Tripod Columns: Harry Goldstein

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onchange="self.top.podRedirect(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value)"> <option value="">Related Pods</option> <option value="Freebies">Freebies</option> <option value="MacComputing">Mac Computing</option> <option value="PC%20User">PC User</option> <option value="Second-Hand">Second-Hand</option> <option value="Smallbiz">SmallBiz</option> <option value="Travel">Travel</option> </select></td> </tr> </table> </form> <br clear="ALL"> <p>  <p> <p> <p> <table cellpadding="5"> <tr><td valign="TOP"> <p> <p> <p> <p><img src="../../../../work/columns/img/www_subdomain/workinglife.gif" width="194" height="152" alt="the working life by Harry Goldstein"> <p> <font size="+1"> <b> <font size="+2">C</font>OGNITIVE <font size="+2">D</font>ISSONANCE</font> </b> <p> <p>Published July 15, 1996<br><p> <a href="../../../../www_subdomain/work/archive/goldstein.html"><font size="+1">Previous columns</font></a> <br>by Harry Goldstein </td> <td><font size="+1"> <p> <p> <font size="+2">O</font>ccasionally, when I'm least expecting it, something happens to make me question the nature of the work I do. Sometimes those occasions link up with one another, like an endless train running over the same bit of track: you're an apologist for Big Science, I say to myself. You're a corporate messenger boy, an empty vessel for public relations material. I'm a sucker and I know it. <p> <font size="+2">T</font>his is cognitive dissonance: knowing that you're doing something that doesn't jibe with your values. The phenomenon is otherwise known as bad faith or lying to yourself and swallowing the lie hook, line and sinker -- it resonates in the heads of lots of people where I work, and I'd wager, in the heads of a lot of people I don't work with. We all deal with it in different ways. <p> </td> </tr>  <tr><td valign="TOP"> <font size="+2">There are saboteurs among us. </font> <p> </td> <td valign="TOP"><font size="+1"> <font size="+2">S</font>ome people are perfectly content to talk about how they feel -- and just as content to do absolutely nothing about it. Others are more uncomfortable and try to find a release in subversive activities, no matter how innocuous -- posting Dilbert cartoons in their cubicles, for instance, or misdirecting a query call every once in a while. And then there are the saboteurs among us, many of whom have decided to quit what they're doing and leave their mark before they do. <p> <font size="+2">S</font>ome of these stories are cataloged in <a href="../../../../www_subdomain/work/review/book/961004sabotage.html">Sabotage in the American Workplace</a>, edited by Martin Sprouse. One of my favorite stories is about a mail clerk who took a job with the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation. Once he got wise to the agenda they were pushing at the time, mainly investment in South Africa during apartheid, his conscience told him to start chucking donation checks -- whatever the amount -- into the trash can. <p> </td> </tr>  <tr><td valign="TOP"> <font size="+2">Be prepared for the possibility that you're wrong. </font> <p> </td> <td valign="TOP"><font size="+1"> <font size="+2">O</font>f course, acting on those little voices inside your head, while making you feel better, can really screw up your life if you get caught. That's why none of the saboteurs in SAW give their last names. And if you haven't had a reality check -- talked about the situation with co-workers and tried to do something constructive about the situation -- you should be prepared for the possibility, horrible as it might sound, that you're just flat out <b>wrong</b>. But if your conscience is really driving you crazy, there are some constructive things you can do about it. <p> <ol> <b><li></b>Quit and find an employer more in line with your personal values. Hasta pasta, you're one for the archives, his-to-ry, outta there.<p> <b><li></b>Talk to your colleagues and find out if they have a similar take on the situation. This can serve as a reality check, if nothing else. It might build solidarity among your co-workers, the key to numero next...<p> <b><li></b>Talk to the powers-that-be about changing the way things are. If you're particularly passionate and articulate, your might get something changed on your own. But the more voices you bring into the discussion, the easier it is for The Powers That Be to hear you.<p> <b><li></b>If the cognitive dissonance is more than just rubbing you the wrong way -- if there is an atmosphere that condones or encourages sexual harassment, or if the company you work for is involved in illegal activities -- then you have a responsibility not only to yourself, but to everyone else to speak up. </ol> <p> </td> </tr>  <tr><td valign="TOP"> <font size="+2">You may have a responsibility to speak up. </font> <p> </td> <td valign="TOP"><font size="+1"> <font size="+2">A</font> recent article in the Wall Street Journal (6/13/96) talked about the so-called "golden gag" when companies try to pay workers off so they don't talk about improprieties or crimes. The gag is being successfully challenged in civil court -- and now the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken up the fight in federal court to "stop Astra USA of Westborough, Mass, from enforcing aspects of keep-quiet settlements reached with employees who complained of sexual harassment at the pharmaceutical concern." The point is, if you're blowing the whistle on something that needs to be stopped, Johnny Law's got your back. <p> <hr><p> <p><a href="mailto:hargold@mail.idt.net">Harry Goldstein</a> is a writer and editor living in Manhattan. His work has appeared in Utne Reader, American Book Review, Promethean, AltX, word.com, and other periodicals. <font size="-1"><p>© 1996 Harry Goldstein, All Rights Reserved </font> <p> </font> <p> <p> </td> </tr> </table> <form method="POST" action="../../../../www_subdomain/bin/search/pursuit.html"> <table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" align="RIGHT"> <tr> <td valign="MIDDLE" align="MIDDLE"> <a href="../../../../www_subdomain/work_money.html" target="_top"></a></td> <td valign="MIDDLE" align="MIDDLE"> <a href="../../../../www_subdomain/work_money/index-html/anchor_toc.html" target="_top"></a></td> <td valign="TOP" align="RIGHT"> <select name="pod_name" onchange="self.top.podRedirect(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value)"> <option value="">Related Pods</option> <option value="Freebies">Freebies</option> <option value="MacComputing">Mac Computing</option> <option value="Second-Hand">Second-Hand</option> <option value="Smallbiz">SmallBiz</option> <option value="Travel">Travel</option> </select></td> </tr> </table> <br clear="ALL"><br> <table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" align="RIGHT"> <tr> <td valign="MIDDLE" align="RIGHT"> <nobr><img src="../../../../img/www_subdomain/lycos_power.gif" border="0" alt="Lycos Powered" height="15" width="91"> <select name="cat"> <option value="tripod_www" selected>Search the Tripod Web Site <option value="tripod">Search Tripod Member Pages <option value="lycos">Search the Web</select></nobr></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="MIDDLE" align="RIGHT"> <nobr><input type="text" size="20" name="query"> <input type="submit" value="Search"></nobr></td> </tr> </table> </form> <br clear="ALL"> </td> </tr> </table> </body>