[krmbzds]

Am I the only one who feels like discussing politics at work is inappropriate? While I'm not apolitical, I appreciate having a space where the constant bombardment of politics is momentarily absent. It's refreshing to focus on work without the need for political discourse.

[bigstrat2003]

No, you're not the only one. I think work should be a politics-free zone. We are there to get stuff done, not argue and hate each other.

[crote]

The problem is that everything is political: if politics don't impact you, you are living a very privileged life.

On the one hand, I do agree that endless debating over relatively minor ideological differences is pointless, and only going to lead to time-wasting and resentment. I certainly have the same desire for some peace and quiet, and being able to focus solely on my work.

On the other hand, we live in a society where questions like "am I allowed to use the office bathroom" have been made political, and where your coworkers are genuinely worried about whether they'll get arrested and deported from the country for no reason whatsoever during next week's sprint planning. Their issues are real and by definition require the business as an entity to respond to political developments.

You might have the luxury of putting your head in the sand and pretending they don't exist, but that's not going to magically solve your coworkers' problems. Unless the company wants to restrict its hiring to the absolutely minuscule group of people who will never be impacted by politics, it'll have to engage in some level of political discussion.