Should entrepreneurs and geeks talk politics (or should we shut up)?
Published October 26th, 2006 edit replace rm!
I have for a long time without even questioning it, figured it’s best to keep shut about political issues when doing business. As everyone who knows me can attest to I am a very opinionated guy when it comes to politics and economics. While I don’t directly hide that fact on this blog, I don’t necessarily advertise it either.
Martin Varsavsky the founder of Fon (Very cool company) asks Are we too progressive but concludes that he should be political.
FON is people who have been promised the wireless internet and got tired of waiting. And that to me, is progressive. Why should it not express our views? And as a CEO, why can´t I express my views? I believe CEO´s CAN and SHOULD be political, because CEOs are citizens and all citizens should be political. So here´s a random list of things I believe in.
I tend to agree. In the Ruby on Rails world we also have one or two proudly political geeks Rabble being the prime contender.
While I don’t think I will mix too much straight politics on this blog I think I will probably start advertising my political blog Econotrix a bit heavier in the future. I am proudly libertarian and while I rant I also try to work out solutions as well (like any good geek would).
While I disagree on many things with both Martin and Rabble, I think we probably also would agree on many other things.
Then again as a libertarian I believe that the stuff we actually do with our businesses and our technologies are way more important in a world changing way than any vote we make or any political diatribe we go out on.
Will Kamishlian October 26th, 2006
Why not discourse in politics, I say. The important thing is to separate political discussion from work, technology, etc. discussion. The saying, “Don’t discuss politics or religion at a dinner party” holds true. The reason for this, beyond good taste, is that political discussion tends to polarize groups. Polarization on fields separate to the subject matter (business, technology, etc.) only hurts discussion in those areas.