The stupidest thing this post is bringing up segregation as a solution when the whole incident was seemingly sparked off by a ‘THEM BLACKS being in a White Neighborhood without permission’ attitude.
I might have slightly more sympathy if someone lost their job due to something they said in a private conversation or even on a discussion thread, but this is a public statement that is visibly connected to you and is likely to be read by colleagues and students. For many people, it’s about the most public way you can air your views without creating a scene in a crowded place. While in most cases what you say will only be seen for a short time, we’ve had enough stories of people’s words coming back to haunt them over the last decade of Facebook history to show that you should assume that you are speaking to your boss, family members, police and the general public when you share things on Facebook.
I really dislike the overuse of this cutesy truism. Kim Il Sung could just as truthfully say “My people have absolute freedom of speech! I might execute them with anti-aircraft guns, but they’re free to speak their minds before that!”
Now in this case, she’s being fired because she is unsuited to or unfit for her duties; her speech merely revealed that. She has the right to speech but she doesn’t have the right to her job. In general though, I’m uncomfortable whenever the consequences of speech go too far beyond “more speech.”
Christ, what an asshole.
Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences. That’s where social mores come into play.
I’ll defend them ABSOLUTELY! She has EVERY right to say what she has! Being that, I have the right to yell ‘FIRE!!’ in a theatre that is not on fire…I’ll face consequences sure…but I have the RIGHT to yell it! (Sarcasm obviously…RIGHT to yell…and then the RIGHT to remain silent!) That said… I’ll ALSO defend the right of the district to FIRE for the exact same words! Like one of the commenters below…I’ve struggled with how this all ‘plays out’…but honestly…at this point, views like that HAVE to have consequences, beyond just hate speech laws. I don’t think it rises to that level, which is why I think more rules are needed.
Here…we recently had an employee of something ‘similar’ legally speaking fired for a “FHRITP” remark on camera… he was fired… I had a hard time with that since he wasn’t readily identifiable as an employee of that institution. Once the REASONING came out…it was easy to see that he violated his contract with them…
Maybe it’s time to add more language to the contracts that employees can more easily get someone fired (well…not more easily…but…a better understanding and less lawsuits…which this will likely end in…)
EDIT: This read WAY wrong after I posted… I don’t condone WHAT she said in ANY way… I’m not going to remove it or edit the original…I just want to add that I was trying to be funny…and, on a re-reading…I can see how it may not be…
It’s good to see the public’s borderline-autonomic response to such odious thinkcrime with the customary demands for professional unpersoning and a public struggle session.
Don’t forget to use the comment section to vigorously signal your anti-racist piety!
I didn’t care much for her statement after the fact, except as support for her termination as a teacher.
As in: Don’t treat my children as your own, treat them as pupils/people. I don’t know what kind of parent you are except in one very important department. Kids of racists often pick that shit up, so don’t treat my children as your own.
But, then how will we know how he feels?
And besides @falcor might be hungry, we need to keep our dragon fed.
If anything, doing that makes it easier. Some topics are touchy enough that they make questionable candidates even for ‘embrace contra-factually for humorous effect’; but questionable taste in humor still ranks well ahead of bad taste in sincere belief.
Thank you for that, I was about to “like” the post you were replying to.
To be honest, I actually do still like that post; if read by itself, it has a certain bleak humor to it, and it’s aimed at people who could use good look in the mirror. But I don’t want to encourage anyone who uses the SJW meme… yuck.
People like that guy just deserve to be mocked. I have no doubt he was entirely serious about what he was saying and didn’t mean it in a “bleak humor” way, but in a “being anti-racist is stupid” kind of a way. Yuck indeed!
…I need a T-shirt that says Modern Major Bolshevik. Also, I am gonna make an SJW pizza–sausage, jicama, and watercress.
Also, you need to write a song that is a parody of that “modern major-general” song from Gilbert and Sullivan… Then you have an excuse to have those shirts made!!!
I am the very model of a Modern Major Bolshevik
I’ve information feminist, and patriarchy scholastic
I know the Queens of Tumblr and I quote the fights historical
from Gamergate to Reddit now, but always being judgemental
I’ll buy one as well!
Off-Topic comment:
OK, I had no idea what a TERF was and had to Google it… Who comes up with these terms?! If I had tried to guess what TERF stood for I would never have gotten even close! I mean, the term certainly has relevance, but who in the hell decided to use those words?!
“Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist” It hurts my tongue trying to say it once, let alone three times fast!
Jim
A trans person who was excluded, I presume.