Ep.3 | Politics In Business

Should Politics Stay Out of Your Business?

In this episode of Talkin’ Shit with the Cincottas, Sal and Alissa Cincotta dive into the polarizing intersection of politics and business—and whether the two should ever mix. With brutal honesty, they break down why expressing political opinions publicly could cost you clients, bookings, and relationships in the photography world and beyond.

From cancel culture to social media echo chambers, they explore the risks business owners take when they tie their personal beliefs to their brand. You’ll hear candid stories, some sharp opinions, and a call for common sense: if you’re not in the business of politics, maybe don’t make it part of your business.

Key topics include:

• Why neutrality might be your safest business move
• The illusion of influence online
• Social media’s role in political performativity
• How assumptions (not facts) are costing photographers work
• Why the media profits from division

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, creative, or just someone trying to stay sane in today’s hyper-politicized climate, this episode will make you think twice before posting that next hot take.

Transcript

Alissa 0:02

All right, everybody. Welcome back to our next episode of Talking Shit with the Sincottas. Today, we are talking about, God help us, politics and business.

Sal 0:12

Oh, I'm excited for this topic.

Alissa 0:14

I'm scared.

Sal 0:14

What? Are you going to get canceled? Yes.

Alissa 0:18

How dare you talk about this? We made it three episodes and then we were cut.

Sal 0:21

Yeah. Ended our run here. I

Alissa 0:28

don't even know where to start. Like, Politics and business. Do you think that politics and business mix well?

Sal 0:36

I think unless you're in the business of politics, you should shut the fuck up. I think that's it. In a nutshell, just shut up. No one cares about your political opinions. And I think what you have to realize is that no matter what we're talking about, I mean, everything is polarizing. no matter what you're talking about, half the country doesn't agree with you. It just doesn't matter. So sometimes I look at things that Democrats say and I'm like, that's a good point. I look at things Republicans say and I'm like, that's a good point. But most people in this country are in that same middle range. But it's, I don't know, it seems like it's getting more and more polarizing out there and people are more and more, either you're with me or you're against me in this mindset. So just, you know, decorum doesn't even exist anymore between people. So, you know, if I were to go out there and be like, you know, I'm pro this Trump policy ah, I'm gonna get shredded, right? They're gonna hate me, I'm a racist, I'm a Marxist, I'm a fascist, you know, whatever. If I go out there and I'm anti this Trump policy, you know? You hate America. You hate America, you're not American, you're, you know, you're a blue hair, you're, you know, whatever. Like, it's just, it's fucking exhausting, right? So I think from a perspective of like, hey, I don't really care from a business owner's perspective, I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican, you know, an independent. I just don't care. I just want your money. I want your money. I'm running a business. And I think most business owners have to learn how to sit down on some of these topics. And I get it. Some people are, and I'm sure people listening are going to go, well, I'm compelled to do that. Okay, well, just understand it doesn't come without reason. ramifications.

Alissa 2:39

Right. I don't, I don't know as a business owner myself, I would not want to be hired because of my political beliefs. Of course it's, it's short-sighted. It's, I mean, it's disingenuous. I think like, so you don't want to hire me for my work. You're hiring me because I stand on this side or that side.

Sal 2:58

Right. My work might be shitty, but you're going to hire. Right. But I don't really think that's how it works. I don't believe for a minute. No, people

Alissa 3:04

are not hiring because of. That's more how it's working.

Sal 3:07

Yeah, because it's so polarizing now that if I were to go out on my page and take a stance against, I mean, you know, let's pick Ukraine. I take a stance on Ukraine. It doesn't matter, pro or against. And I put that stance online and I take that stance. I already know half my clients are going to be turned off to that, right? So why would I do that? It doesn't make any sense to me. And I think the struggle for... because all I care about in this moment are photographers, but I think the struggle for business owners is realizing that ultimately no one cares what you fucking think about. Literally anything.

Alissa 3:47

Not just politics.

