How do I handle Woo in the office?

[Yithmas]

Hi folks,

I have a pretty urgent question:

I work for an online-agency and my boss, who is also a friend, is a firm believer in homeopathy, as are more than half of my colleagues (especially the two younger ladies, they are almost militant about it).

I was recently assigned to contributing content for an H-word project which is due to be online within the next few weeks.

How shall I handle the situation? I could make up content, no problem, but this would be lying, spreading misinformation and promoting woo.

On the other hand, my son is six weeks today and we only have my income, so I want to play it safe. What can I do?

 

[Dancing David]

We all do things at work for money.

 

[McHrozni]

Nasty situation.

You could juse lie and spread the woo. It's not like it's voluntary. With all the BS around it won't do much damage anyway.

McHrozni

 

[23_Tauri]

We all do things at work for money.

What Dancing David said.

No-one's saying you have to sign anything saying you believe in what your working on, are they? Most of us work on things at work all the time that we don't believe in. Do the job and just be glad you're not a lawyer having to defend the indefensible.

 

[EHocking]

What Dancing David said.

No-one's saying you have to sign anything saying you believe in what your working on, are they? Most of us work on things at work all the time that we don't believe in.

Fortunately I've never had that problem, but I have had occasions to question the ethics of procedures or decisions.

Personally, I would always speak out if I disagreed.
Fortunately I've mostly worked with people that respected that sort of integrity.

If I was in an environment where my colleagues didn't - I'd leave, or ask to have myself removed from the project.

It sounds as though others at the OP's work place are able to air their opinions - so why not yourself?

ETA: M3 too. Good luck.

 

[nvidiot]

I had a similar query but from a retail perspective no too long ago, I work in an industry rather susceptible to woo.

I would suggest if you feel uncomfortable doing it you should speak to a sympathetic ear above you in the food chain. If there is no such person to ask within the business, then perhaps think about how far you're willing to step in that direction before you call it quits.

It's hard to make that call and ultimately up to your own conscience. I find that if I'm getting a nagging feeling that something isn't right, it should at the least be questioned.

Good luck.

 

[Ririon]

Disclaimer: Not advice, just a thought:

What if you put in a brief explanation about what homeopathy is and how it is supposed to work. In a non-confrontational tone. There really is no point in shouting "THIS IS BS!!", since explaining it should make it obvious to most people.

If people do not think homeopathy is ridiculous after a brief explanation of what it is, it is not your fault.

 

[bookitty]

So many people who swear by homeopathy think that it is some super-sciency version of herbalism. In other words, potions instead of dilutions. So just write the truth but add whatever is necessary to keep not only your job but the goodwill of your boss.

No skeptic can take on all the ills of the words, we let stuff pass every day. It's especially hard when it's right there in front of you but you can always go get a vaccination booster shot to make up for it.

 

[RobRoy]

Alternately, you might take the approach that you, too, are a believer. Then, as you did your writing and research for the article, you “stumbled” upon a whole bunch of good information from viable, sources with lots of letters after their names and many years of experience studying and testing such claims which proved them mostly or completely false. You might then approach your boss, hat-in-hand-esque and say that you weren’t certain how to proceed, as this information seems to contradict what it is you’ve been assigned to do. Ask him/her to review the information provide the editor’s opinion. That way, you all come off as having been “duped” and you weren’t actively looking to debunk what you already knew wasn’t true.

It’s a bit of subterfuge that I often use when confronting friends, family, associates on such things. No one likes to be told, “No. You’re wrong. So wrong I can’t believe you just said that.” But we can easily bear hearing, “Whoa, I thought the exact same thing. Then I saw this article. What do you think?” It allows them to make up their own minds whether they regard the article(s) as worthwhile, or if they want to continue to believe what they believe. It also plants the seeds of doubt in regards to the subject.

I was never big into homeopathy, but before I knew better, I did regard it as something of a science. I know better now, that the majority of it is pure bunk, and the rest has limited to minimal effects whatsoever. So I totally get where your boss and co-workers are coming from on this thing.

But, if you don’t want to go through all of that, I’d just suck it up and write what you were assigned to write. I’ve been in marketing long enough that I know I’ve written stuff I didn’t necessarily believe in, or think was completely accurate. But that was my job, that’s what my company had hired me to do, and that’s what I agreed to do by taking the job. If that’s what they wanted done, then I did it, so long as legal signed off. I’m never about CYAing my own A. Tricky to cash a paycheck from inside a prison cell.

