. Trump isn’t really a “conservative” in any traditional sense. He is a crass hate machine, and that is his overwhelming brand. So, if you support him, you are pretty much advertising that you are intolerant. It isn’t hard to see how that would be hostile to young people who have been raised to be tolerant above all else.
I’m the same age as you, so I’ve seen the same social and political changes as you have over the last 20 years or so. Some “politics” are just negative moral stances about other people. If your political/moral views make people feel excluded and you make sure we all know your views, whether through explicit political conversation or implicit comments, we are not going to “agree to disagree.” We will be telling the shithead to STFU, and if they don’t, we will be getting HR involved. We can’t and won’t tolerate intolerance in the workplace.
In my experience, in the 80s and 90s, intolerance was pretty commonplace, and racial and moral minorities mostly just had to suck it up. What’s changed is that liberals have “woken up” to that long-standing intolerance, while conservatives want things to stay the same. Up until about 2016, the majority of these conservatives hid their intolerance. Little did we know that they were just seething inside. Then Trump made it okay to be vocally hateful again, and that seething mass of conservatives exploded into public discourse again.
I don’t think Gen Z is incapable of disagreeing with their co-workers in a respectful way. I think they are seeing angry, usually older, conservatives raging about moral issues that they thought were already resolved. Or, they see boomers still denying climate change, which is a real slap in the face for the younger generation who will face the consequences long after those boomers are dead. It is very disconcerting and depressing for Gen Z, and as the father of a couple of Gen Z kids, I’m proud of them for taking a stand.
Agreed with almost all that! Except the last bit…
Where, outside social media, is this happening? Worked all sorts of positions over 30+ years and the times I’ve heard politics in the workplace are memorable because they’re so rare.
Maybe I’m out of touch, but I rarely saw it in the past, and even less so now that we’ve been so politically polarized. And I notice none of the younger folks are chiming in with their own anecdotes, just the assumption that Boomers are the badies, spouting bullshit in the workplace.
Millennial here. I hear a lot more anti woke, PC, LGBT, etc talk than I would like. Both the Bud Light and Target “controversies” I heard about at work because people were apparently enraged by it.
“Cancel culture” forgot that in my comment above but it gets thrown around like the candy at Halloween
I’m an older millennial, mid 80s birthday, and I hear at least one GenX or Boomer make jokes about how they ‘can’t make jokes anymore’ or ‘uh oh the woke police we’ll get me if I say that’ or ‘everyone’s so sensitive these days’ or ‘that’s probably not politically correct’ a week. I’ve had more than one boss in my life talk about ‘welfare queens’ and ‘ObamaPhones’ and another that outright denied climate change. One of my co-workers was recently talking about how ‘slavery has been everywhere throughout human history, so why are the US so evil for it still?’. Had another one ask me if the neighborhood of the city I live in is safe now that we’ve ‘defunded the police’ which no we haven’t.
I’ve encountered people talking politics everywhere I’ve ever worked in my 15-year career in tech over 4 different companies, 3 in the Fortune 500. It’s not always from boomers, but it is always something along those same beats of either complaining about how things have changed, and they can’t say whatever they want to whoever they want, some bullshit right wing talking point, or concern over non-existent crime.
I envy you. I work for a university. I started in 2017 and it took about 30 minutes for my conservative lab mate to start talking to my Mexican ass about how “we need to build the wall.” That’s just one of the many times this person went on racist rants, unprompted. Though to be fair they were not a boomer, so it’s a problem that spans generations.
In my case, we had a very religious guy in the office. Elder Gen X, not quite a boomer. He was very open about being evangelical and morally conservative, which was perhaps irritating to some, but tolerable. But then Trump and COVID happened and he went off the deep end, spouting COVID conspiracy theories and talking about supporting Trump and the Bible and the end-times. We eventually had to fire him.
The problem since 2016 is that people don’t have to be explicitly “talking politics” for their intolerant views to be known. Trump isn’t really a “conservative” in any traditional sense. He is a crass hate machine, and that is his overwhelming brand. So, if you support him, you are pretty much advertising that you are intolerant. It isn’t hard to see how that would be hostile to young people who have been raised to be tolerant above all else.