Sal 3:48

No, right. That's fair. Literally anything. Literally anything, right. You're not, you and your fucking 500 friends are not changing the world, right? You can't go out there and be like, you know, we got to, Again, I'm making shit up. It's got nothing to do with it. Let's just pick a fictitious state so we don't get canceled. It'll be called the state of Caliphate. I just made that up. I don't know. I feel like that's

Alissa 4:12

a word.

Sal 4:13

Yeah, it probably is. But Caliphate.

Alissa 4:18

You so badly wanted to say California.

Sal 4:21

Yeah, just cut California off. No, but right. You go, you pick this thing and you go. We need to send in our troops and they need to... Who's listening to you? What do you think? The president or the Department of Defense is like, hey, have you checked out Sal's Facebook page? He's got a good point. He's got a good point. We should go in.

Alissa 4:43

Bring in the strategy team.

Sal 4:45

No one fucking cares. Are you so delusional as a person that you believe that when you go out there and you're like... Bob is racist, that anybody's listening to you, or that anybody, like, and maybe this is me, maybe I'm just naive, right? I understand we all have some level of influence, but I don't believe for a minute that I can go out there and be like, you know, the Frank Corporation is racist against Italian-Americans, and therefore, we should stop going to see them. Who cares? Nobody cares. I don't believe anybody cares. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm just misjudging it. I think there's more risk for me going out there and posting my political beliefs than there is good I'm going to do. I just don't understand it. Maybe I don't have the right mindset for it.

Alissa 5:48

There's a book I read a long time ago, and I don't remember the book, and I don't remember anything else but this one. the opening to a chapter was how nobody is paying attention to you. And we live in a world right now where everybody is so starved for attention and validation that they feel like they have to go out online, post their viewpoint for, like you said, their 500 followers, if it's even that, And what does success look like for you? Are you expecting change from that? Or is social media becoming more of a place for people to just air stuff, get stuff off their chest, feel like they have alliances with other people? Because the days of like... physical groups of people coming together, that community, I feel like that doesn't exist anymore. So now everything's online and it's this or that.

Sal 6:39

I think you're asking, actually asking the better question, um, in a much more intelligent way, which is what does success look like? Like, you know, if you go out there and you post, um, outrageous comments, really, you know, and it's funny, I try, I try to keep politics out of business and somebody said something to me one day, they were like, wow, That's ironic that you're saying keep politics out of business. And I had to go back two, three, four years to go through my shit to be like, do I post a lot of political stuff? No, you called out the media a lot during

Alissa 7:13

COVID.

Sal 7:13

And that's the difference. The media, I really do feel like, and I don't know if people, I think a lot of people would agree with this. The media is intentionally manipulating the population. There is more money in people being against one another. Hate. Hate. There's more money in that. And, you know, and so I've made posts like that, right? Like, hey, guys. Wake up. Wake up. Like, stop being manipulated, right? Stuff like that. That is hardly a political stance or post. But

Alissa 7:45

it was during Trump's first term that you were... very vocal. And so I think people naturally just associated it with a certain.

Sal 7:54

Yeah. And that's, I think that's shame on them for assuming anything. Right. Um, you know, you just, it's just silliness with that stuff.

Alissa 8:01

Do you think going, when you went back and looked at all that stuff and while you believe that you had no bias in any direction, do you believe people are Because your social media pages are Sal Sincotta. It's not Salvatore Sincotta Photography. We don't keep them separate. Do you believe that we lost business because of that?

Sal 8:21

No. No, because I was... Nothing there was... Truly, nothing was political. I don't believe. Maybe there was one post. I don't know. But you're not going to see, you know, countless posts. You're not going to see posts of me changing, you know, my profile picture to whatever the cause of the week is. That... I think people might misread things, and I think that's their own problem, that's on them, because you have no idea how I feel about anything. I would say it's safe for us to say we are very socially liberal and fiscally conservative, but I bet you if you have a conversation with 100 people, probably 90 of them are going to agree within reason of whatever you're talking about. And a lot of

Alissa 9:07

people would say that that answer is a cop out.

