
Now, you might be asking yourself: how is it even possible to have âcancel cultureâ in a hiring situation?
Quite simple, actually.
This all shouldnât happen. But itâs happening. Itâs unfortunate. Let me give you some examples.
You should know your rights when you go to apply for a job. An employer cannot discriminate against you because of your race, religion, sexual orientation, origin, etc. Letâs say that you are a Buddhist.
As you know, almost all of the employers these days are quite happy to subject you to psychoanalysis robots that ask you questions, allegedly in an attempt to determine âcultural fitâ.
Suppose that one of these questions asks you about harming animals and you truthfully, as a Buddhist, indicate that youâd âNeverâ do such a thing.
You get denied for the role.
Turns out, you âfailedâ this automated tool because it made an arbitrary âdo not interviewâ decision that the HR rep didnât question, because they had already programmed it to prefer certain answers.
Hereâs where I spoil the âsecretâ of the automated personality tests.
In the example of harming animals (but it applies to basically every question), itâs a trap question.
If you answer âNeverâ, they will assume youâre a liar, because if you ever ate meat, it was harm to an animal, if youâre vegetarian you took food from animals.
If you answer âAlwaysâ (or its equivalent) they will assume youâre heartless/insensitive.
If you answer âNeutralâ they will assume youâre evasive or noncommittal.
Thatâs right - the test isnât designed to get in your mind like they told you. At all.
Itâs designed to use the answer to make an assumption about you thatâs likely not true and has no basis in truth. That HR wonât question the results is an indication that they just want an echo chamber; in this case, they probably want an iffy answer like âprobably notâ which they canât make an assumption on except that you were âthoughtfulâ.
Now suppose youâre talking to HR for a job at a slaughterhouse and they happen to ask if you have any moral objections to whatâs happening. As a Buddhist, one of your core beliefs is, or should be, âavoid work that causes suffering to othersâ. Many people are sensitive to the harming of animals, so if you tell that rep honestly that you do have religious concerns about it, they canât discriminate against you over it. They have to try to make some sort of reasonable accommodation, and you have to offer something that will alleviate the concern. You might be perfectly fine working in the backoffice because youâre not witnessing the event, or you may need to withdraw yourself. But they canât just shut you down and refuse to try and work with you because of a religious core belief.
Another example - and this is relevant now especially - is with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. This also affords you religious protections under the law, but many companies are ignoring these rights improperly. If your religious beliefs result in a company completely cutting you off, theyâre violating your rights, and you may be able to pursue legal action to fix the issue.
But I would also recommend reconsidering working for that company, because thatâs essentially cancel culture: they are not welcoming of whatever is causing your concern, and donât want to welcome you for your talents.
On a side note, I absolutely support suing them dry for money, because companies should be held accountable when they do these things. But I wouldnât suggest accepting a job offer from them as âsettlementâ. Itâs not a place youâd want to work, because itâs obvious that they would not be welcoming of you regardless. Take the money, send the message and go elsewhere.
As more and more violations of your rights take place (and trust me, itâs getting worse before it gets better), learn to recognize when itâs basically a cancel culture situation: the activities of social media are spilling over where they never should go, which is the workplace, and theyâre basically silencing and blocking you out because of things said that they donât want to hear. Itâs not an ideal situation, but learning to recognize it when it happens will at least allow you to take proper actions and go your own way.