Solo episode from Dr. Jim on values, power, and why “staying out of it” is still taking a side.
Episode Summary
I’m reacting to a familiar LinkedIn take: “politics doesn’t belong on a professional platform.” The argument sounds polite, even “community-minded”… until you realize what it actually protects: the comfort of people who aren’t the ones being targeted. This episode is my case for why silence isn’t neutral. If your community is being harmed and you choose quiet so you can keep your feed clean, you’re consenting to the harm—and I don’t want to do business with people who live that way.
Episode Chapters
00:00 — The core principle: silence is consent
01:20 — “Protect your community”… unless your community is targeted
02:40 — Who gets to tone police (and why that matters)
03:33 — Values alignment: who I will (and won’t) do business with
04:17 — Closing: silence is covert support
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Music Credit: Good_B_Music
Mentioned in this episode:
Left in Exile Outro
Left in Exile Intro
Transcripts
Dr. Jim: silence means consent. Both Plato and Sir Thomas Moore made that statement and called out the responsibility for everyday people to stand up against power and what they see as injustice. And while this isn't a deep dive into the historical context of both of those, you can look that up for yourself.
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[00:00:29] So why am I talking about this? The reason why I'm bringing this up is that there is a tendency on professional platforms and especially LinkedIn for people to clutch their pearls and tell everybody else on how they should show up.
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[00:00:52] And of course what I'm reacting to is something that a tech bro said and his direct quotes are, if [00:01:00] you're using LinkedIn for politics, you're using it wrong.
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[00:01:20] I have problems with his entire post. I have significant problems when somebody in the US majority is gatekeeping and tone policing on how people should show up on a platform. But the bigger problem is that he's talking about protecting your community. What if your community is the one that's being disappeared off the streets?
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[00:02:00] It's absolutely ridiculous to make that claim, but it's instructive. One of the things that I always talk about when I'm working with startup founders is that you can't be all things to all people. And when you understand that, that means you're shaping your product and your services for a specific group of people.
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[00:02:40] When you research the person that actually posted that, of course this person is a tech bro. Of course, this person, it belongs to a company where there are literally no Black people above the director level that I could find at their company. Of course, this person is in a male dominated sector, and of course this person [00:03:00] is part of the US majority, so there is a level of luxury and safety that he enjoys that.
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[00:03:25] Based on what he said, he would remain silent in the face of that injustice. Is that somebody that you wanna associate with?
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[00:03:58] Everyone is free to make [00:04:00] their own decisions as far as what's appropriate and what isn't. But i'll tell you this, you'll never have to guess where I stand on a particular issue because I am. Out front with what I believe and what I stand for, because I want to do business with people that are aligned with me from a values, morals, and ethics perspective.