Sal 9:10

But I don't think it is. I think, I think it's real life. You know, it's not, not everything is, I just don't believe everything is truly black and white. It can't be. Everything is not binary, right? There are, there are, it depends right on things. You know, you talk about like, um, And I don't want to get into political topics. It's more along the lines of like it needs to stay out of your business. But you can pick one, right? You can pick a topic. And maybe it's just me because when I went to college, I was on the debate team. So we were forced to argue both for and against the same topic. That was just part of training.

Alissa 9:48

Does that force you to just argue on fact and not let emotion into it? No.

Sal 9:52

What does that do? You're asking the right question because what are facts, right? Right? So just pick immigration. Okay. No, maybe pick the war in Ukraine. Right? I mean, if I were in debate, I would be salvating. Right? Because if I just... No, because... Salvating. Salvating. I'm on this. Because this is a perfect topic. Because there are facts. There are true facts that would support Russia actually... going into Ukraine. And there are facts supporting Ukraine pushing back on Russia. There's facts on both sides. So you can argue if you're in debate, right? Or if you just want to piss your friends and family off and you're like, whatever he says, I'm going to say the opposite. We all have friends like that. But you could make the argument either way, right? So when you say, what are the facts? Well, sometimes it just doesn't matter. Because We create this echo chamber with friends and family on what we believe is right and true. But don't misunderstand. There's another half of people who are also justified and right and true, right? They believe that. You can pick immigration. You could pick Ukraine. You can pick on and on and on, any topic you want. And there's probably facts that would support either way. Who's right? Who's wrong? Well, It depends, right? I just don't think things are binary. And it's unfortunate to see that we've gotten to a point in society where everything is truly binary. Like, if you believe this...

Alissa 11:34

But that's the media. The media has calculated this over the last decade. It's a very strategic play to pin us against each other.

Sal 11:44

I agree. And I wish more people would see that. And what I love doing, and you know this to be true, is something will happen and we watch CNN.

Alissa 11:53

You have

Sal 11:53

to. And we watch Fox. And you're like, somewhere in there is the truth. Because whatever CNN is telling us isn't true and whatever Fox is telling us isn't true. Just watch BBC. Yeah, it's funny, right? You get better... I don't know if people realize this. You get better... truth by watching international news, you get more news versus opinion. And I think that's what people also miss is that when you're watching the news, it's a lot of opinion-based editorial work, which is also fine. Everybody's entitled to their opinion, but you can't walk away from that stuff and be like, this is absolute. Because again, COVID, you would think COVID's Something we could all agree on, right? On what COVID did, how we rely to, the health, what's happening with, you know, health and kids now tied to the vaccine and on and on and on. But I promise you.

Alissa 12:46

There's still a lot of people that believe what they believed then. Right. That don't believe what facts are coming out. Right. I mean, but I think everything in this world is, it's based in your own beliefs. perspective. So of course, how you were grown up, we could be presented with the same fact and you're going to perceive it differently than I am.

Sal 13:07

Well, of course. Right. If I'm if I'm a black American, I'm going to have a different experience, a different life experience than somebody who's an immigrant American, then somebody who is maybe fifth generation here versus on and on. Right. Everybody's got different experiences. I, I totally get that. You know, my family's immigrants. They came to this country, second and third generation here. They came to this country looking for a better life. From my perspective, this is the best country in the world. There's no place else I'd want to live. You and I have traveled the world, and whenever we get off that plane,

Alissa 13:41

we're so

Sal 13:41

happy to be home. I really do believe we live in the best country in the world. Is it perfect? Of course not. Is there room for improvement? Of course. But we still got to come back to it. At the end of the day, even in this conversation you and I are having, no one cares. No one cares. I didn't take much of a position on anything as we're talking here. But if I were to take a position, who really fucking cares? On the positive, no one. No, it just makes you feel better. It's usually only negative that can come of it.

Alissa 14:14

Right. But I think people going out and posting online, what they feel about any situation is just... it's kind of like a diary and it gets it off their chest. And a lot of people don't have people to talk to. So they take to social media and they get that interaction. They get that dopamine hit when people are like, yeah.

