Undue silence in the workplace

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to a podcast of a “secret” meeting between Julian Assange and Eric Schmidt in which Assange explained in some detail, the difficulties and successes he's faced while working on the Wikileaks project.

One of the ideas Assange talks about relates to censorship. He distinguishes between two types of censorship, self censorship and overt censorship. Being that the latter form describes the commonly accepted interpretation of what censorship means; namely the intentioned attempt to suppress, hide, bury or erase information that would negatively impact the people involved if the contents were made public, I won't explore that idea any further.

The first type of censorship, which Assange believes is of greater concern is self censorship. He also refers to this form of censorship as economic censorship, explaining that it´s in any publisher´s self interest not to publish content that isn't profitable, for which there is no market. He goes into some detail with regard to this idea, although mostly from a journalist's point of view, probably because that´s the activity he has heavily invested his time, energy, effort and creativity in lately.

One of the reasons i find the concept of self censorship so fascinating is because it applies to all of us.  Almost independent of what type of work you do, we each find it more practical in many cases to self censor our opinions and ideas in the workplace rather than expressing them openly in fear, conscious or otherwise, of future repercussions.

Imagine the personal assistant, when “asked” to type out a memo that he/she knows to contain misinformation, misleading representations or flat out bald faced lies. ¿Does he/she speak out against this type of behavior he/she´s been implicated in? It would probably have to be a pretty important memo, otherwise the personal assistant might decide not to speak up instead.

Imagine the situation of the police officer, who questions the futility of continuously arresting marijuana users rather than spending that time intervening in situations involving more serious criminal activity. ¿Should he/she mention this concern to his/her superior officer risking his/her future career prospects? Maybe, although arresting weed smokers is far easier and less life threatening, so the officer decides not to speak up instead.

Lastly, imagine the case of the graphic designer when “asked” to work on an ad campaign he/she feels is a bad idea, too manipulative, depicts models that not only do not represent the demographics of the community but intentionally disregard specific groups within the population. ¿Does he/she risk his/her livelihood or the chance to work on future choice projects? Maybe, although the ad business, being a seemingly tight knit community makes being labeled “not a team player” a riskier proposition, so the graphic designer decides not to speak up instead.

This is clearly not a comprehensive list, by any stretch of even the narrowest of imaginations, and yet these situations certainly don't seem anything too out of the ordinary. Every day we let things that concern us slide, either because we have too much else to do or because we figure it doesn't matter enough to speak up and risk adding to the already high strung ambiance of our workplaces.

In conclusion:

The point I've been trying to get at is that when our principal source of income is in the hands of a single person or entity (company/corporation), its reasonable to expect that we would all tend to speak out less in order to avoid any unwanted repercussions. This unintended side effect of at-will employment, which few people seem to talk about, but which i imagine to be far more prevalent than most would admit, seems like it would have oxidizing effects on our sense of community which when left unattended could create ever larger breaches in our social compact. Come to think of it, it´s kind of what we see going on all around us in so many different countries across the globe nowadays.

¿when was the last time you didn´t speak out at work about something that bothered you? and ¿what were your concerns related to? please do comment below.

Doce cosas que aprendí de Chile, el país en que vivo

No sabía que para sentirme digno y útil como ser humano tendría que conseguirme un trabajo

No sabía que el desempleo es la raíz de la desigualdad en el país

No sabía que los emprendedores en Chile se crean entre políticos del gobierno de turno

No sabía que el acceso a empleos y la remuneración de mujeres eran verdaderos obstáculos para extender los meses del posnatal

No sabía que en un país con pleno empleo no tendría que salir a buscar trabajo sino que recibiría ofertas mejores de empleo

No sabía que tan solo escuchar los anuncios mejoraría mi calidad de vida y la de mi familia también

No sabía que re-destinando un punto de la tasa de cotización del Seguro de Desempleo (en un país con pleno empleo) beneficiaría durante toda su vida laboral a los trabajadores

No sabía que existía siquiera, distinción alguna entre obrero y empleado y que por tal clasificación los trabajadores no tuvieron acceso igualitario a beneficios médicos ni beneficios frente a riesgos laborales

No sabía que los alumnos de educación superior, por preferencia, querían trabajar mientras estudiaban, y que ambas actividades se pueden compatibilizar creando contratos especiales

No sabía que por consecuencia de políticas publicas serias y honestas enfocadas especialmente a l@s chilen@s más vulnerables y la clase media, que todos pudiéramos tener una vida más plena y más feliz

No sabía que con poner en mayúscula la "U" y la "N" de la frase "unidad nacional" se podía referir tanto a un conglomerado político formado en 1936 y, a la vez, a un feriado que después de tres años, sin dar señales de lograr su propósito, se suprimió

No sabía que prestando deliberada atención durante tan sólo seis minutos (más una hora de análisis mas menos) que pudiera descubrir tantos indicadores de mi propio ignorancia respecto un país en que he vivido durante diez años.

Gracias Presidente Piñera por ofrecerme esta instancia de aprendizaje.

Effects of coherent convictions/actions on a human brain

I recently switched to adding almond milk in my coffee in an effort to end my reliance on an industry which at best employs suspect practices with regard to the treatment of cows. As I was preparing myself a cup, I realized that the instant coffee grains no longer floated to the surface as they had the first time I prepared this combination.

Although seemingly a non event, it quickly dawned on me that along with the substitution of the type of milk in my coffee, and with little or no dedicated conscious thought on my part, I had unwittingly also changed the order in which I added each ingredient, a phenomenon that piqued my interest and led me to wonder how that modification in behavior might have emerged?

Admittedly, in my haste to jot down those fleeting impressions, and after having attended to the summonings of the cats I cohabitate with, I did forget to add sugar to the mix.  Being that I was already in my bedroom by the time I realized this, about to sit down to write the first draft of this blog entry, I decided to just go with it.

I guess my point is, if there is any new knowledge to be gleaned from this seemingly insignificant experience, is that it led me to wonder about whether some change had been made in my brain.  Some change which although triggered by having followed up on a decision I had previously made, might somehow have inexplicably (to me) led to subsequent changes which are more coherent* with a related conviction I maintain, even though I don't always live up to, regarding the destructive effects large “farms” have on our environment, the well being of the cows and bulls and the dehumanizing conditions the people who work at these mega installations subject themselves to in order that 1; more people may have access to pasteurized cow milk and 2; they may maintain, for themselves and their family some modicum of comfort and by extension contribute positively to the communities they live in.

That* I think/thought was/is a marvelous idea (worth further examination), which I am/had to write about and share on the internet, regardless of whether or not the topic might seem laughable.

In conclusion:

I ask you, my dear reader, to consider the following question:

¿What changes have you made recently that have had a similar positive reinforcing effect on your personal convictions?

and time permitting, share with me and whomever happens to come upon this page a comment or link to your own site in the section below.