Wokeism in the workplace

This will be my last blog on this blog site – As you can read below, I became the victim (how I hate that word, but it is exactly that) of woke-ism in the work place.

First, let's look at what "wokeism" means, both in the literal sense, and then we can get into how it is actually applied in the real world.

Wokeism is a Marxist inspired movement that started off with well-intentioned people that wanted to stop racism and social injustice. It has now morphed into a cult that seeks to silence all of those that disagree. At first, using social humiliation, but now graduating to violence through Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots.  Continue reading to see how wokeism is being applied in the workplace today.

Wokeism shows itself in the work place by the fact that most of the workers (probably starting with the HR folks, but I don't have enough personal experience to state that as fact, so it's only my opinion) spend most of their time virtue signaling about things of which they have no personal knowledge, but they "feel" that they are right in spite of any information to the contrary.  Things that should have keyed me include:

• Referring to their spouse as partner, whether they were male or female - I know gay folks who refer to each other as wife or husband or whatever - partner just seems to be a business arrangement and not a intimate thing.
• People who live inside the city limit talking about getting goats or chickens - I grew up on a farm and chickens are the nastiest critturs on the farm - goats are probably third after pigs.
• Having hourly zoom calls where everyone is expected to share personal "fun facts".
• Condescending pants-stain whack-jobs talking about political conquests on a workplace conference call - doesn't matter which side of the political arena you are on.
• Listening to the big-wigs in the firm trying to impress the troops with their personal purchases - if you're a partner in a firm, you've earned their respect (unless you are a total schmuck, then buying the latest 82 inch TV is more likely to just dig the pit deeper).
• When the firm makes a big deal about racial integration, but the only - ONLY - black face I saw was the guy wearing a gay pride shirt and talking about base prejudices or some such cr@p.
• Assuming that just because I'm white, or just because I'm male, that I am categorically wrong about whatever.
• Some tech support lady throwing out the word "misogynist" more than 5 times in a 10-minute conversation - I thought that she was trying to verbally beat me up because of something that someone did to her years before.

Anyway, I had been out of work for several months and I had been actively looking for a job for most of that time.  I received a favorable response, interviewed, and received an offer for a virtual position in the US from a global company.  I was very excited because the work sounded like it would be somewhat different than my previous work, and interesting because it was new – oh, and it would allow me to again contribute to the finances of my home.

I started training on a Monday and by Wednesday I was let go.  

Why? Well, the HR people who handled my termination only said something like they didn't want beliefs like those I held in the company and it would be better for everyone if I left - their offer letter said that the first 180 days were probationary any way, and Florida is an "at will" work state, which means that the employer does not have to establish "just cause", so I figured why fight it.  Besides, the HR department took very good care of me after we came to an agreement - basically, I don't badmouth the company (so I won't be naming it, or talking about what the company does, or stating where its offices are so that I follow the letter of the agreement) and the company management will "try not to" make disparaging comments about me.  Seems like a bit of a disparity there, but what do you expect.  Anyway, what's done is done and I have to make the best of it.

As background, I used to publish a blog (this one) with some thoughts about various events that the media made a big deal about, but from a conservative or rather from a Constitutionalist point of view.  I believe that the individual is responsible for his or her actions, good or bad.  If someone shoots someone, then HE should pay, not society, and not the people around him, and not his victims.   Archaic, I know, but there you go.  Anyway, this company had this "getting to know each other" thing where on EVERY virtual meeting, everyone on the call would share some cutesy fact about themselves, and one day I shared that I was a coffee snob and had actually written an article about how to make coffee.  Someone asked me to share the article, so I said that I would as soon as I found it.  I found it and, rather than cutting and pasting 3 pages of instructions, I just pasted the link into a group share.  Someone browsed the blog and complained to management that my views did not fit with the rest of the company.  More on diversity and tolerance later.

I would like to point out that I make it a practice to not start discussions in the work place about religion, politics, abortion, truth, or any other controversial topics - I don't make any bones about the fact that I am a Christian, or that I am conservative, or that I believe in personal responsibility, or that I am a US Marine.  I don't grind people's face into it, well, except maybe the Marine thing, but it's just so much fun! 

In this case, I did share as a "fun fact" that I was a Christian, that I read my bible every day, and that I was a US Marine.  I mention it, not to brag, but to be "inclusive" as to possible causes.

Anyway, I think I shared the URL late on a Tuesday afternoon, and by about 11 am or 11:30 am on Wednesday morning, someone asked me to join a call and a couple HR people were on the call (sort of an ambush, but I understand why they did it) - within about 10 minutes, I had been informed that I was terminated, was offered a severance package, and was no longer associated with that company.  I asked if it would matter if I were to take down the blog site and was told "we thought about that and no, it won't matter".  In a fit of pique, I cleaned off the blog site anyway, and as I said, this will be the last post on it.

After the fact, I thought of several questions I would like to have asked, but in retrospect, maybe it was better that I didn’t.  Some of those questions:

• Was it my politics, my religion, or my age that got me terminated.
• Did anyone think to ask what might have happened in my life to encourage me to have this belief system?
• For a company that claims to be “tolerant” and “diverse”, this action seems neither “tolerant” nor “diverse”, although I would guess that they would tolerate anyone with their own brand of perversity over anyone with different brands of perversity?
• Are the belief systems of the current employees so fragile that they cannot stand being around people with different beliefs? 

In retrospect, I am glad that this happened - at a bare minimum, I would have been miserable working for that company, so even if I am still looking for a source of income, I count my lucky stars that this happened.  However, I think I would have done some things differently: 

• I would not have shared a URL with anyone.
• I would have gone off headset and started recording on my phone when asked to join that call with HR - the call was on a firm-owned computer and they had configured zoom differently than I would have.
• I would have asked more questions about what brought on my termination, the fragility of other employees, and about "inclusion", "tolerance" and "diversity".
• I would not have signed the separation form - I would have told them that they could pay me for the hours in training, but that I WOULD be sharing my experiences with them from then to Kingdom come.

Of note, every week since I was let go, I see that someone from that company has viewed my Linked-In profile (it has been nearly two months since I was let go) – I wonder if that’s why I am still looking for another job?