Sal 14:34

Yeah, no doubt.

Alissa 14:35

So I think that's all it is.

Sal 14:38

And I will say there's nothing wrong with that, right? But the problem is I'm putting my business hat on. Absolutely. And that's all I'm saying, right? I'm not telling you however you feel about... abortion, about Ukraine, about on and on and on is right or wrong. I'm not telling you that. I love, I mean, again, you've been with me. I love when we sit down over dinner and we have friends, family, guests. I mean, dude, it's like 10 minutes. And I'm into politics. Yeah, and I love it when we have

Alissa 15:08

people around us who don't have the same views

Sal 15:10

as we do. Yeah, it's amazing. I love having those conversations with people because it opens my eyes to someone else's viewpoint. I love that. I love learning and understanding people. That is completely different. Now you're having one-on-one interaction. We're seeing body language, emotion, tone, all of those

Alissa 15:31

things.

Sal 15:32

Oh my God, body language, yes. But when you just blanket post it online, what I have found is that it becomes binary. And it triggers people

Alissa 15:40

so much. I want to go back real quick because I asked you about if you thought any of your posts ever cost us business. And what I've found is you don't post political stuff on your page at all. So that kind of neutrality hasn't impacted our clients. But for some reason, in the photo industry... People have made assumptions about you based on I don't know what. Well, us,

Sal 16:07

yeah.

Alissa 16:07

Yeah, but it's stopping photographers from coming to Shutterfest, from being a part of anything we put out because of their assumed... ideas of what we believe in and I don't know it's it's like our clients don't give a shit our clients don't care if they would care if we if you were out there posting heavily about politics

Sal 16:26

one way or the other but because I'm giving them no choice but to care right because I'm putting this in their face

Alissa 16:32

what so why is the photo industry so you know divisive that

Sal 16:36

way photographers love They just love drama, I think. I don't know why.

Alissa 16:42

Maybe they should book some business and not be so bored.

Sal 16:46

So true. Because

Alissa 16:46

hearing things that people are looking up other photographers' donations, political donations. Why? Yeah,

Sal 16:55

it's so stupid.

Alissa 16:55

You have nothing better to do with your time?

Sal 16:57

Yeah. Look, I think these are bizarre things, right? Because why does it matter at the end of the day? Yeah. You're allowing yourself to get worked up into a frenzy about things you have no information on or no context on. Right, but

Alissa 17:18

that emotional reaction that you're allowing happen to yourself, it's only impacting you though. No one around you, again, no one around you cares. Right. So you are doing this to yourself and you're spiraling for no reason.

Sal 17:31

The whole thing is, it really is bizarre to me that... You know, there's plenty of people who post things. Half of the people I know post things that I don't agree with. I don't. stop talking to them. No.

Alissa 17:47

Cut them out of your life.

Sal 17:48

Right. It's just, it doesn't make any sense. I'm

Alissa 17:50

boycotting

Sal 17:50

Shutterfest. Yeah. Well, anything, right? South challenge the media. You know, Westcott, they posted a picture with red in it. Therefore, they must be Republican. So I'm going to boycott everything they do. Dude, but that's how serious it is. No, I know. It's absurd. It's so ridiculous. Right. And that's the part where I wish our I wish our community would act more like a community of people and realize there's all sorts of different, you know, viewpoints and things like that. You know, I remember I've had a couple of conversations online on other people's posts just to provide other perspective, you know, and I'll even say it in the post. I'll be like, I don't necessarily agree with this, but here's another perspective because there is other, it's not binary. Right. But we're getting off point here. at the end of the day, everything you and I have just talked about is a great conversation, I think, because it's just kind of like looking at things and going, you know, why does this make sense? Why are we doing it? You've definitely provided some insight into why people are doing it because we all want that sense of like, I'm in a room with people who see the world the way I see it, right? And unfortunately, you know, social media is semi-forever and So it has a different impact than if I'm just sitting in a room having a conversation with five or six or 10 of my close friends, right? And maybe I say something that's stupid or I say something that I regret. In theory, it should die in that room. But from a business perspective, posting that stuff online, I think bites you in the ass long term.

