It's getting strange out there

[SeaCat]

In work today I was verbally attacked twice about politics. Both times by patients or their family members and both times because I didn't voice my opinions about a Pol.

Then I was attacked by co-workers because I refused to get caught up in their politics.

It was kind of funny.

The first attack was by a patient because I refused to talk about politics. She started talking politics as soon as I stepped into her room to do her Vitals. SHe yapped about her presidential candidate of choice and how they were the best thing since sliced bread for this country. I made noncomittal replies throughout her discourse and did what I had to do. Becauise I wasn't agreeing with her views she told me she couldn't accept my care, she didn't trust someone who was going to vote against her candidate. BY the time she had finished she had worked herself into a lather and was ranting about how I was not worrthy of being an American.

The second attack came from the wife of another patient. As soon as she saw me she asked me who I was going to be voting for. I told her I refused to talk about politics with my patients or their family members as I didn't think it had a place in patient care. (I was however willing to talk about nearly anything else.) When she heard this she immediatly told me to get my Communist Ass out of the room. I was not to be trusted and would most likely go out of my way to injure or further sicken her husband because of my political leanings. She went so far as to have the Charge Nurse called in and demanded I be fired for being Un-American.

The last couple of attacks came about because I refused to get drawn into the political arguments of several of my co-workers. (Some of these arguments are over the best choice for President. Some of them are about the Immigration Laws and the treatment of Illegals.) Because of my not wishing to get into these arguments I was attacked from all sides. Once more I was called Un-American. I was a racist. I was a Homophobe as well as a closet homosexual.

It's strange and kind of amusing how one can be attacked because one doesn't talk politics.

Ah well, the voting will soon be over and the other fights will start.

Cat

 

[epiphany65]

And since you're working I'm sure you have to be especially aware of not discussing politics and religion.

I had PCWs to come in daily to help me with my mom's personal care. One day a priest was due to give her Communion. The PCW said to me "I want to get out of here before all that Catholic shit starts." I reported her to her supervisor. This is probably the type of situation you're always cautious to avoid. It's all part of your professionalism.

 

[CeriseNoire]

I've had the same issue with a couple parents recently. Despite the fact that we were reminded very pointedly by district officials that we were not to share our political views (they even banned buttons, T-shirts,etc) while engaged in our professional duties).

One parent went on and on about my vote helping to send this country down the tubes after I refused to answer her political rant. The silliest part? I can't even vote.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I suspect we'll have a Civil War within the next year or two.

 

[only_more_so]

Cat, I'm with you about not talking politics at work. It just isn't worth it. Although it is shocking that people would yell at you for trying to stay objective and professional.

 

[DesertPirate]

Cat,
In a work situation try answering that, "I'm going to vote the same way you are, Secret Ballot".

 

[fieryjen]

I've had people get in my face as well because when asked, I told them that I wouldn't vote.

It's because, like Cerise, I can't vote. And many of them start getting very, very upset and accuse me of all sorts of things before I finally tell them why. I usually leave them feeling a little stupid.

I'm hoping that maybe, they'll approach the next person with a bit more awareness.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

That is strange. Oh, well. I meet crazy people in retail all of the time. Some of them even smell like they haven't bathed since the Johnson Administration- the Andrew Johnson Administration, that is. So I see a lot of lunacy, and I can empathize.

Don't let it embarrass you. You're being sensible and polite. They're not.

 

[xssve]

Why can't you two vote - what are you, unamerican?

 

[Vermilion]

and demanded I be fired for being Un-American.

What is this 'Un-American' thing? It seems utterly bizarre. Over here I suppose one might call someone else an idiot or a raving leftie or a stuck-up Tory or some such, but it just wouldn;t even come u to question their nationality. The American version of patriotism is really very very odd when seen from over here.

 

[Lee Chambers]

The American version of patriotism is really very very odd when seen from over here.

Trust me, I don't need to see American patriotism from that side of the world to think it's very, very odd.

 

[freshface]

What is this 'Un-American' thing? It seems utterly bizarre. Over here I suppose one might call someone else an idiot or a raving leftie or a stuck-up Tory or some such, but it just wouldn;t even come u to question their nationality. The American version of patriotism is really very very odd when seen from over here.