 

[Apology]

Just do your job. I forgive you for woo-spreading. We all do things that we wish we didn't have to do when we're working. You really need the money, so don't rock the boat.

I would second the suggestion of a clear explanation of how homeopathy works that others have suggested before me, but I have a sinking suspicion that those above you would order you to edit it out, ergo it might be a huge waste of time. Still, if it makes you feel better knowing that you tried, go ahead and take the time.

Don't feel bad about it. You're not the source, you're just the code monkey.

 

[Senex]

If ignoring them doesn't work you can join them.

Find some woo that requires nude prayers before work. Explain why this is true in the same words they explain their words are true. Have a replica alter to give you credibility. Women will give up before going nude before work. Lord knows I've tried.

 

[steve s]

Disclaimer: Not advice, just a thought:

What if you put in a brief explanation about what homeopathy is and how it is supposed to work. In a non-confrontational tone. There really is no point in shouting "THIS IS BS!!", since explaining it should make it obvious to most people.

If people do not think homeopathy is ridiculous after a brief explanation of what it is, it is not your fault.

I like this approach. Write something like "Homeopathy is very safe because any active ingredient has been diluted to the point where there is none of it left. There is no chance of you overdosing. You are basically just ingesting water or sugar pills."

Steve S

 

[HumanityBlues]

Use qualifying language when you write it up. "People believe", "people say", that kind of thing.

 

[Uncayimmy]

We all do things at work for money.

That doesn't make it right. The reality is that you (the OP) will knowingly put out false information that may actually harm someone. To me that's worse than the people who do it unwittingly. I fully understand your position and given the circumstances (family, economy) may have chosen to do it myself. I don't envy your position, and I hope you'll take steps to avoid such positions in the future. It's a hard path, but it's still your choice. Your family comes first, so while you shouldn't beat yourself up too hard over neither should you hand-wave it away. It doesn't sound like you are, which is great. I hope anyone in your position feels just as much stress about it.

If you can't get out of it, see if you can work in some links to opposing views. For example, you might find a way to discuss suicide by homeopathy. Maybe you could mention that homeopathy was invented before the germ theory of disease was discovered.

Try to work in that it's a multi-billion dollar business. Somewhere here I made a post where I worked out just how much of the "active ingredient" was included in a pill and figured it worked out to like a trillion dollars per pound. You could probably do the same thing and use it to call for lower prices.

Maybe you can work in some of the controversy like the British Medical Association calling it "witchcraft." If you're clever enough in the writing you can get this kind of information out there.

And you can always write your own anonymous blogs refuting what you write for your company. Optimize it for the same keywords. Shoot me an PM when the blogs are done, and I'll give you links from some of my websites to help boost your search rankings to beat out whatever you company does.

Be sure to lettuce know how it turns out.

 

[Ladewig]

Just do your job. I forgive you for woo-spreading. We all do things that we wish we didn't have to do when we're working. You really need the money, so don't rock the boat.

I would second the suggestion of a clear explanation of how homeopathy works that others have suggested before me, but I have a sinking suspicion that those above you would order you to edit it out, ergo it might be a huge waste of time. Still, if it makes you feel better knowing that you tried, go ahead and take the time.

I agree.

Someone asked me to explain homeopathy once and I said that there are three important principles - the first is like cures like. At that point she interrupted and said, "that's bul*****. I don't need to hear the rest."

 

[Ladewig]

Somewhere here I made a post where I worked out just how much of the "active ingredient" was included in a pill and figured it worked out to like a trillion dollars per pound. You could probably do the same thing and use it to call for lower prices.

I love it!

 

[Yithmas]

Thanks for the advice, everybody! Highly appreciated. I could pos a link to the site *sigh*, once it is up, but alas, it will be in German, which is kind of cool, since this limits its range.

 

[Ririon]

Thanks for the advice, everybody! Highly appreciated. I could pos a link to the site *sigh*, once it is up, but alas, it will be in German, which is kind of cool, since this limits its range.

Please do. Some of us can read German, and I am sure you could translate a paragraph or two for us.

 

[Cheri_T]

Maybe you could provide the "op ed" point of view. Every article needs the "but others question..." part.

 

[Belgian thought]

Maybe you could provide the "op ed" point of view. Every article needs the "but others question..." part.

Jawohl! - schreib es mit ein "op ed", ein Link, oder sogar ein Kommentar Seite. Und, vielleicht könnten einiger von uns teilnehmen. Dazu, hast du deinen Pflicht gemacht, deinen Job behalten, und uns die Möglichkeit die Wahrheit bei zubringen.

Viel Glück