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Comment by kanbara | Hacker News Reader

everyone has pronouns, just that they align with their outward gender / gender identity.

btw i'm a sr engineering manager at a faang and my directory page has they/them pronouns on it. i don't care if people mess them up, and i don't correct people, but it's nice if they make an effort. the most nonbinary thing i do is paint my nails, but everything else about me is masc.

and i've worked in rural parts of america and have had the exact opposite: a conservative opinion including "hey this republican is a really great candidate, now go vote in the next election!" from companies on the s&p500.

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> i've worked in rural parts of america and have had the exact opposite: a conservative opinion including "hey this republican is a really great candidate, now go vote in the next election!" from companies on the s&p500.

Yup. It's difficult to balance the freedom of assembly, on one hand, and the freedom of political speech, on the other hand.

Given political opinions are mutable it seems reasonable to hold people accountable for ones they express at the workplace. I'm less comfortable about punishing people at work for opinions expressed outside of it. But it's also naive to pretend customers, vendors and the public won't judge you based on the public opinions of your employees.

Freedom of expression, but only for those with Fuck You money?

> Freedom of expression, but only for those with Fuck You money?

Not really. Economic independence (a) obviously confers freedom and (b) does not require fuck-you money. It usually comes at a cost, namely, material comforts. But this has always been a civic balance even the wealthiest have to make. (For example, the billionaires kowtowing to Trump for fear of having fewer billions.)

It takes a lot of maturity to not care what someone calls you (as long as they don't mean disrespect, and sometimes even if they do). Irrespective of trait, most people are not so thick skinned. That is why they go to HR over political disagreements. You may have seen it happen in rural parts. I've seen it happen in urban ones.

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