Alissa 19:34

Not only posting to your page, but I'm pretty sure Facebook now will serve up comments that you leave on other people's posts. So let's say I follow this group and somebody goes off on a tangent and I feel like I need to go in my little keyboard war yourself and defend whatever belief I have. That's going to get served up to the people who could follow me, potential clients. And then that you don't want to associate your somebody yourself with somebody like that.

Sal 19:59

You know, I guess I am definitely, very opinionated when it comes to... Yeah, I know it's hard to believe. But I'm very opinionated when it comes to things that I believe in, right? And that I'm passionate about. A lot of people are that way. You really wouldn't know that if you went to my personal Facebook page because none of that stuff is really there, you know? Like, you know, should you eat pasta with a fork and spoon or should you cut it? You know, there's... There's a school of thought on that. I could be passionate about it. Do you want me to

Alissa 20:34

air your dirty laundry

Sal 20:35

from last night? No, I don't think you should. No, I don't think you should. Because the internet is forever. But anyway, so I think we're all pretty opinionated when it comes to certain things. My concern for business owners is when they are mixing their personal viewpoints and attaching their business to it. And we have watched that, not in the photo industry, but in corporate, just... destroy people because of their political viewpoints. And I just don't know that there's much positive that will come of it. Now, don't get me wrong. If you feel compelled and you feel, again, I'll give you a perfect example. I've got several friends in the photo industry that are just every day pro-Israel. every single day since it went down in October, I believe, of last year. Every single day, something. I'm to the point where I wonder if they actually have a photography business because that's all I'm seeing from them, right? That's my point. So I'm not saying they're right. I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm saying that that's all I'm seeing from them. And anybody who's following your business page right or engaged with you is doing it because of your photography not because of your business viewpoints right right so if all i'm hearing from you now are your political viewpoints and i'm not seeing your photography that's not why i started following

Alissa 22:06

if i wanted to hear politics i would have followed

Sal 22:08

a politician i'd go follow some politicians right or some who

Alissa 22:10

actually had real information

Sal 22:12

yeah and and yeah you would hope are a lot smarter than bob who's got, hey, man, I know nothing about shit. My personal life's in disarray. I still live at home with my parents. But I'm gonna give you my take on the vaccines, right? Like, dude, shut the fuck up. So I think that's the case. Now, this is where I'm going with this. If you feel compelled, because you have, where I was going with this Israel thing is, you know, the person, that guy, several people, by the way, who have that opinion. I told you what I wanted. But I've got several friends who are anti-Israel and have anti-Israel viewpoints, right? I personally don't care what either of them have to say on it because it's not why... I follow them. It's not why I know them. It's not how I know them, maybe I should say. So I don't particularly care what either of them have to say. I'm not listening to either of them. So neither of them have the ability to change my viewpoint. So that just signals to me that I don't have the ability to change anybody else's viewpoint when it comes to politics either. We're kind of grounded in where we are. So why do it? I feel like it's just, it really, there's only negative that can come from it. If you feel compelled, and I don't know if you agree with this, if you feel compelled to voice your opinion and do stuff separated from your business, right?

Alissa 23:41

How do you do that though? Like if you've built like your page, if you wake up tomorrow and you're like, I am so compelled to talk about Oreos.

Sal 23:47

Yeah.

Alissa 23:50

Would you start a new page? How would you separate it?

