I can't tell if you are agreeing or disagreeing with me. You appear to agree with me that there is qualitative difference between social sanction and legal sanction, but then imply there is a qualitative difference between my neighbors shunning me and an employer firing an employee. So on the spectrum of from throwing me in jail for criticizing the President, to having a neighbor decide not to invite me to a barbecue, you think firing an employee is much closer than arresting me as opposed to shunning me? As professional who relies on neighbors for referrals, I have a different view.
Frankly, I think this whole discussion is a projection of academics. While academic departments are politically and personality driven, and personnel decisions are made based on affinity of political views, corporate America is far different. The notion that the Koch bothers have or would fire anyone in their companies simply because that employee disagreed with the Koch brothers' politics is preposterous. David Shemano > Therefore, to successfully live where I live, I am quite skilled at > interacting with these people, which often requires me to be silent when > people say truly asinine things. hmmm... isn't it good to be polite, all else constant? so virtue is being encouraged via informal social sanctions. That sounds exactly like what traditionalist conservatives (followers of Burke _et al_) say they favor. And serious money libertarians know that this kind of informal social sanction is necessary to the maintenance of "free markets" (by encouraging respect for preexisting property rights) because the coercive power of the state is never enough. But it's a big mistake to see informal social sanctions as somehow being as oppressive as the state. > In other words, I recognize that there are very real negative social > and economic consequences if I exercise my free speech rights. Does > this bother me? Not one bit. Exit over voice and all of that. And I > see absolutely no real difference between an employee who has to stand > there and listen to an employer spout off about politics. As long as > I can't get arrested, even if I can get fired, or exercising free > speech, and we have secret ballots, that is enough for me.< An employer has the right to fire the employee. Your "progressive" neighbors or colleagues don't have this power. -- Jim Devine / If you're going to support the lesser of two evils, at the very least you should know the nature of that evil. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
