Professional and Personal
So far, in Libr559m there has been two discussions which touch on related areas. One was on the use of 3rd party social media background checks by employers and another was on limiting the personal use of social media to adhere to professional standards. Laid out like this, it is easy to see how these are two sides of the same coin. This post by a classmate discusses this from the latter perspective.
I mentioned in my introduction that I maintain a blog discussing things about social justice. Obviously, from the Vista discussions, it is probably quite clear to everybody that this has been my approach to many of the discussions within the class. In many ways, I think it is incredibly important to remember. This will be discussed in greater detail when I finally finish my post on performance…
In the meantime, I’d like to point out that it is a privilege to be judged solely by your actions. It isn’t a privilege that many people share. I may not have mentioned before but I’m one of the 2010 recipients of the Association of Research Library’s Diversity scholarships, because people of colour are severely under-represented in the field of academic librarianship (less than 15% but I can’t find the ARL survey right now).
I *wish* I’d just have my professional career impacted by my possible social media activities, it would be quite a few steps ahead for me. But even if I maintained nothing but the most perfect professional decorum, I’d still have a much harder time getting equal opportunity. I could still find myself terminated for reasons unrelated to my job performance. And some of these reasons are even legal in Canada right now (see here, here, and here).
Of course, this is all to say, is this is all the same system. Unless you are involved in illegal activity anything you do in your personal life should not only have no bearing on your career but should also (from a justice perspective) not even be considered something that has to be held distinct. I recently say a Tyra Banks YouTube clip where a Subway worker was fired for doing porn. Porn and sandwiches have nothing to do with each other, but someone recognized the guy (who was trying to find non-sex related work). But the point is, is that there is nothing wrong with sex work (if freely chosen). There is also nothing wrong with coarse language, criticizing your employers, venting frustrations, sexting, etc.
You are right that it is a privilege to be judged solely on your actions and even then, current action and not something you did badly in the past. Do you think things will get better for minority races in future or do you think the structural disadvantage is so entrenched that there is little way out? Additionally, do you think people of colour judge their own by the same standards that the majority has set. I have experienced it before where someone from a minority race gave a white person preferential treatment and quite shabbily treated me even though we were both “minorities”.
One of the reasons I started my own social justice blog is because I believe, down to the very core of my being, that people are good. That we can change society and create a world and culture where every human being is treated with respect and dignity. And, yes, it is quite terrible when majority oppression is internalized within minorities and results in horizontal hostility (which is the social justice term for what you described). Also why I agree with you that one of the worst ways that oppression manifests is internally. Whenever I begin to police myself based on the oppressive dictates of the majority culture, I immediately take a big dip in my quality of life.