Sal 23:54

Well, you're asking a business question, right? And I'd have to logically come to a conclusion that, that I'm not in the business of talking about Oreos. Therefore, I wouldn't start a new business page. I wouldn't put up a website for Oreos because there's nothing that's really gonna come of it. If you hate Oreos, I'm not gonna convince you to like Oreos. I'm not being sponsored by Oreos. I'm not in the cookie business. So why am I doing this, right? So if you look at it from a business perspective, you come to the conclusion, which is what I'm saying, which is these two don't intermingle with one another and you have a... a greater chance of impacting your business in a negative way? I

Alissa 24:35

think the people who feel compelled like that actually want to put it out there in the world because they don't want their money going to a company that is opposite what they believe. They don't want somebody spending their money with them that's opposite what they believe. So I think those people who feel that compelled are very

Sal 24:55

specifically... You think that's the case? I think so. So you think when people are putting... Things like that out there. I think

Alissa 25:01

they want the world to know this is where I stand and I don't want to be associated with you at all if you do not agree with me. I think the people who are out there every single day posting like that feel that passionately about it.

Sal 25:12

That's crazy to me. I've just never done business that way. I don't care what your... I honestly don't care when we're dealing with clients what their position is on... Ukraine, immigration, Iran, on and on and on. I don't care. I wouldn't even have

Alissa 25:28

a conversation with the person.

Sal 25:30

That's nuts to me.

Alissa 25:31

Yeah. But there's something in them that is driving them to... I

Sal 25:35

wouldn't even want to be associated with people like that because that says to me they are so narrow-minded that they're not willing to even talk because they've made everything binary. I think that's dangerous for us just as people, as humans, to make everything binary. Binary.

Alissa 25:54

Yeah.

Sal 25:54

Like it's just black and white. You either you're either with me or you're against me. That is a really tough way to approach social, economic and political issues. I don't know how to if we if that's the case and what you're saying is true. Boy, it's not looking good for humanity moving forward.

Alissa 26:16

No, it's I mean, it's like when people were boycotting going to Target for that one day. I forget. What was that for? I think it was because...

Sal 26:24

Because they did away with their DEI policies, I think. Yes, yes. Is that why?

Alissa 26:29

That's what it

Sal 26:30

was. Okay.

Alissa 26:30

And then during... Like when the... October 7th originally happened shortly thereafter. Um, people were boycotting Nespresso because Nespresso is made in Israel, I believe. Okay. And so they're like boycotting purchasing this stuff. Like they feel that passionately about it. Yeah. That they're boy. And I don't, I think the target one actually did make an impact. I don't know about anything else. Um, but that, I mean, it's one day ultimately.

Sal 26:56

Right.

Alissa 26:57

One day of sales that you made an impact. Like again, what does success look like for you guys?

Sal 27:02

Right.

Alissa 27:03

Are you okay being this passionate about something that you no longer have a job, that you no longer have any business coming in?

Sal 27:11

Right.

Alissa 27:12

Because nobody wants to associate with that.

Sal 27:14

Yeah, I guess for the sake of arguments, because I said you can argue it for me, you know, part of what I used to have to do is argue it from either side. You know, in debate, I guess you could make the argument that... But I... You could make the argument that that's how you have impact, right? By you going out there and vocalizing your opinion. But it's not without ramifications, right? You have to be okay

Alissa 27:35

shutting your doors.

Sal 27:37

Yeah. And, you know, I just ask myself, am I a political activist? And I'm just not.

Alissa 27:44

So, I mean, I guess because I feel the exact same way. So I don't know that you or myself could ever empathize. with the people who feel that passionately about it. Because I don't know. I don't know what it feels like to be that, feel that much conviction to go online and post about it every day. I have so many thoughts and so many opinions. I don't even know that I share them all with you. But I definitely don't put them on Instagram. No, I know. It's scary up here. You don't want

Sal 28:14

to know. No, I think, you know, I like this topic. I like this conversation. I'd be curious what everybody who listens to this thinks. I just, I'm very, I have very strong beliefs that you should keep the two separate. You should not loop your business into any of your political positions unless you're in the business of that political position, right? Like, you know, if I were selling, you know, Democratic fundraising, well, then I guess that's, but I'm now at that point a political activist in a way. I think when you're a photographer, You know, I remember when, you know, a lot of people don't know this. I got to photograph President Obama twice. And that was, you know. It was

Alissa 28:59

like my first week on the job

Sal 29:01

was the ordering. Oh, it was the coolest. It was the coolest thing to ever be able to do.