I'm kind of surprised that there weren't any threads about Representative Bachman of Minnesota. She thinks the media should investigate how many "Un-Americans" are serving in Congress right now, besides Barack Obama that is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_pN2IPAw6E

But please, it's the right wing/Karl Rove version of patriotism. It's a virulent strain, but I keep hoping it's isolated.

 

[Guest]

I have a colleague who, for a time, was sending group email messages to many of the staff. I easily dismissed the silly chain stuff, the good wishes and butterflies and the like, but then she began to get political.

And the first political message she sent out this year was one of those blatantly false, debunked on snopes, internet mail messages.

I fired back to her about removing me from her list but it turns out that wasn't necessary. Administration finally shut her down.

It really has no place at work. And it isn't anything I would ever discuss with students in a classroom situation.

 

[JagFarlane]

Mmmm "UnAmerican" huh? Wanna bet those are the same people who could really care less about the country and have never done anything to volunteer themselves towards working for the country? They're the same people who went around post-9/11 wearing t-shirts with flags on em cause it was the Pro-American fad of the time. This too will pass...

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I've had people get in my face as well because when asked, I told them that I wouldn't vote.

It's because, like Cerise, I can't vote. And many of them start getting very, very upset and accuse me of all sorts of things before I finally tell them why. I usually leave them feeling a little stupid.

I'm hoping that maybe, they'll approach the next person with a bit more awareness.

Might I suggest that making them feel stupid is a really valuable contribution to the American body politc? Well done, that woman!

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Patriotism is a touchy thing. To many Americans, it seems to be a holy cow, and not declaring yourself left and right to be a True Patriot seems to be equally disgusting as openly declaring yourself to be a paedophile.

In Sweden, patriotism isn't all that big a deal. The word itself has been hijacked by the racists, who claim that to be a Swedish patriot, you must hate all immigrants and want to send them back to whatever country their forefathers came from.
On the other side, we have those who are so afraid of being seen as racists that they try to forbid the national anthem from being sung in schools at graduation or on the national holiday, just in case immigrant children will feel left out or insulted or something.
(For some reason, these fanatics don't find it racistic to assume that anyone who's not born a white Swede will automatically dislike everything Swedish..?)

Most of us are like me, though, and react to a sentence like "you're un-Swedish!" the same way as to one like "you're wearing a white T-shirt!".

It doesn't matter if people think I'm not a typical representative of my country, because there are so many good and bad things about my country that I'm neither proud nor ashamed to be a Swede. I'm a Swede. I'm from Norrland. I'm right-handed. The sun rises in the East. Deal with it.

I understand that it's different in USA, where the most common opinion seems to be that being American = being one of the good guys. Being part of the elite troup. Being always right, and good and best, and... and the opposite of anything negative, really. The fact that being un-American would be a compliment to some people in the world is just proof that they're jealous, ungrateful communists.

Cat, you and your family raises my opinion of USA all by yourselves. Tell your patients and coworkers from me that they're welcome to come over here, and I'll let them go on a merry-go-round on top of my middle finger.

 

[epiphany65]

Patriotism is a touchy thing. To many Americans, it seems to be a holy cow, and not declaring yourself left and right to be a True Patriot seems to be equally disgusting as openly declaring yourself to be a paedophile.

In Sweden, patriotism isn't all that big a deal. The word itself has been hijacked by the racists, who claim that to be a Swedish patriot, you must hate all immigrants and want to send them back to whatever country their forefathers came from.
On the other side, we have those who are so afraid of being seen as racists that they try to forbid the national anthem from being sung in schools at graduation or on the national holiday, just in case immigrant children will feel left out or insulted or something.
(For some reason, these fanatics don't find it racistic to assume that anyone who's not born a white Swede will automatically dislike everything Swedish..?)

Most of us are like me, though, and react to a sentence like "you're un-Swedish!" the same way as to one like "you're wearing a white T-shirt!".

It doesn't matter if people think I'm not a typical representative of my country, because there are so many good and bad things about my country that I'm neither proud nor ashamed to be a Swede. I'm a Swede. I'm from Norrland. I'm right-handed. The sun rises in the East. Deal with it.

I understand that it's different in USA, where the most common opinion seems to be that being American = being one of the good guys. Being part of the elite troup. Being always right, and good and best, and... and the opposite of anything negative, really. The fact that being un-American would be a compliment to some people in the world is just proof that they're jealous, ungrateful communists.

