«Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.»
Pericles
I recently had a talk in which I was informed that politics should not be discussed at work. The issue at hand was — what else during the beginning of autumn 2021 — Covid. Yeah, I’m sick as hell of that topic too.
And I totally agree. Politics should not be discussed at work. It does not matter whether you are for or against gay marriage, abortion, tax-the-rich, or whatever else.
But like the quote in the beginning eloquently says — you can ignore politics, but it will not ignore you. At least some political topics will not.
And with Covid — it does interfere with work.
And yeah, I would gladly ignore it, and I happily will, if it would mean that I could thereby ignore all the Covid mandates.
Yeah, not seeing it happening either.
Those Covid regulations … well, they penetrate work life. They interfere with the goals of the organizations or companies. With the processes, with people’s decision to make health decisions independently of coercion — whether economical, social, or organizational.
Yet, they still have to be adhered to, if you want to be seen as someone who does things right. Who follows the rules, no matter who inconsistent they are.
In a way, Covid has turned out to be one huge character test — one way or the other.
Seriously, if I were planning to create an oligarchy or dictatorship and wanted to find out which people might pose a problem, you can simply look at people’s reactions to these regulations. How people react when freedoms are curtailed. It shows you the «problem cases».
And yeah, that’s hard to see if you just see the regulations as something to adhere to, perhaps for very good reasons, including that you really think they are for the best, and you don’t have to conform to stupid tests to do your job.
Side note: Diagnostics is important if you have symptoms, if something is wrong. But testing people without symptoms is a stupid idea. Even more so, considering that vaccinated do not have to get tested. As a consequence, both vaccinated (who likely do not notice when they are infected as their vaccination will — in the beginning — mask symptoms) and unvaccinated but tested individuals will likely show more “risky” (pre 2020: normal) behavior.
And yeah, the vaccinated are currently in a false sense of security. Politics and media write checks for the vaccination which aren’t covered by their effectiveness. And yeah, that’s hard to hear considering the hopes many people had regarding vaccines. Look, it’s an RNA virus. I got vaccinated against the flu each year, including this year. It’s a gamble whether you cover the relevant strains because these RNA viruses mutate like … crazy.)
But ignoring Covid? Ignoring the regulations that interfere with how I can do my job? How I can interact with other human beings?
If you want me to stop making Covid an issue in my work life, first stop making it an issue in my work life.
Update: Edited to remove side-topics that might warrant their own posting one day.
