[VladimirIvanov]

Does anyone else feel uncomfortable around people that talk about politics at work? I would much rather talk about the latest sports balls games. There's so many conversations that you can have and many different statistics. You can even have sports balls debates that are enjoyable such as who is the best ball thrower.

[throwaway5752]

Yes, don't discuss religion, sex, or politics at work. This used to be professionalism 101 (outside the context of workplace discrimination/HR, obviously)

[SkyBelow]

What about discussing kids or pregnancies? Are they really that difference, given how one derives from one of your banned topics?

[magduf]

No, because that's even worse. Sports are incredibly boring and mindless; I'd rather talk about paint drying than some stupid, pointless sports game. At least politics is something that actually affects everyone whether they want it to or not. Only a minority of the population gives a rat's ass about sports, though the sports fans always delude themselves into thinking that everyone likes them, and try to push sports on everyone constantly.

How'd you like it if I kept trying to talk to you about my favorite bands?

[joyeuse6701]

I had an opinion similar to you, I didn't care about the drama of one team or another, what the significance of some move, or kick, or foul was. It seemed like just an exercise in physical prowess, and just a matter of genetic skill.

It irritated me to be asked about sports or asked what I was a fan of...

I grew a respect for sports after trying a few of them. From martial arts like Kendo or Jiujitsu, to high level chess, with enough practice you learn the rules and get an intuitive understanding, and then you see.

You see the physicality of a sport and you know how amazing that physical feat is, because you've tried something like it. You can understand on a deeper level the drama of the moment between two opponents as they are deciding what strategy, tactic and move to employ.

I may not always enjoy talking about some niche that someone else cares about, but I am now at least somewhat aware that they are trying to connect with me and they care about it because they probably know something that I don't.

[magduf]

>It irritated me to be asked about sports or asked what I was a fan of...

>I grew a respect for sports after trying a few of them. From martial arts like Kendo or Jiujitsu, to high level chess, with enough practice you learn the rules and get an intuitive understanding, and then you see.

Try talking to a football fan about jiujitsu or chess and see how far that conversation goes.

I can respect the physical skill needed to play a sport, but that doesn't mean I care to talk to someone about it, and it still irritates me to be asked what sports I follow and get a weird look when I say I don't. I don't think people are freaks if they don't listen to the same music I do, but sports fans absolutely treat people like freaks if they don't follow any sports.

[mcgrath_sh]

I don’t listen to music. Let me clarify, if I need to drown something out I put on the same half-dozen Classical music pieces that I can ignore while working, but outside that I do not listen to music. I listen to podcasts and audio books when commuting, playing games, cleaning, etc. I cannot tell you the number of times I have been told I was insane, weird, a serial killer, etc. all because I don’t listen to music. So, yeah, not just sports fans who treat people like trash if they don’t partake in their hobby.

[magduf]

>I cannot tell you the number of times I have been told I was insane, weird, a serial killer, etc. all because I don’t listen to music. So, yeah, not just sports fans who treat people like trash if they don’t partake in their hobby.

I'm sorry if some music lovers treated you this way. But did this happen at work? Musical tastes tend to be diverse these days, so I never hear people talking about music at work unless they already know the other person shares their particular taste. I talk about music with one of my coworkers, but that's because we found out with our shared music libraries (we have music libraries we bring to work and are then able to share with others on the network) that we like a lot of the same stuff. We even ended up going to a couple of concerts together. But again, this wasn't because anyone was badgering anyone about talking about prog-metal bands, it was because we found out through our music shares that we liked the same bands. Our coworkers mostly listen to other music (a few don't seem to listen to any), so we never talk music with them. In short, I just have a hard time imagining people these days talking much about music at work.

[throwaway5752]

Then talk music? TV? There is a reason that "water cooler talk" is the conversational equivalent of elevator music. You need to get along with people on a professional basis to accomplish a goal, and things that are divisive and hinder that should be discouraged. Politics creates rifts in families, of course it will cause work problems.

[magduf]

I'm not disagreeing that talking about politics at work is a minefield, at best.

However, trying to get everyone to talk about sports is annoying as hell. I'd rather have ugly political arguments than talk about some stupid sports game; that's my point. You're trying to paint sports as some kind of thing to unite over, but I'm pointing out that it isn't, all it does is create another division, between the sports fans and everyone else.

Now, of course, I don't care if a few sports fans have a conversation among themselves at work. However, with some of them it seems to be a religion of sorts and they have to push it on everyone.

[vict00ms]

It causes a division, sure...but it's not divisive.

[forgottenpass]

> Sports are incredibly boring and mindless

So are your hobbies.

> At least politics is something that actually affects everyone whether they want it to or not.

Everyone need an outlet for team loyalty and deep emotional investments in outcomes. Spend that drive worrying about what color someone's jersey is, so you don't do it worrying what color their tie is. Then you can spend your calm, cold, and rational cycles towards politics.

[dudul]

Politics is sport for the educated :) Especially in the US, with 2 teams, the Red and the Blue, to keep it very simple and easy to follow.

[Clubber]

I don't think US politics is geared toward the educated anymore. Maybe 30 years ago. Today, it's just tabloid-esque garbage.