Cat, you and your family raises my opinion of USA all by yourselves. Tell your patients and coworkers from me that they're welcome to come over here, and I'll let them go on a merry-go-round on top of my middle finger.

I like your view of patriotism. It's sort of the same way for a lot of us here in Canada. I try to separate patriotism from nationalism, although they're almost the same. But, to me, nationalism has an ugly side to it that appeals to racists. But since we're a mosiac of cultures here it's hard to define what a 'real Canadian' is. I'm a mixture, including ancestors who came from Vermland back around 1830.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I like your view of patriotism. It's sort of the same way for a lot of us here in Canada. I try to separate patriotism from nationalism, although they're almost the same. But, to me, nationalism has an ugly side to it that appeals to racists. But since we're a mosiac of cultures here it's hard to define what a 'real Canadian' is. I'm a mixture, including ancestors who came from Vermland back around 1830.

Ah, an ex-Swede!

 

[epiphany65]

Ah, an ex-Swede!

My maternal grandmother was a Dahlgren.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

My maternal grandmother was a Dahlgren.

Any relation to the chap that developed the steel cannon, by any chance?

 

[epiphany65]

Any relation to the chap that developed the steel cannon, by any chance?

Not that I know of. I think that side of the family were mostly pirates.

 

[rgraham666]

In my opinion what many Americans call patriotism is nationalism. Right on the same level as Deutschland Über Alles and 'The Sun Will Never Set On The British Empire'. You'll never get the Americans that think this way to admit it though. Like all nationalists they think their nationalism is different from everybody else's.

It took WWII to knock that kind of nationalism out of Europe. I'm hoping it takes a less painful lesson for Americans to lose it.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

In my opinion what many Americans call patriotism is nationalism. Right on the same level as Deutschland Über Alles and 'The Sun Will Never Set On The British Empire'. You'll never get the Americans that think this way to admit it though. Like all nationalists they think their nationalism is different from everybody else's.

It took WWII to knock that kind of nationalism out of Europe. I'm hoping it takes a less painful lesson for Americans to lose it.

Except that nationalism is on the rise in Europe, Rob, right down to the Balkanized little bits that never were independent countries. As the EU developes arteriosclerotic bureaucracy and paralysis, the fissures begin to widen and bleed. North and Southern Ireland, Scottish Independence, Splitting Belgium, the Basques, the Walloons, etc. Tribalism is never far from the surface and when you have homogeneous populations that are feeling threatened by heterogeneity it boils right up in violence, especially when the political elite refuse to acknowledge that such things are possible. At least every time we try to invade Canada, y'all have beat the socks off of us.


Buying you guys is another story all together.

 

[jeninflorida]

always best to stay away from politics people get freaky

In work today I was verbally attacked twice about politics. Both times by patients or their family members and both times because I didn't voice my opinions about a Pol.

Then I was attacked by co-workers because I refused to get caught up in their politics.

It was kind of funny.

The first attack was by a patient because I refused to talk about politics. She started talking politics as soon as I stepped into her room to do her Vitals. SHe yapped about her presidential candidate of choice and how they were the best thing since sliced bread for this country. I made noncomittal replies throughout her discourse and did what I had to do. Becauise I wasn't agreeing with her views she told me she couldn't accept my care, she didn't trust someone who was going to vote against her candidate. BY the time she had finished she had worked herself into a lather and was ranting about how I was not worrthy of being an American.

The second attack came from the wife of another patient. As soon as she saw me she asked me who I was going to be voting for. I told her I refused to talk about politics with my patients or their family members as I didn't think it had a place in patient care. (I was however willing to talk about nearly anything else.) When she heard this she immediatly told me to get my Communist Ass out of the room. I was not to be trusted and would most likely go out of my way to injure or further sicken her husband because of my political leanings. She went so far as to have the Charge Nurse called in and demanded I be fired for being Un-American.

The last couple of attacks came about because I refused to get drawn into the political arguments of several of my co-workers. (Some of these arguments are over the best choice for President. Some of them are about the Immigration Laws and the treatment of Illegals.) Because of my not wishing to get into these arguments I was attacked from all sides. Once more I was called Un-American. I was a racist. I was a Homophobe as well as a closet homosexual.

It's strange and kind of amusing how one can be attacked because one doesn't talk politics.

Ah well, the voting will soon be over and the other fights will start.

Cat

 

[My I]

There is only one thing as dangerous as a religious fanatic and that is a political fanatic.