Alissa 29:05

Remember you put his pictures on your website.

Sal 29:07

And White House called me immediately. They were like, absolutely not. Take them down. Take those down. But

Alissa 29:10

his password protected.

Sal 29:12

They didn't care. No, I remember when I got to photograph him. It was probably one of the most. you know, exciting things I ever got to do in my career. I mean, that was really, really cool from, you know,

Alissa 29:23

such an honor.

Sal 29:24

Yeah. Working with the white house. And, uh, we have photographed the, um, you know, political families, uh, in Missouri.

Alissa 29:32

Didn't you photograph Michelle Obama also?

Sal 29:33

Yep. Photograph Michelle Obama. So it's great. I mean, we got to do that now. I'll never forget my Republican friends, you know, were, you know, like, oh, I can't believe it. Blah, blah, blah. My Democratic friends. Right. We're all like this. Amazing. Right. So it wasn't as polarizing back then. Right. So this is probably

Alissa 29:51

politics like the the interest in politics was not what it was. Right. I think right around Obama's. first term is when it started to really become cool to talk about politics with your friends.

Sal 30:04

I love talking about politics.

Alissa 30:05

Yeah. But it was my generation when I was, I look at high schoolers now that know these crazy talking points about politics. If somebody brought up anything like, are you Democrat or Republican? I'd be like, what?

Sal 30:17

What's that?

Alissa 30:17

I like Turkey. I don't know.

Sal 30:21

No, I, you're totally right. I think anyway, I think back to that moment and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world and But like half my friends thought it was like, I can't believe you're doing this. And half my friends were like, this is the coolest thing in the world. Um, and that was, you know, I'm like, bro, he's the president of the United States. Like what the fuck are you going to say? No, I'm going to say no. You know, well, his position on the infrastructure bill, U.S. Code 15. Hardline, not photographing. I can't. I can't be associated with this. I don't want my name tied to this. I don't know, man. I just think to put a ribbon on this.

Alissa 31:00

Is that different than a bow?

Sal 31:03

I probably should put a bow, not a ribbon. Okay. Yeah, that's thank you for. I mean, a ribbon is kind of

Alissa 31:07

like.

Sal 31:07

Yeah.

Alissa 31:08

Gold star.

Sal 31:09

Yeah. Now, ribbon. Yeah, it's true. Okay. Anyway, I think I want to see photographers succeed. I wanna see all business people succeed. If you get to my motivations for what I'm saying here, I really wanna see everybody succeed. If you're in the business of politics and being a political activist and going out there and protesting, hey, God bless, go do it. It's part of what this country is. It's our First Amendment right to be out there. I support everybody in that. But I think when you start looping, I wouldn't go protest something and then be wearing a t-shirt that was like Salvatore Sincotta photography. You know what I mean? I'm very passionate that these two things should be separated and you should really think about what you are willing to go out there and publish and not publish because you don't want to have it impact your business. Right.

Alissa 32:06

And just being fully aware of the consequences before you choose to do anything. Yeah. Because the internet lives forever and it doesn't matter. Like you can write a post and then be like, shit, I shouldn't have done that. And you take it down. Somebody screenshotted it. Yeah. And you can always go back in the history of.

Sal 32:20

But again, it's not only that. I know I'm repeating myself. It's just at the end of the day, you have to realize whatever you post, whatever you feel, you're going to piss everybody 50% of people off. Absolutely. Also, nobody cares. Right. And also, nobody cares what you have to say.

Alissa 32:35

In the great words of my mother, Diane Zimmerman, who cares? Nobody.

Sal 32:41

All right, everybody. Well, let us know what you think there. I know this is always a hot topic, but let me know if you agree or disagree that really business and politics try and keep those two separate or you think, hey, use your business to push that political position to bring awareness to it, things like that, right? But there's pros and cons to every side, which is why debate is so important.

Alissa 33:05

And at the end of the day, you

Sal 33:07

do you. Yeah, so true. You do you. We'll see you in the next episode.