"I have no idea how they think it is appropriate."
They don't see politics as a series of intellectual debates between sides with opposing experiences and views, resolved via votes. They think they're perfect angels and their opponents are an evil that should not exist at all. If they thought they could force you to vote Democrat as part of your job contract they'd do it in a heartbeat. If they thought they had a way to eliminate the Republicans forever and then ban it from ever re-emerging, they wouldn't even hesitate.
If you think that's extreme or flamebait, well, it's what US academia is now actually doing via these loyalty pledges and openly politically biased hiring practices: systematically erase the non-left from academic existence. It's what happened to James Damore, it's what your HR department would do to you in an instant if you complained about the inappropriateness of forcing employees to sit through left wing political material. They would love you to complain so they can identify you and eliminate you because that's just how they roll.
At some point, our society is going to have to face the fact that this is how it always goes with the left. It has happened throughout history, going back to the French Revolution. Having a left that doesn't try and take over to impose a dictatorship the moment it spies an opportunity to do so is very difficult. In Europe there is a similar problem except it's being done via encoding leftist worldviews into the European Union, instead of by trying to take over universities and corporations, and is arguably more advanced.
It's a really big problem and it's very unclear what to do about it. Society needs to (re)develop norms and taboos about allowing anything to do with politics into the workplace. Or it needs to radically shift towards the libertarian right, as a way to mitigate the risk of a left wing violent uprising.
NB for any lefties who never got the memo at the end of the 20th century, "the left" doesn't refer to anti-war anti-capitalists anymore. It refers to middle class culture and eco warriors - the sort of people the WSJ article is about.
They don't see politics as a series of intellectual debates between sides with opposing experiences and views, resolved via votes. They think they're perfect angels and their opponents are an evil that should not exist at all. If they thought they could force you to vote Democrat as part of your job contract they'd do it in a heartbeat. If they thought they had a way to eliminate the Republicans forever and then ban it from ever re-emerging, they wouldn't even hesitate.
If you think that's extreme or flamebait, well, it's what US academia is now actually doing via these loyalty pledges and openly politically biased hiring practices: systematically erase the non-left from academic existence. It's what happened to James Damore, it's what your HR department would do to you in an instant if you complained about the inappropriateness of forcing employees to sit through left wing political material. They would love you to complain so they can identify you and eliminate you because that's just how they roll.
At some point, our society is going to have to face the fact that this is how it always goes with the left. It has happened throughout history, going back to the French Revolution. Having a left that doesn't try and take over to impose a dictatorship the moment it spies an opportunity to do so is very difficult. In Europe there is a similar problem except it's being done via encoding leftist worldviews into the European Union, instead of by trying to take over universities and corporations, and is arguably more advanced.
It's a really big problem and it's very unclear what to do about it. Society needs to (re)develop norms and taboos about allowing anything to do with politics into the workplace. Or it needs to radically shift towards the libertarian right, as a way to mitigate the risk of a left wing violent uprising.
NB for any lefties who never got the memo at the end of the 20th century, "the left" doesn't refer to anti-war anti-capitalists anymore. It refers to middle class culture and eco warriors - the sort of people the WSJ article is about.