@maureendenny — i would like to know this too! u have to be social but how much is too much?? 

i think its ok,’maybe  even smart,    but limiting….  im a progressive and i wouldnt want  to  deal with someone who  openly   posted  hateful  obama stuff  or   preached  about their   thing…. and i  am so against  mixing  business with   god…..who  knows  what their  god  says is the right thing  to do?  

i prefer  professionalism and leaving all that   in private…. 

Jason has very articulately expressed my perspective, too. Also, although you have your target audience, it doesn’t mean you exclude or reject others who are different. However, the axiom is true, “birds of a feather flock together.” @jasonwiser @maureendenny @devanianjali @startmywebpage @annfurnivall

I agree with @jasonwiser people naturally gravitate to like minded people.

If your looking for help with some sort of startup I think that looking for someone with a like-minded political affiliation or thought patterns will equal less arguments.

Diverse opinions may be helpful or fruitful in some situations, but probably not when it comes to large sums of money or the direction you want to take your business venture—something you would be very emotionally attached to.

i agree  with  deborah

@jasonwiser i agree and think  thats a good thing to let people know about….especially if  you are  extreme…

.i have some    customers  who are  born again  and   i try not to   see that  part of  them, like  when they  compare obama  to a donkey  on their  facebook page  like on e of my friends  did this morning….shes nice and i kind of   like her   but  wow,  what she  calls  christian i think is   embarrassing….and    she  talks   guns guns guns even tho  no one is  stopping  her  from  buying  , except  maybe  machine  guns,   ….forgetting  thou shal not killl apparantly….its a big turn off to me…

I was once hired to work at a company where nearly every other employee was the same faith as the owners. I was not of that faith. There were things about that business culture that clearly came from their faith. They never asked me during the interview process about my faith (which would have been illegal). They never made an issue about it while I was working there. There were some differences in my personal ethics and the group ethics, but everyone was respectful of the differences and I never felt like an outsider or like I was treated differently.

Every single person has a belief system that includes matters of faith, politics, etc. When the business products and services are clearly outside matters of faith, I think a business is really well suited to have people with divergent points of view on the inside. The skills I brought to the job helped that company reach the next level of their growth. I’m proud of my work there, and of my affiliation with an open minded company with respect for its employees.

@jasonwiser i agree  with what you are saying., especially  for someone  working  close  or   really out there representing  your  company.. i have a good  friend  serving her  church and  their  social media needs…and  boy do they need her….  its  a  real  gift  and  service….easy for her  but hard  for   most of  the members…i think  you are in a  great niche….  …

..but think of me too,      my world is  full of  gay  guys and   outside the  box  artists  and  very   strong  women and amish and  all kinds of   others… i  wouldnt  want them looked  down on or   insulted by any of my   employees……  if    someone talked   like   ted nugent  i  wouldnt  want them around  my  customers……or  if they  thought  gays  should  get  treatment…. .

i guess this  good  conversation   shows  why   politics and  religion  could  be a problem     at a  business…. 

…i  actually have an   alabama  customer who has  used  the N#####i  in my store..and  always  says  something  crazy about the president…  ….but   hes   a  great  guy  otherwise.??? …..hopefully hes  just old  and  not   normal for  alabama…

@charlene-kingston that  sounds   about   perfect  charlene…

@maureendenny I like the way you think! I once applied for a job as a webmaster for niche market website with a huge following. My selling point was that I wasn’t a fan, I was an outsider, and so I would bring a fresh perspective. I’m happy to say that I made it to the final three candidates.

@maureendenny et al,There have been plenty of studies that show that diverse workplaces (backgrounds, races, political affiliations, sexual preferences, etc.) produce better results than homogenous ones.Although I tend to lean liberal socially, I have a couple of employees who are politically opposed to me. I feel having opposing views in the office is helpful, and makes me think more carefully about decisions. The only thing that’s not OK is hateful language for any group, be it gays, women, Christians, Moslems, etc.An exception might be if you’re part of a purpose driven organization where you would want like minded people who are passionate about your cause.

I can see it both ways … someone with like a mindset should be able to write from a similar voice and values, while someone with a different mindset maybe able to sway outsiders to use the product / service because they can empathize/speak directly to someone who doesn’t know the product and speak their language.

What’s disturbing to me are the number of job / freelance posts that do include excluding language for age, religion and political preferences. At sometime the American public decided that it wasn’t okay to discriminate. Are we now saying that it’s okay under certain circumstances?

I think the message that these people are trying to get across with their exclusionary language could be better made on a one to one basis by explaining what the job responsibilities are.

I wouldn’t work for someone that went against my personal/religious/political values … but I may be the odd man out.

good points  @krmcgee mostly   i wouldnt  want to know  a persons   views..

..but if they were so strong that, say, they evangelized  to me,  that would be a red flag…. or if  they   openly  trashed  my  beliefs or  obama   in a hateful way  that would  be a red  flag… 

but also imho….its pathetic that a school   banned  huckleberry finn for the n word…..  or  that  you  cant say the word niggardly without  fear of   something…..its a word!!!!… or  the  rappers  can say words i cant….  what a mess…..  

@annfurnivall Thank you. In my case, my business is selling my artwork, which by nature is very personal, but I try to take the same impartial approach that I do on a business level. I don’t care what a person’s beliefs are as long as they don’t make it my business by trying to impose their beliefs on me.

I agree about the red flags. I think people in general dislike being preached to, whether the subject is religion or economics or whatever. Avoiding this is one of the things writers are taught in college. I don’t know what you define as hateful, though.

Banning a book because of a word is called censorship and as a writer and artist I consider it my enemy. I’m reminded of a lit prof in undergrad school who read part of Heart of Darkness in class and refused to say the N word where it appeared in the text, which I thought was total bs. It was also a form of censorship. These texts are part of our history, should be learned from, not censored. Niggardly could be a fun word to play with too. I’d forgotten about that one because it’s not used much anymore. I can get away with using the language rappers use and I’m honored that they’ve accepted me into their culture in that way. It is a mess though, isn’t it.

@maureendenny Thank you, I’m glad my comments were helpful. I agree, there is really no one to vote for. And I support your decision of not selling your political views. You have the right to keep that private, as you say. For me it’s not so cut and dried because I’m selling my artwork and it reflects my views. Yes, everyone has a right to an opinion and I try to address a wide spectrum of ideas to avoid the monotony of presenting the same opinion repeatedly. There are recurring themes in my work because those themes matter to me but I try to present them in different ways. It’s my right as an artist to write about or paint whatever themes I want.

Disagreement, debate. These are good things, I agree. I try not to assume anything. Assumption tends to get one into trouble.

Good discussion.