The line I draw in the sand is that of thinking that work _is_ the place where one should talk about social issues. To my mind it most certainly is not. Everyone in that organisation has been employed to a single end (hopefully) to create a product.
The software developer or marketing assistant or middle manager does not decide the strategic course of the organisation. This is not a democracy and those individuals (myself included for most of my life) simply do not get a vote.
Now, should work be an environment where we _can_ talk about social issues without repercussion? Sure! Should we be using significant chunks of that time to modify people's behaviour to be socially acceptable? Not in my opinion.
What this highlights is that we really haven't figured out a forum which is designed to discuss social issues. At the moment we've got the internet which guarantees maximal disagreement on all points and we've made the mistake of thinking the work environment is synonymous with the home environment and the social environment. Resulting in everyone being offended about everyone else's behaviour at all times.
The software developer or marketing assistant or middle manager does not decide the strategic course of the organisation. This is not a democracy and those individuals (myself included for most of my life) simply do not get a vote.
Now, should work be an environment where we _can_ talk about social issues without repercussion? Sure! Should we be using significant chunks of that time to modify people's behaviour to be socially acceptable? Not in my opinion.
What this highlights is that we really haven't figured out a forum which is designed to discuss social issues. At the moment we've got the internet which guarantees maximal disagreement on all points and we've made the mistake of thinking the work environment is synonymous with the home environment and the social environment. Resulting in everyone being offended about everyone else's behaviour at all times.