Comment by tomp

Every job requires a somewhat politically neutral attitude, at the very least on the job. And of course "neutral" will be judged as leftist by people on the right and rightist by people on the left. So look past that. And that includes not getting into political fights with the rest of the company and not being so politically "out there" that your company gets attacked on the street.

My employer requires that too, even if we've never explicitly discussed that.

I bet universities are easy targets and so require a very low risk political profile from their employees. That was definitely somewhat leftist-affiliated after George Floyd's murder, and frankly, given what happened, I don't see that as particularly unfair. I see myself as pretty rightist, and I am of the opinion that what happened to George Floyd was a serious fuckup against rightist ideology. Everyone deserves a chance. And when they fuck up, another chance. To me, that is rightist. And that means the police must avoid killing people when arresting them.

I don't understand today's political movements. What I appreciated about leftists was that 40 years ago they were going to bring technological advancement and freedom from religious lunacies and use that technological progress to give everyone an easy and fun life. Progress meant nuclear fusion, fixing diseases, ... "progress" DID NOT mean just letting people steal clothes, or, let's be honest, letting terrorists kill Jews and others in the name of getting muslim votes. That, to me, is NOT leftist, but obviously it is to a lot of today's leftist movements. Yes, antisemitism was a part of leftism 40 years ago, let's be honest, but it was definitely not the rage-bait sole-issue-with-us-or-we'll-kill-you focus of the left it appears to be today.

What I appreciated about rightists that almost absolute equality was the very core of rightist ideology. Color, nationality, religion, ... everyone gets a chance, no one gets a free ride. No guarantee of success, but the possibility is sacred, and if you do fuck it up, you get another chance. So, to me, George Floyd was a pretty fucking serious screwup against rightist ideology and so I think a lot of people supported that effort despite it being "leftist", in that most of the protests were organized by leftist organizations, and those protests did more damage than was acceptable.

But to me, George Floyd was very much NOT OKAY from a rightist perspective, and so justified a strong reaction against what happened.

Is it really so hard to see past the affiliation of the screamers on the street? Leftists have the same idiocy going. Not many leftists support even moderate islam, hell, not many muslims do, never mind terrorism, it's only "the party" that does. Today "if you're not with us you're against us" is so deeply ingrained in BOTH leftism and rightism and muslim organizations and maga and ... and I don't swing that way.

I see myself as pretty to the right, but if you're going to let the police kill black people by casually suffocating them during arrests, I am not with you. In fact, I prefer just letting people steal from shops to that. So if you force that particular issue, you've lost me. Find something else.