are you expected to have a view of Israel/palestine?

With all the social media posts supporting one or the other, seems like there is some pressure to be pro Israel (or be labeled anti-semitic or hamas sympathizer otherwise) or pro Palestine (or be labeled colonizer or supporting human rights violations otherwise). Do you see this even as analysts or associates at your firm, or do most people keep away from politics and don't pressure you to have an opinion either way? 

9 Comments
 

1) It is not advisable to express your personal political views at work, regardless of where you are on the spectrum.

2) People in general have a very poor understanding of modern political issues. The root of political issues involving Israel/Palestine, China/Taiwan and Ukraine/Russia go back multiple decades if not more than a century. Best not to publicly talk about things you don’t fully understand.

3) Needless to say, also be careful what you put out online. Generally speaking, views that are politically acceptable today may not be acceptable in the future. For all of my social media activities (WSO included), I use a VPN and a dummy email.

 
mbahopeful88

No, but you should. Some issues are black and white. It's not okay to go to your neighbor's house, kill grandma, behead the kids, rape the daughters and drag them through the streets because of a "muh territory" dispute from 80 years ago.

We are talking about someone's career, though.  You might think that one side is despicable but there is no benefit to declaring your views at work.  

 

No. Don't share it in a public setting (beyond close friends), only downside and no upside. 

Frankly you don't need to have a view on it at all. This idea that everyone must have an opinion on everything all of the time is part of the problem in our society, most of the time we know little about most things. We just don't have the bandwidth to know every issue well enough to have an educated opinion -- there's also little ROI on it from a time perspective as your vote is immaterial. Have views, but don't have too many, and hold convictions lightly 

 

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